Featured image: It’s anything but a ‘Cruel Summer’ for Mitchell Swifties lucky enough to have their hands on tickets to pop megastar Taylor Swift’s sold-out Eras Tour at the ‘G this weekend. The numerous fans who didn’t snag tickets, including Wallan Swifties Ruby, Mia and Miranda, are shaking it off with other exciting plans to partake in the fun.
The artist of the decade, an independent trailblazer and a champion of girlhood – love her or hate her, there’s no denying the sheer inspiration and impact that megastar Taylor Swift has on her millions of diehard fans.
Mitchell and Whittlesea Swifties lucky enough to have secured coveted tickets to Swift’s Eras Tour are counting down to the ‘once in a lifetime event’ set for the Melbourne Cricket Ground, MCG, this weekend.
The singer’s three Melbourne shows sold out in just hours in June last year.
It was ‘Death By A Thousand Cuts’ for Swifties unable to secure seats, each up against Ticketeck site crashes, scams and thousands of other fans pursuing tickets.
Shaking It Off
It was down to bad luck for Wallan’s Ruby, 12, Mia, 12, and Miranda, 9, who, despite trying every avenue, could not secure Tay-Tay tickets.
Mum and family friend Sarah Brewer, who is also president of local charity group Love in Action, has committed to braving this weekend’s city crowds with the girls so they can at least be ‘in the atmosphere’.
“To be 12, to not be able to go and see your favourite performer when it’s on every radio station, every TV, everyone’s talking about it – at least they feel part of it,” Ms Brewer said.
“I’m just proud of them – the fact that they don’t have tickets at the moment, but they’re not sulking, they’re like ‘what can we do to make it better?’”
“These three work very hard for the community, so it’ll be nice just to see them have some fun.”
Bursting with positivity despite their misfortune, the girls will be taking their 52 (and counting) friendship bracelets to trade with other unlucky fans – a concert tradition inspired by Swift’s lyric ‘make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it’.
“Taylor’s not just a singer to us – she’s an inspiration,” Ruby said.
“I don’t care if we don’t see her, just as long as we’re still there,” Mia said.
Wildest Dreams come true
City of Whittlesea’s ‘Dad of the Year’ may just go to Matthew Narduzzo-Nolan, who hitched It’s A Love Story VIP tickets for himself and 13-year-old daughter Maddison, valued at a combined $966.
For Mr Narduzzo-Nolan, who has been a fan since the singer’s country releases, Swift is more than just a singer: she is a role model for his young daughter.
“[She’s demonstrated] the sort of strength for young women to show that they can achieve everything they want to and be able to do it themselves,” he said.
The Mernda father said the tussle for Tay-Tay tickets was “the most stressful thing”, first losing tickets when the site crashed after seven hours of queuing.
The announcement of a third Melbourne show gave him one last chance to secure tickets.
“I went in there, saw how much it was and went ‘this is going to be your birthday present for the next year or two’.”
“When we got them, Maddison was screaming and crying and couldn’t believe that we’d actually got them.”
Singin’ in a big old city
Beveridge’s Jesse Morvan will be five weeks postpartum when she heads to Sydney with her two younger sisters to see Swift live.
Baby Jenson will be making the trip to Sydney to stay with family while his mum and aunties take to the Eras Tour.
“As soon as she confirmed she was coming to Australia, we knew we would do almost anything to get tickets,” Ms Morvan said.
“They were $150 per person more than our budget, but it was still a no-brainer.”
Eras Tour hits MelbourneHaving loved Swift since her 2010 country album Speak Now, Ms Morvan said it’s the singer’s intelligent songwriting that she admires most.
“It was her song ‘Mean’ that got me really into her music. I was getting bullied in high school, and it really resonated with me and got me through that year and beyond,” she said.
Haters gonna hate
While coming under the scrutiny of those struggling to grasp the reasons behind her influence, Swift continues to champion independence with the takeback of her music from former record label Big Machine Records, pioneer for strength in girlhood and uplift fans of all ages with tracks from her 14 albums.
