By Max Luebbers ’16, Entertainment Editor
I was an outsider looking in. I was clearly not the target demographic, but I had gone of my own volition. It was an experiment if you will. I had told myself that it would be fun, but in retrospect I’m not sure I had prepared myself enough for the full-on assault on my senses I was about to subject myself to. This is Taylor Swift: the 1989 World Tour.
Miraculously Taylor Swift has never really gotten on my bad side. Radio-pop is certainly not my thing, neither is country, yet you can’t deny that she can write catchy melodies as well as make cogent observations about the most asinine of teenage heartbreaks. And while she’s become a little more edgy over the years (just look at her live performance of “I Knew You Were Trouble”), her sparkly image has remained intact and her belly button conspicuously covered. So I went with a more open mind then you’d expect, anticipating if not some good music at least a good show.
The seminal modern-day princess is fresh off the release of her latest album, 1989, which dropped last year, and she couldn’t have seemed happier to be in Columbus. “We always are so excited to come to Columbus” she says “because every time we come you guys are the most excited crowd. That’s why we come back.” It made me feel accomplished. Despite never having attended a Taylor Swift concert, I, and several thousand pre-teen girls, were responsible for Taylor being with us that night. We were special, never mind the fact that she clearly delivers the same spiel in every city she visits.
Taylor Swift’s message has always been to love yourself and forget the haters, and the message works most of the time. She creates a wholesome atmosphere, and I found myself at times utterly convinced that I was special and that Taylor was a close friend of mine. It’s a sentiment that Swift covets. She tries her utmost to keep something as loud and boisterous as one of her live shows intimate, and that almost fake gaze of astonishment comes across her face every time the crowd roars in approval. Despite the ridiculous theatrics, it’s all an attempt to make the concert seem like just a regular hangout with Taylor. She brings out “friends” like Sydney Sierota of Echosmith, and they hug and dance about together for a song and then they leave. About a quarter of the show must have been spent watching celebrities, dressed like Taylor Swift, on a big screen behind the stage. They talked about being friends with Taylor, about how much they eat together and about Taylor’s love of cats. It’s stupid, really stupid. I didn’t go to Columbus to watch a video of Cara Delevingne espousing on Swift’s various quirks, but I must admit that the effect was quite homey, and delivered some respite from the madness.
The madness is most evident in Swift’s ridiculous, over-the-top stage performances. Rotating stages, indoor fireworks, and large amounts of confetti turn one of her concerts into a veritable circus. The effect is somewhere between a TED talk and Cirque du Soleil. About half of her act was a very one-sided conversation with crowd about ignoring the haters and being yourself. You would think that she’s the pope come a week early, or a messiah for the tween girls of America. As she rises dramatically from underneath the stage she appears like Jesus risen from the dead. With each utterance she is met by a deafening roar. She merely has to throw a jacket into the crowd and maniacal fans claw over it in order to touch some part of their one savior.
It was an experience. An enjoyable one I might add, but I’m not confident I would put myself through it again. There’s just too much there. It’s too much a theatrical performance than a concert to show off her musical artistry. And sure I knew what I was getting into but I had hoped at least it would be a little less schizophrenic. I must say though, I came out of it looking better than any of the other male attendees (except maybe the middle-aged, bespectacled dad, who sat next to me with his five year-old). The rest trudged around behind their women with long faces, perhaps wishing that they could be watching football, or maybe that the ceiling would collapse and kill them on the spot. These two sides of the spectrum, one the loving father, two the begrudging boyfriend (I was somewhere in between), as well as the concert in general, have taught me the most important thing about Taylor Swift. Appreciation requires a bit of awe, a bit of cynicism and a whole lot of humor.
Image Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/19/taylor-swift-goes-full-shakespeare.html
