Taylor Swift "Red" Concert

Hi. Remember me? Of course you don't, because I haven't blogged in ten days. (Sorry about that). Our family's summer has been a little insane, considering we've been trying to scale back on the number of activities we do.

Anyway, let me tell you about something we did a few weeks ago.

We went to the Taylor Swift "Red" concert.

Tickets

Oh, yes! After months and months of waiting, we finally went!

YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

I promised you all a blog post about it, so here goes.

My BFF Kirsten came over to make T-Shirts for the concert. They were awesome. We were hoping that if we stood out enough, we'd get picked to go to the T-party (we didn't). But they were still awesome.

Kirsten (left) and me (right) making our T-shirts

Our awesome glow-in-the-dark "Swift" necklaces

The finished products

T-shirts: Kirsten's is on the left and mine is on the right

An up-close picture of my T-shirt

Eating a quick lunch on RED plates before leaving

Mommy getting ready to go

TAYLOR SWIFT!!!!! :D

BFFs with matching outfits (including the red lipstick Taylor usually--er, always--wears).

The girls

Notice the red toenails?

Scout wanted to be in a picture

After a few hours of driving/waiting in traffic/showing off our beautiful homemade signs to other Taylor Swift concert-goers through the window, we arrived at the stadium. We missed one of the opening acts, but none of us really cared. The only people we wanted to see were Ed Sheeran and, of course, Taylor Swift.

At the arena

Waiting for Ed Sheeran

The boys

Yes, this is actually how close we were!

ED SHEERAN!!!!! :D

We had awesome seats

Ed on the screen

The schedule

Almost time!

Impersonating Taylor Swift's shocked expression when she comes out on stage.

Two minutes after Taylor Swift was scheduled to come on, an announcement was made. "Ladies and gentlemen," was blared through the speakers and everyone screamed, only to realize that they were announcing a thunderstorm coming our way. 50,000 people left their seats and went to take cover under the concourse until the storm passed. While we were under there, little kids were crying because they were scared of the storm. Others were crying and saying, "I want Taylor!"

Anxiously waiting.

Feeling a little worried (and claustrophobic).

Forcing smiles onto our faces, because we were all scared it was going to get cancelled. (Someone photo-bombed us, but we didn't realize it until we uploaded the pictures onto our computers).

Pouring rain

STILL waiting

Almost two hours later . . .

Eventually it stopped raining and everyone was rushed back to their seats, which were soaking wet, but I don't think a single person complained. Taylor was two hours late, but by that time everyone was just happy that she was performing at all.

SHE'S HERE! SHE'S HERE!

RED

This was how she opened. She started by singing "State of Grace."

OMG THAT'S TAYLOR SWIFT!!!!!

Performing "Red."

There was a big screen behind us so we could see what was happening up close.

I'm pretty sure most of the crowd was crying by this point.

Performing "22" on a smaller stage closer to the back of the crowd. Closer to US.

Singing some of her older songs. I'm pretty sure she saw our glow-in-the-dark sign, because she looked over at us and smiled.

"You Belong With Me."

Singing along to "You Belong With Me."

I don't think I stopped smiling once. Or singing. Or screaming.

Even Maxim enjoyed it. And he usually rolls his eyes when I play Taylor Swift songs.

Taylor and Ed performing "Everything Has Changed."

THE STAGE IS RISING!!!!!

Up above the crowd.

The crowd with their phones in the air.

Waving our hands in the air.

Screaming. (Kirsten informed me later that the people in front of us moved because we were, "screaming too loud.")

Everyone was singing along.

Singing some more.

Tired, but still going strong!

Ending with "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together." (Which was OFF THE HOOK, by the way).

Fireworks! :D

Screaming ourselves hoarse and crossing our fingers for an encore.

A few minutes later and still screaming.

Taylor's not coming back apparently, so we'll keep screaming. Just for kicks.

Cleaning up.

When they started to clean up the stage, we got up to leave, still beaming. Some people behind us were still screaming, but we're pretty sure they were drunk. And there were a few empty beer cups under their seats.

The ride home was verrrrrry long due to poorly-directed concert traffic (ahem, did I say poorly-directed? I meant we weren't being directed at all). Everyone was chattering about the concert when we got in the car, but Kirsten, Maxim, and I all fell asleep a few minutes later, after our adrenaline crashed. We stopped to use the bathroom and get some food at three in the morning and got home around four thirty. We didn't actually fall asleep until five in the morning, so we all slept in until noon. If I remember right, we started talking about the concert as soon as we woke up.

The concert was amazing, and Kirsten told me later that it was the best night of her entire life. Thank you, Jim, for the tickets! :D