I’m going to preface with this: If you’re looking for high-quality photos and videos of Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour, this is NOT the place. We had cheap ($140) side-view nosebleed seats and I BARELY took any photos because I was way too busy singing and dancing and screaming and oohing and aahing and loving every single second of Taylor’s three-hour-long 44-song setlist in Glendale, Ariz.!
BUT, I’m very much still on my Swiftie high, so I wanted to write about how incredible the Eras Tour Glendale concert was!
My friend Jenni snagged six tickets last year when they first went online. We got the only tickets we could get thanks to the clusterfck that was the “Eras” ticket sale, and honestly, the seats weren’t great BUT I was just pretty dang grateful we even got tickets. A few of us tried during both pre-sales, but Jenni was the only one who got through.
I’d been hoping to see the European leg of Taylor’s “Lover” tour while I was living in Eastern Europe, but it was canceled due to COVID… and also I was evacuated from Ukraine and all.
So, I’m extra extra glad we got tickets! I’d never seen Taylor before, and I feel like this was such a good first concert!
(I’ve been a Swiftie since my best friend Kim introduced me to her in 2007! “Should’ve Said No” got me through my first high school breakup.)
The six tickets went to Jenni, me, my coworker Jane, Jane’s sister-in-law Rosemary, and our friends Mel and Davita.
We decided to treat the concert as a mini bachelorette party for Jane, which made it even more fun!
I left Flagstaff early Saturday to make it down to the valley. I spent the morning at Ryan’s cousin’s baby shower before checking into our Happy Valley hotel and decorating it for Jane’s bachelorette party.
Once we all got changed and settled, we hopped in Jenni’s car and headed to State Farm Stadium.
We settled into our seats right when the first opener, Gayle, got started. We watched Gayle and…
…Paramore!
We were SO lucky that Paramore was one of the openers for Taylor’s Eras Tour Glendale shows!
I caught a little bit of Paramore last year at When We Were Young, and it was incredible to see them again. Hayley Williams has such a stunning vocal range and is phenomenal live.
Then, the big show!
Taylor started with a clock that counted down until midnight, and when the clock struck 12, the show started.
She played 44 whole freaking songs!
There’s SO much info on the internet about her costumes and setlists so I’ll spare you all the details.
I will say, the production was absolutely incredible.
Taylor took up every inch of the massive stage, and all the effects included the jumbo screens, the pulsing light-up Xylobands all the fans got, flame cannons, fireworks, a hydraulic lifting stage and incredible sets — like a full forest during “evermore,” an on-stage cabin during “folklore,” and a GORGEOUS pink ball gown for Taylor’s “Enchanted” performance.
It’s SO hard to pick a favorite performance from the Eras Tour Glendale edition, but “Look What You Made Me Do” was so cool. Taylor dressed dancers in various costumes throughout the years and had them performing in glass boxes. “tolerate it” was also emotional and beautifully done! “Vigilante Shit” was so unexpected to watch — and our two special songs (Taylor’s performing songs unique to every show during this tour) were “this is me trying” and (yay!) “State of Grace.”
“Red” is my favorite Taylor Swift album, so I was really excited our song was from “Red.”
Like I said, I didn’t take many photos because I was way too busy enjoying every second of the (very long) evening.
I’m also super impressed with Taylor. Like… we are not experiencing 33 the same. I was tired just watching this spectacle, and Taylor gave it her all for the entire show. Again: so impressive!
Since we had a side view, I am really excited to see a post-tour recap of all the visuals including the front of the stage!
After all the magic, we got back to our hotel room at about 2 a.m. and immediately passed out. We woke up the next morning and grabbed coffee at Elevate and brunch at EGGstasy in Norterra, and then went back up to Flag.
And that was it! I’m obviously now hoping to see Taylor again on her next tour.
Hi Randi,
Could you let me know what section this was? I’m trying to see if the side view tickets I have for another show are similarly positioned to these. Thanks!
Of course! We were in section 449, row 5. I hope this helps!