Taylor Swift was greeted with a roar for the first of three sold-out shows marking the grand finale of her record-breaking Eras Tour.
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“Taylor Swift performed a mash-up with Never Grow Up — the one song we would always skip when Eme was on life support because I couldn’t sing ‘don’t you ever grow up’ lyrics to my baby when we didn’t know if she was going to pull through,” said Danielle Barnard.
The 44-year-old and her 13-year-old daughter attended the sold-out concert at B.C. Place on Friday. The last time the pair were set to see Swift live, in May, the teenager was unable to attend after suffering a cardiac arrest.
“To watch Eme sing those lyrics alongside tens of thousands of other people, now OK after that incident — I sobbed.”
The moment was one of many emotionally charged experiences during the Eras Tour, which spanned five continents and nearly 150 shows, making history as the first tour to surpass $1 billion in earnings.
In Vancouver Friday, Eme wore a lilac dress, Swift’s signature country curls and a tiara inspired by the pop star’s Fearless album.
“A girl came up to me, said ‘I love your outfit, you need this bracelet,’ and handed me a Speak Now friendship bracelet,” the teen said. “It was the best day of my life.”
Outside the stadium Friday, hundreds of fans gathered, undeterred by officials’ warnings to stay away, dancing under umbrellas to the sound of live music spilling from the venue.
Jennifer Yahne, in town from Seattle for Sunday’s show, said she was “blown away” by the sight.
“There was a concert outside of the concert that you could hear for blocks,” said Yahne. “We walked down Beatty Street and there were at least 1,000 people, all having fun — there was no mob, it was all community spirit.”
Inside B.C. Place, Swift was greeted with a roar for the first of three sold-out shows marking the grand finale of her record-breaking Eras Tour.
As part of a local fan-organized initiative, the crowd gave extended cheers and foot-stomping to Swift following her performance of Champagne Problems from her album, Folklore.
Swift said: “Right now, honestly, I’m just feeling so overjoyed that we decided to spend our last couple of shows in Vancouver. You are so unbelievable; I love you so much.”
“We spent the entire year of 2024 travelling around the world,” Swift said earlier in the show. “And we thought to ourselves, ‘Where have the fans been so generous, so welcoming, so warm-hearted, where they know every single word, where they not only sing them but scream them? Oh, we’ve gots (sic) to go back to Canada, and so now here we are.”
Celebrities including Michael Bublé, Sarah Paulson and Leona Lewis were spotted among the crowd Friday.
Social media accounts shared photos of Swift with a film crew onstage during the Vancouver concert, fuelling speculation of an Eras documentary, which comes after the release of her concert film that is the highest-grossing concert movie, earning over $267 million
For Barnard, it was the “most positive and joyful group” she’d ever encountered during a concert, while also being the loudest and rowdiest.
“During Shake It Off, everyone was jumping up and down so hard that the stage was shaking,” said her daughter Eme.
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