I don't know where to start this blog. I guess I'll start with saying that I was really excited about seeing Taylor Swift live again. You see, I last saw her in 2015 when I was close to leaving Sydney but as a result of one of her monologues about how the audience had chosen to spend the night with her when we could have spent it anywhere else in Sydney, I decided to stay. You see, she said how great Sydney was. Now I know that she is paid to say those things but it still resonated with me and so I was excited to be seeing her again. I was so excited that I actually ended up buying a second ticket on the day that I really couldn't afford and giving the other ticket to a friend (who I later found out didn't end up going), but I knew I had to be in the A Reserve section and that I wanted to be closer. I figured I'd have a more memorable experience near the front, and well, that I certainly did. The experience is one I won't be forgetting in a hurry. It's also one that I would rather not repeat.
Like Taylor Swift I can relate to caring about one's reputation and then not caring. I can relate to people thinking one thing about you but another being true. Taylor Swift is one artist who writes music that I can relate to. She also delivers that music in a way that touches me.
I had actually decided I would only go to acting practice (rep) for a short time tonight because of Taylor Swift, so she was right. There were other places that some of us could have been. I can't speak for others in the audience but I certainly did miss being at rep, though I managed to get a short rep in prior to the show which was good.
Anyway, let's fast forward though shall we? I was on my way to the show and people were walking slowly. I didn't want to miss my train and I run at the gym so I weaved in and out of the pedestrian traffic at Central Station. I finally got to Olympic Park and I got to my seat at ANZ Stadium and that is when the drama began.
When I go to a concert I like to take a lot of photographs and I also like to get video. I do this for two reasons. One is because I simply like to relive the concert and the other is because I write reviews of concerts I go to. One of the major reasons I ended up buying an A Reserve ticket at the last minute was because when I went to the 1989 World Tour I had to watch on a big screen rather than watching her in real life. When you watch on the big screen the experience is completely different.
When I got to the show there was this group of four girls in front of me who were totally oblivious to the fact people were behind them. They were completely ignorant. I did what any normal person whose view was blocked would do, I stood on my seat. Now again, as I say, if I'd wanted to watch on the big screen I wouldn't have bought another ticket on the spur of the moment. I would have kept my original ticket.
Here is where the drama began even more. A mother came up to me and whinged that I was blocking her kids' view. I explained the situation and stood my ground. If someone is blocking my view then I will have no choice but to block theirs, but that isn't what bugs me really. It was her shear entitlement. She thought that just because she has kids they have the right to everything. I'm sorry but the universe does not revolve around children. It never has done and it never will do, and they are probably too young to remember anyway. I know I barely remember my first few concerts. I remember who they were, where they were and that's about it. I couldn't tell you anything else. That's not even the real issue though. She got really nasty about it and started name calling. I was polite. I explained the situation.
Later on, maybe about half an hour later, the father came over and asked me the same. He was more reasonable, but again, why would I sit down when my view of the stage was being blocked by other people? If I'd wanted to watch on the big screen I wouldn't have bought another ticket at the last second. I would've kept the cheap seat but I wanted a different experience to what I had at the 1989 World Tour where I couldn't see a thing and had to watch on the big screen.
The father was more reasonable and he kind of gave up but this is where it gets really bad. I tried to reach some type of compromise so we would both win and so that I'd be happy and they'd be happy but they weren't having it. It was their way or the highway.
They got really abusive though and their body language was absolutely appalling. I'm an actor, singer and a writer, so when someone is cold towards me I sense it. It could be one word, maybe not even a word, sometimes all it is, is a look. They got security and security was rude to me, but here's the part that really offended me and got me quite riled up and here is the part that actually ruined my night.
A group of people behind this couple and their children laughed and clapped after security forced me to sit down. Now that might seem quite minor but if you've ever been bullied then sometimes it's only a little thing that will actually trigger that memory and being laughed at and having them clap got me really upset and yeah I cried. The people sitting directly next to me though were about the same age and they were nice. They were basically on my side. You could tell that this wasn't their first concert and that they knew that some people would miss out on a view, but where they seemed to understand me was that they recognised that I'd been bullied by the parents, this random group in the vicinity as well as security and another staff member. They actually seemed to understand the situation and were nice. Just before the show started we changed seats so that I would have the aisle seat. I'll explain why this is important later.
I'm not one to give up on what I want though. Anyway, Taylor Swift came on late because rain delayed the show but that was okay. I actually don't remember the first part of the show because I was fuming because of being bullied and abused by staff and customers of the stadium. A few songs into the show during Look What You Made Me Do I decided to stand on my seat because I didn't want to photograph the backs of people's heads. I wanted to photograph Taylor Swift and her dancers. The couple directly behind me glared at me and were really angry. I was willing to compromise though and just stand up when taking photos. If I'd had my way completely that would've been the entire show though, but it was what was fair. This couple didn't really fight me on it.
Midway through was Shake It off when one of the other stages was used and Taylor Swift brought Charli XCX and Georgia from Broods back onto the stage. By that point it didn't matter who was standing or what they were doing. Nobody was paying attention so I staged my move and stood back on the seat because I'd be damned if I wasn't gonna get some good photos of the show that didn't involve the backs of people's heads. I positioned the seat though so it was partially in the aisle so that nobody would really be affected. I looked around a few times though and I noticed other people standing on their seats as well. I also noticed this one drunk lady yet nobody was doing anything about them, so what I want to know is the following:
- Why did security think it was okay to harass me yet they ignored the others who were doing exactly the same?
- Why didn't security tell the girls in front of me to sit down so they weren't blocking the views of other people?
- Why did the parents think it was okay to abuse and name call?
- Why did a random group of people think that laughing at some was okay?
- Why do people think bullying is okay?
- Why did the ANZ Stadium staff think it was okay to abuse me?
- Why did the ANZ Stadium staff think that bullying was okay?
- Why isn't there better crowd control? If people have seats then EVERYONE should be seated rather than having one rule for some people and another for others. It's as if they thought that harassing and picking on me was okay but others who were doing exactly what I was doing were allowed to.
That's not my real gripe though. Sure, I swore near the children, not at them. I want to make that very clear. I had absolutely no interaction with the children near me, just their obnoxious, rude and entitled parents. The people in my row agreed that I was being bullied by others and they tried to improve my mood but when I stew I really stew and given I'm writing this blog I'm still stewing because I don't like bullying.
And that's actually my real gripe. I wasn't bullied by children. I was bullied and abused by grown adults, adults who should know better, adults who should know the meaning of the word respect, and I just wasn't shown any respect tonight by the people behind me. In fact, I'd actually go so far as to say that a vast number of people in Sydney don't even know what respect is and that they think they can mistreat people, as I was mistreated tonight. There is no excuse for laughing at someone, calling them names or abusing them and grown adults should know better. As I say, there were kids nearby and while I don't really about that, I do question what type of example the children are being set when they're around parents who think that bullying people at a concert is okay.
And of all the concerts to bully someone at it was a Taylor Swift concert. Taylor herself has been bullied and she's written numerous songs about it right from Mean to Clean, Shake It Off, Look What You Made Me Do, Bad Blood, This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things and Blank Space. People should know better than to bully others and there's never going to be any justification for it.
Anyway, how was the actual concert? Well, I was stewing until Shake It Off when Taylor moved to another stage. I did like the opening which was the song Reputation sung by Taylor Swift. I was definitely feeling that song. She sung a few other songs, Ready For It, I Did Something Bad, Gorgeous and a medley of Style, Love Story and You Belong With Me before Look What You Made Me Do which was when snakes really made their appearance on stage.
It wasn't until she moved to one of the other stages which was in the middle of the floor that the show got really good and the crowd was very enthusiastic. She brought Charli XCX and Georgia from Broods onto the stage and they belted out the song Shake It Off. Snakes continued to feature more and she did a few songs from that position before moving back to the main stage for Don't Blame Me and the rest of the final act of the show.
The final act of the show featured other songs including Long Live/New Year's Day which was sung with just her piano on the main stage before she launched into Getaway Car which had a video backdrop, Call It What You Want which was set up on stage like a castle.
The show finished with We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together/This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things and there were fireworks which is very cool, especially given it rained for the majority of the show.
Sadly Taylor didn't do as many monologues as in previous shows and the ones she did do were much shorter and felt a lot faker. It didn't feel like she was as genuine as she has been in the past. She also didn't dance as much as during the 1989 World Tour. She relied much more on the dancers and she was much more in her own little bubble. It didn't feel like she cared about the audience like she had previously. The only time I felt like she did care was during one of the final video features before Getaway Car which was about how she'd been around fake people who didn't truly value her.
Unfortunately my opinion of the show was always going to be clouded by the bullying and abuse at the beginning of the show. I wasn't a fan of Broods. Charli XCX was good for the most part other than when she launched into a mini girl power monologue before her song Boys. I really liked her songs Break the Rules, 1999 and I Love It, which I now realise I actually have on my iPhone. I purchased Break the Rules and 1999 after the show. She had stage presence and definitely knew what she was doing. She deserved to be there.
Broods were inexperienced and I didn't really like their music. Taylor Swift was polished as ever but this time I felt like she was a little too polished and a little more impersonal than during the 1989 World Tour. The other disappointing part of the show (aside from the bullying and abuse) was that there was no encore. Welcome To New York would've been a good encore. I won't criticise Taylor Swift for being late onto stage. She didn't arrive until 9:30pm when she'd been scheduled to arrive on stage at 8:50pm. She was late onto stage because the rain caused logistical issues. I had also been expecting rain since tickets went on sale on the 13th of December.
It's mildly annoying though because had I known she was going to be on stage so late I could've spent longer at acting rep tonight.
Anyway, I can only give the show a 3.5/5 because aside from being bullied and abused by other customers (when others were also standing on chairs, which when you think about it, really says more about the ignorance of the people in front of me and the parents and other bullies behind me) Taylor didn't seem as genuine as in previous concerts, there wasn't as much talking and there was no encore. I always look forward to an encore during concerts. In some ways, Shake It Off's performance which was in the middle would've been an excellent encore but it wouldn't have fit at the end of the show, nor would Welcome to NewYork, Mean might have though.
Here are my favourite photos from the show though. Shake It Off, New Year's Day, Look What You Made Me Do and This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things were my favourite songs during the show and Shake It Off my favourite moment. It was during Shake It Off that I was able to shake off the bullies and start enjoying the show.
