Photo courtesy of Amber Moody
Addison Moody cried in shock and excitement when she found out her mother got her Taylor Swift tickets for Christmas.
The 16-year-old didn’t think they could get into the Eras Tour due to Ticketmaster issues, but Addison wasn’t the only one excited to go.
Her mom, Amber, who is also a Swiftie, grew up listening to Swift in college. Amber and her husband, Peter, even played Swift’s song “Today Was a Fairytale” at their wedding.
“So that’s how we got started, and then it just multiplied where we were listening to more and more and more Taylor Swift as our daughter gets older,” Amber said. “She would ask for it and then we would all sing it together In the car if it comes on the radio.”
The duo went to Taylor Swift’s first stop in Kansas City on Friday night and both agreed that hearing “Never Grow Up” was a very special and sentimental moment.
”That’s kind of a special song to us and so we both were really excited when she played that song on Friday night,” Amber said.
Amber said the song has a new amazing memory tied to it, and she doesn’t think she will ever listen to it the same way.
“‘Never Grow Up’ was kind of one of her older songs and my mom just always played that song for me on my birthday, and for her to play that in real life, and for me to look at my mom and we both just started crying. It was just so surreal. It felt like a dream, honestly,” Addison said.
Addison wasn’t quite old enough to see Swift at her 2012 concert, but is a longtime Swiftie, she said. Amber was lucky enough to purchase tickets for retail value from a friend the day after the Ticketmaster fiasco, she said.
The experience was surreal from the moment they walked in the stadium, Addison said.
“It was just, it’s a once in a lifetime experience, and it was worth every penny,” Amber said. “Even if I had paid thousands of dollars, it would still have been worth it, just because it was such a great experience.”
Aryanna Jessup saw Swift for the fourth time on Friday and said it was maybe her favorite tour yet because she got to see songs from all of Swift’s different eras.
Her favorite part was seeing “Long Live” and “All Too Well.” She also thought it was special to see the premiere of the music video for “I Can See You,” a new song on Swift’s album “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version),” which came out the day of the concert.
Jessup, 33, has been a fan since her teens. She went to the Red Tour, The 1989 Tour and the Reputation Tour.
“It was phenomenal and I had a blast, and I cannot wait to go see her again whenever she comes back,” Jessup said.
On night two, Jody Gregory and her daughter Samantha went to the show after being longtime fans. Samantha’s parents first took her to see Swift open for Brad Paisley when she was 6. She is now 22.
She has seen Taylor in concert five times, six if you count both nights of the Eras Tour in KC.
On the first night, Samantha got last-minute floor tickets right in front of the celebrity tent. She got a photo with Taylor Launter and saw Jennifer Garner. “Never Grow Up” was her favorite song of the weekend.
Jody Gregory said she had never seen anything like Swift’s show with fans screaming every word, everyone dressed in themed Swiftie outfits and tears streaming down girls’ faces.
“I’ve seen her several times, but she puts on such an amazing show, and to think that she performs 40 odd songs and with very little break,” Jody said. “I am an avid concert goer, and I’ve just never seen anyone perform at the level she does.”
Samantha said both nights were incredible, and where she sat made little impact on the quality of the show.
“The only thing I would say is just, honestly, both nights were equally as fun,” Samantha said. “The floor versus we were almost at the top row in the nosebleed and I mean the view was different, obviously, but the experience was almost the exact same and it was super fun both nights so I would tell people just go if you can go. It doesn’t matter where you’re sitting.”
Lucy McCleary went to the concert with her mom, Kelly Anderson. McCleary said her mom was really the driving force behind her getting tickets because she had been talking about wanting to see Swift for years. She decided if she could get tickets she would take her mom.
“It was just a long time coming, you know, kind of being like a fan in the background for quite a long time and then finally getting to go it was amazing,” McCleary said.
McCleary loved getting to see her favorite album “Speak Now” have its Taylor’s Version debut, and the overall atmosphere made the experience even better.
“I felt just happy and everyone was so energetic and just so happy to be there,” McCleary said. “I’ve never been to a concert where, you know, everyone was so nice. We were all just kind of like helping each other stay cool and stuff like that. So the atmosphere was energetic, bubbly.”
Mandi Brown got to experience a song dear to her heart Friday night. She and her best friend, Laura, met at 22 years old. They got to sing Swift’s “22” with a crowd full of Swifties, which was one of Brown’s favorite parts. The song has always been the best friends go-to, and holds a special place in their hearts since it symbolizes their friendship.
Brown has loved Swift since her first album came out while she was in college.
“I actually saw her open for Rascal Flatts in her very first tour ever when she was just, you know, curly hair, sparkly guitar,” Brown said.
Brown had never had the chance to see Swift again after that, but everything perfectly aligned for her and her best friend to go to the Eras Tour. After waiting hours in the queue for tickets in presale, they both got tickets back-to-back.
“We always wanted to do it together and this year everything worked out perfectly that we would be able to do it,” Brown said. “We said, ‘We’re gonna spend whatever money it takes to get there and do it and see it.’”
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected]