In glittering outfits and conducting singalongs under light rain, Taylor Swift fans were pouring into sa国际传媒 Place stadium in Vancouver on Friday for the first of three shows to close out the superstar’s marathon Eras Tour.
The city that is the final stop of the first billion-dollar concert tour in history has fallen under Swift’s spell, and a sellout crowd of more than 50,000 people greeted her.
With umbrellas banned inside the stadium, many fans had been braving the elements unprotected by much more than Lycra and sequins as they waited for gates to open.
Security was tight, with street barricades going up around noon, cutting off some of the downtown’s busiest streets.
Among the fans was Cassie Leonhardt from North Vancouver, dressed in a shimmering red leotard.
She said she had travelled the world to attend seven of Swift’s concerts, and will also attend tonight’s show.
Leonhardt confessed she purchased her outfit, rather than making it herself. “I tried to make my own, but then I couldn’t like pull it up my legs because the glue was too tight, and then I just ended up ordering it because I gave up. I’m not very crafty.”
sa国际传媒 Place has put up the giant friendship bracelet symbolizing the fandom on its exterior, a feature that has appeared in all Eras Tour stops since New Orleans in October.
“A big thank you to our BFFs at Caesars Superdome for our new friendship bracelets, they’re now here after having been swapped to Lucas Oil Stadium and Rogers Centre,” said an online message from sa国际传媒 Place to venues in New Orleans, Indianapolis and Toronto that have featured the decoration during Swift’s tour stops.
An estimated 160,000 fans, many of them international visitors, are expected in the Vancouver’s downtown for the three performances that are the glittering climax to the 149-show, two-year tour that has shattered records around the world.
Vancouver Island fans are among those making the trip to Vancouver for the tour’s finale.
The atmosphere at the Swartz Bay ferry terminal prior to the 11 a.m. Tsawwassen sailing on Friday was less hectic than anticipated, with very little of the Swift-related traffic snarls travellers were told to expect.
Some fans aboard the sailing could be seen making bracelets — a staple activity for Swifties — and painting nails ahead of Friday night’s show.
Swift’s music was playing on a loop inside the vessel’s gift shop.
Bracelet-makers Rachel Starwood, Linden Gueck and Hannah Starwood were excited to see the superstar in concert, but all three knew what to expect, having seen her perform nearly 10 times collectively during the course of her career.
They spent the voyage making more than 100 bracelets to trade with other fans at the concert Friday, but were disappointed to hear that trading exchanges were not as active as previous sailings.
“That would have been awesome,” Hannah Starwood said, when told that the area that formerly housed the Pacific Buffet was repurposed during the 9 a.m. sailing Friday into a bracelet-trading station.
Vancouver has embraced the singer, who performed six shows in Toronto last month.
Eras Tour posters can be seen around almost every corner, businesses are hosting Swift-themed events and the city has put up light installations to encourage visitors to explore.
Security was tight around the venue, with barricades surrounding sa国际传媒 Place, and ticketless fans being told not to gather outside for traditional “Taylgate” parties, but they still did.
Melissa Camp and her 15-year-old daughter, from Vancouver Island, were in tears outside sa国际传媒 Place after failing to get tickets despite 14 months of trying, but Camp said they would keep trying to secure last-minute seats. Camp said she was almost scammed when she tried to buy tickets, but the effort is worth it for “making sweet memories” with her daughter.
Swift, shortly after starting her show, told the crowd that Vancouver and sa国际传媒 were chosen to close out her tour because fans here know every lyric and don’t just sing them, “they scream them.”
— With a file from Mike Devlin, sa国际传媒
