Taylor Swift Concert

Last night, I went to my FIRST concert, Taylor Swift: Speak Now.  A friend from work got some free tickets through her husband's work and was looking for some company.  Both nights were sold out with over 13 thousand fans packed into the Verizon Center in DC.  I have to say it was pretty dang amazing!  I like Taylor Swift's music and I'm familiar with her big hits that are played a lot on the radio, but I'm not like a crazy fan or anything.

The SWEET Suite

The cool thing about the tickets were that they were suite tickets meaning we had a SUITE that we watched the concert from.  Having never been to a concert, I had no clue what to expect, but I'm pretty sure this was NOT your average concert experience.  When we arrived at the suite which fit about 20 people but had about 12 in it, we were welcome by an attendant who checked our tickets and took us on a mini tour of the suite.  Inside, they had tons of food and basically unlimited drinks.  The suite had it's own super nice and CLEAN bathroom which I was pretty thankful for after seeing the long lines on our way up.

The concert started with a young, talented singer named Hunter Hayes and then a really good band called Need to Breathe.  They were both really talented, but their shows dulled in comparison to the performance by Taylor Swift afterward.  She puts on a really good show!  Part of the entertainment value of the concert was seeing all of the crazy fans.  At the Metro on the way there and back, we could easily spot the people going to the concert.  Most of the fans were wearing sundresses with cowboy boots, self-made Taylor Swift t-shirts, the number 13 somewhere, or something sparkly.  It was quite the crowd.  Many of them had lighted signs and glow sticks.

 

I didn't understand a lot of the fan lingo, so I did a little research on her fan website to figure out some of it. Apparently, 13 is Taylor Swift's lucky number and he writes it on her hand before her concerts.  On her left arm, she also writes lyrics from other musicians that inspire her.  I thought it was interesting that she writes all of her own music.  She kind of has some funny mannerisms, but overall she seems like a nice person.  The show was pretty neat.  I was trying to get some close up shots with my camera that seemed pretty good on my little camera screen, but pretty grainy when I looked at them on my computer.  Darn!  I wish I would've taken more far away shots like the one above.  The screen behind the stage had some pretty cool effects going on.

Here's a picture of me with my two teacher friends, Caitlin and Laura.

There were tons of young girls there that seems to ABSOLUTELY adore her.  I think that she does an okay job as a role model to them.  I don't know all of the juicy gossip, but she seemed almost overly cutesy nice at the show AND the kids just ate her up.  Her lyrics seem very personal, real, and seemed to be aimed for a wide age spread of an audience, but mostly for preteen/teen girls.  It was a lot of fun and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go!

Oh, and a teeny tiny update as far as surgery recovery: I'm completely off pain meds, feeling clear minded, and overall much better.  I'm still waiting for my energy to come back, but for the most part I'm feeling good.