In glittering outfits and conducting singalongs under light rain, Taylor Swift fans are converging on BC Place stadium in Vancouver 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 will greet her.
With umbrellas banned inside the stadium, many fans have been braving the elements unprotected in their elaborate sequined costumes as they wait for gates to open.
Security is tight, with street barricades going up around noon, cutting off some of the downtown core’s busiest streets, including West Georgia, Smithe, Beatty and Robson, as the closures snarled traffic.
Among the fans is Cassie Leonhardt from North Vancouver, B.C., dressed in a shimmering red leotard.
She says she’s travelled the world to attend seven of Swift’s concerts, and will also attend Saturday’s show.
She confesses she purchased her outfit, rather than making 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.”
BC 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 BC 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 city’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.
Many will be hard to miss.
Swift fan Lisa Daechsel was walking her dog, Lancey, near the stadium with a leash she had made in the style of a friendship bracelet.
“Honestly, I saw somebody do it for Eras Tour in Toronto,” Daechsel said. “They had a really cute photo of their dog with the friendship bracelet leash. So, I was like, I have to do that! So, I went out last minute and I decided to make one.”
The corgi and her leash became a magnet for Swifty selfies.
“She has been so popular,” said Daechsel.
Others may be even more visible.
Brittany Hood from Orlando, Fla., will sport a blue velvet, star-studded jumpsuit that pays homage to an outfit Swift wore to the 2022 VMAs after-party.
Hood, who is attending Saturday’s show, spent months perfecting the look.
“It wasn’t supposed to be this sparkly but 25 hours later and I was still going,” she said.
“Where else can you wear a super-bedazzled outfit — I mean I probably would be the person who would wear it to the grocery store, but it just makes it a little bit more special for the moment.”
The shows are billed to start at 6:45 p.m. with opening act Gracie Abrams.
Swift typically performs for about 3 1/2 hours, playing songs from across her discography as she moves through various “Eras,” each marked by set and outfit changes that reflect the albums.
For instance, she often wears a ball gown for the “Speak Now” section and a snake jumpsuit during her “Reputation” set.
Sociologist Rebecca Yoshizawa said Swift’s outfit choices are “really symbolic,” noting how the singer-songwriter reclaimed snake imagery after a 2016 celebrity feud with Kim Kardashian, who had suggested Swift was a snake.
“She is curating and encouraging our experience through her clothing,” Yoshizawa said. “She knows people are watching and are also wanting to channel that.”
Swifties’ costumes denote membership to the fandom.
“It’s very cathartic. It’s an opportunity to kind of let loose, have fun and be free, and clothing really is central to identity — it’s central to the expression of our identity,” said Yoshizawa, a professor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, B.C.
The Eras Tour, she said, had provided fans an opportunity to dress in ways they wouldn’t normally and build a sense of connection with strangers.
Jonica Tebo from Ogdensburg, N.Y., said that’s why she has spent hours making her costume for Vancouver, a friendship bracelet fringe jacket.
“I have every single Taylor song on the outfit, in the beaded fringe that is sewn on,” she said. She also plans to wear pink boots and friendship bracelets to trade.
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 is tight around the venue, with barricades surrounding BC Place, and ticketless fans being told not to gather outside for traditional “Taylgate” parties.
That hasn’t reduced the enthusiasm of fans like Hood, who says it’s her first real trip out of the United States. She’s already been to Eras Tour shows in Los Angeles and Tampa, Fla., dressing up in handmade outfits for both shows.
But Vancouver will be special — a girls trip abroad and the end of the Eras Tour.
“When the world’s on fire, but we all get to kind of celebrate music and girlhood together — it’s giving me chills,” she said.
Some fans, however, remain without tickets for the event but aren’t giving up.
Melissa Camp and her 15-year-old daughter from Vancouver Island were in tears outside BC Place today after failing to get tickets despite 14 months of trying, but Camp says they will keep trying to secure last-minute seats.
Camp says she was almost scammed when she tried to buy tickets, but the effort is worth it for “making sweet memories” with her daughter.
