Taylor Swift fans are pouring into BC Place stadium in Vancouver for the final show of the pop superstar’s blockbuster Eras Tour.
Swift’s motorcade of black SUVs and police outriders has made its way to the arena, with social media video showing fans screaming in delight as it passed by.
The tour’s 149th show is the culmination of glittery global cultural phenomenon that has included five continents, grossing an estimated US$2 billion in revenue over more than 20 months.
Along the way, Swift became the first entertainer named Time’s person of the year.
Among the tens of thousands of fans waiting for Swift to take the stage around 8 p.m. are Jean Batac and Meme Bautista, who say being a Swiftie means belonging to a community.
Bautista says her fandom has only grown since she last saw Swift in the Philippines a decade ago, and she has mixed emotions about the tour coming to an end.
“A lot of people are expecting something like a surprise announcement or something special,” Bautista said Sunday. “A lot of people have described it as like a kindness convention. It’s more than just a tour, it’s like a community coming together celebrating … having fun.”
“And it’s very sad to see that coming to an end.”
While Bautista has been a diehard Swiftie for years, Batac is a new convert.
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Batac said she’s looking forward to seeing her friend’s reaction because Swift is Bautista’s “dream artist.”
“I’m looking forward to her emotion,” Batac said.
The Swifties who have descended on downtown Vancouver have also included like rapper Flavor Flav.
The Public Enemy hype-man said on social media he was on his way from Los Angeles to “Taycouver” on a “flight full of Swifties” ahead of Sunday’s show.
B.C. singer Michael Buble was handing out friendship bracelets on night one, also attended by Swift’s parents, while Canuck Jake DeBrusk was at Saturday’s show according to a social media post and photo by his girlfriend.
Swift has reciprocated fans’ feelings, telling the audience on Friday night that she chose Canada and Vancouver to close out the tour because the fans not only know the lyrics, they “scream them.”
Swifties have been planning something special to end the tour, with Swift forums abuzz with suggestions to surprise her by singing “Happy Birthday” at tonight’s show, ahead of Swift’s 35th birthday on Dec. 13.
Fan projects like this have been a big part of the Eras Tour, with chants and patterned clapping breaking out during various songs.
On Saturday, after the ballad “Champagne Problems,” Swift was met with a ritualistic standing ovation that lasted more than four minutes, along with chants of “thank you.”
“I don’t even know how to thank you for everything that you’ve given to me to get me to this place that I get to even stand here and have this experience,” Swift told the crowd.
University of Kansas sociology professor and “Swiftologist” Brian Donovan says such moments of joyous social solidarity are known as “collective effervescence.”
“What is interesting about the Eras Tour is that it also brought about unique cultural things like the trading of friendship bracelets,” he said, noting such practices were fan-driven and were not organized by Swift or her team.
Swift performed six shows in Toronto last month.
Canada was announced as a late addition to the tour last year. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had previously pleaded with the star on social media to visit Canada, telling her “don’t make it another ‘Cruel Summer,’” a nod to one of her hits.
Trudeau and family members were among Swifties at the Toronto shows, as were former U.S. president Bill Clinton and his wife former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Swiftie Jenny Fox got tickets to Saturday’s show after seeing her daughter Avery’s reaction to the Eras Tour movie.
“I texted my husband in the theatre and said that if this is how it is in a movie theatre, I can’t even imagine what it would be like to see and experience this in real life in a massive stadium, and to see the joy on Avery’s face,” she said.
Fox is the primary caretaker for her own mother, who has late-stage Alzheimer’s.
“As soon as we put certain music on, mom comes back,” she said.
“So music is very near and dear to us. We play a lot of music, and a lot of Taylor Swift with her, so there is that love and memory and special tie to it.”
© 2024 The Canadian Press
Taylor Swift’s End of the Eras Tour to take its final bow in Vancouver
