The Long Awaited Day

Gracie and I had our long awaited date to the Taylor Swift concert on Friday night.

It was such a great concert, I don't even know where to start. I do wish every parent of a girl could take their daughter to see her.

She had 2 opening acts: Glorianna and Kelly Pickler. I didn't care for first group mainly because the female singers seemed to have an attitude way bigger than their name. Kelly Pickler was really good; she seems very sweet.

Before Taylor Swift came out to sing, she played a video of herself talking. She was very slow and methodical in her delivery- like she definitely wanted kids to hear what she had to say. She talked about being 15 (because that's one of her songs) and being in Jr. High and High School. She drove home the point that popularity doesn't matter. She talked about how unimportant most of those people will be later in life. She talked about her own experience and how she wasn't popular. She went onto say that had she been popular and caught up in all that drama that she may not have poured herself into music the way she had.

ANYWAY...

If you're like me, the first time I heard the song Fifteen, I was mortified when I hear the chorus. I remember stopping the song and giving the girls a lecture about not knowing everything when your fifteen.

Shelby stopped me and said, "Mom, that's not what she's saying. You have to listen to the whole thing. This is the chorus:

'Cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you

You're gonna believe them

And when you're fifteen feeling like there's nothing to figure out

Well, count to ten, take it in

This is life before you know who you're gonna be

Fifteen

And this is the end of the song:

Back then I swore I was gonna marry him someday
But I realized some bigger dreams of mine
And Abigail gave everything she had to a boy
Who changed his mind and we both cried

'Cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you
You're gonna believe them
And when you're fifteen, don't forget to look before you fall
I've found time can heal most anything
And you just might find who you're supposed to be
I didn't know who I was supposed to be at fifteen

I was completely wrong. Basically, she told the kids, "You have no idea who you are at fifteen. Don't make life altering decisions at 15 years old."

And, all that happened before the concert.

She opened with her song You Belong with Me... again, about not being popular, hence the band uniform... which was later ripped off revealing a really cute, flashy black dress.

The next picture is from Romeo and Juliet which also seems like it may not be the greatest song. Again, one could conclude she is condoning disobeying your parents and running out to meet a boy. HOWEVER, it's Shakespeare, so I guess we parents need to take our issues up with him.

Anyway, at the end of the song....
all the people you see in the background wearing the "Shakespearian era" clothing surrounded her. We could see what was happening because we were at the side of the stage... but they ripped her dress off and under it was a gorgeous white gown. She was given a tiara to place on her head and when the song was over, she bent down and very intentionally placed it in the hands of a little girl. It was obvious she didn't want fighting over. She waited until the little girl had it completely in her possession.
One more story about the morals of Taylor Swift. She has a very popular song called White Horse. The song is dating a guy who is married. Of course, she had no idea he was married.

Before the song, she said she said, "I used to read a lot of fairy tales. And, the bad guys... they were always in black and sometimes... they even wore black capes. But, now, sometimes the bad guys... they can be really cute."

Several times throughout her show, she just stopped and thanked everyone in the crowd. "Thank you for coming. Thank you for supporting me. Thank you for voting for me."

Other times, after a song, she'd just stop and smile. And, the smile was like "I can not believe this is my life. I can't believe these people came here to here me sing." Once, she stood for a good 5 minutes and just let people clap. Halfway through that five minutes she said, "I just never want to forget this."

I didn't like the first group because those girls acted like they were all that and a bag of chips. Taylor Swift on the other hand... one of the most humble, gracious people that I have ever watched perform.

She was there because she loved what she does and she loves her fans. This was so obvious because on one occasion, while a video of her doing an interview was playing on the screens, she relocated herself in the area. When she began singing again, the lights drew the eyes of the crowd up to the 200's section... where she sang a song right there. When it was over, she walked down through the crowd hugging people and allowing people to take her picture. A good 5 minutes later, in the back of the arena, she situated herself on a stage back there and sang at least 3 songs. When they were over, she made her way through the crowd again and hugged people and allowed people to take her pictures.

When she had about 3 songs left to sing, she came out with an Ohio State Buckeye jersey on- #33 and SWIFT on the back. WHen the song was over, she took off the jersey because she had on a dress, not a skirt, bent down and again... very intentionally placed the entire shirt in the hands of a little girl.
During the end of the last song, she sang in the pouring rain.
Gracie before the concert... note our proximity to the stage.

I just can't say enough good things about Taylor Swift, her concert in which she played for 2 hours and 35 minutes, and the night I had with Gracie. Priceless!!