This post is going to be not-so-wordless, because the event was so fantastic. You'll survive! ;)
Last night, I took my oldest kiddo Chloë, 14, to her first major concert: Taylor Swift! We went to the AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami for the 1989 World Tour. Rather than navigate for an hour or seven through the streets looking for a decent - or at least, not expensive - parking spot, we parked well far away and road the Metro into the city. That turned out to be a fantastic plan, and we had zero trouble. Here we are together on the train, riding in to the city.
We finally arrived at the AAA, and Chloë's excitement was tangible by that point. Can you see?
We had zero problems getting into the arena, because it was so well managed. Of course, we needed to take advantage of the photo-op. It was a good thing, because after the show, the prop was gone.
When the show finally started at 1930, Vance Joy took the stage. He was great, but I felt bad for him. The huge, sold-out arena was only about a fifth full for Vance, and yet he performed like it was a full crowd. Kudos to him for that! I didn't really know any of the songs from his set, until he played "Riptide" at the end. Either way, he was fantastic. (And a cutie, to boot!)
In case you're wondering, we sat up in the nosebleed seats, and our tickets were not inexpensive! I bought them for Chloë's Christmas present last year, and she's been waiting for the concert all year. But no wonder Taylor is pulling in a million dollars a night on this tour!
After Vance performed, we waited about a half-hour for T-Swizzle to take the stage. By that point, the excitement coming from my daughter was palpable. When she finally arrived at 2030, the screaming was absolutely deafening from Chloë and the other 15,000 fans in the arena. And no, I did not bring earplugs. Heh. (I did take a video of her entrance, if you want to check it out on my Instagram: @Smellyann.)
Taylor called us a "supercrowd" and said she had a few surprises for us throughout the show. (My phone died, so I had to pull these off the interwebs.) Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat was first. The crowd went ballistic as he presented Taylor with a team jersey. I had to look up the significance of the number 13, since I couldn't hear anything: it's her lucky number.
The second special guest was Pitbull, who performed with Taylor on the song "Give Me Everything." That was crazy-town, with the screams from the mostly-young female fans. As a lifelong pop music fan, though, I gotta admit I was pretty stoked, too!
The final special guest of the concert was Ricky Martin! He and Taylor performed "Livin' la Vida Loca" (naturally) for the Swifties. Chloë had no idea who that was or what that song was, but she had fun dancing along regardless. (My girl rocked OUT throughout the show, and I had a blast watching my normally-shy girl cut loose.) Anyway, that song was released when I was a young doctoral student at the University of South Florida in 1999, so I was all about it! So fun.
I could go on and on (and on) about how epic the concert was, but I'll reign it in this one time. Suffice it to say, while I already loved Taylor Swift's music, particularly on the 1989 album, from the radio, I was not a superfan like Chloë is. However, seeing Taylor really belting out on some songs - no lip syncing for her, guys - and playing several instruments last night was eye-opening for me. I gained a whole new respect for her, not just as a performer, but as a musician. This young woman is incredibly talented, and she is unstoppable!
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Thanks for your visit. :)
Fin.
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