Taylor Swift performs during the opening show of the Toronto dates of The Eras Tour on Thursday, November 14, 2024.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
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The first wave of Swifties finally crashed upon Toronto on Thursday, with tens of thousands of fans flooding the city’s streets, transit, libraries, businesses and even its downtown convention centre – trading stories, friendship bracelets and memories.
Taylor Swift fans came from San Diego, from Newfoundland and Labrador, from down the Gardiner Expressway and from City Hall – with even Mayor Olivia Chow showing up at a Toronto Public Library branch the night before to join in on a bracelet-making event.
Fans had waited for this moment since Ms. Swift first announced her shows at the Rogers Centre all the way back in August, 2023. Many of them gathered at the massive Taylgate ‘24 party at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, a stone’s throw from the Rogers Centre, where Ms. Swift performed her first of six concerts Thursday night.
From left to right: Dallas Browning, Patricia Browning, Stephenie Royle and Ashley Duvall pose in a photobooth at Toronto’s Version: Taylgate ’24, a fan event for Swifties at Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto on Nov. 14.Laura Proctor/The Globe and Mail
The $55-a-ticket event served as both a preshow party site for lucky ticketholders and a place of solace for Swift fans left behind by Ticketmaster. There, they paid homage to their musical idol, their friendships and their loved ones who never got the chance to be at the shows.
Julisa Brace travelled to the city from the Avalon region of Newfoundland, calling the concert experience “a full-circle moment.”
The 25-year-old was first introduced to Ms. Swift’s music by her father when she was still a kid – “when Taylor was still just doing country music.” He introduced her to a wide range of musicians, she said, from Avril Lavigne to Alice Cooper. Ms. Brace’s father died when she was 11. So, this experience, she said, feels like an opportunity to honour her father and his memory.
The honour came with hard work: She wore a replica of one of Ms. Swift’s costumes from the Eras Tour – the crystal-encrusted blue and white bodysuit designed by Zuhair Murad that she wears for the Midnights era. Ms. Brace’s version of the outfit was constructed out of an old dress she bought for $5 from Walmart and covered in more than 6,000 nail gems she glued by hand. She spent more than three months making it.
She’s a teacher now, and regularly plays Ms. Swift’s music for her students. “Now my kids and I bond over it.”
Noni Senyei, her two daughters and three granddaughters flew in from San Diego Wednesday night especially for the show. They have tickets for Thursday’s concert, and return home less than 48 hours after arriving, on Friday.
“It’s just memories. I love having these memories with them,” said Ms. Senyei. Officially, the trip was a Christmas gift to 10-year-old granddaughter Lillian “from Santa Claus,” Ms. Senyei said. She declined to say how much the tickets and trip might have cost Santa.
(From left to right): Vienna Savaglio, Chiara Bozzelli, Valentina Didiano. Duane Cole/The Globe and MailDUANE COLE/The Globe and Mail
The girls spent part of Thursday afternoon getting Swift-inspired makeovers at the Taylgate party. Lillian, sporting glitter eyeshadow and glossy pink lips, said she’d asked for “a glowy effect.” Her sister Teddy, 7, opted for glittery silver stars. “Taylor Swift is generational,” said Kelly Senyei, one of Noni’s two daughters. “You can be 6, or 70, and you’ll still enjoy her.”
As fans made their way to Union Station, where pink signs pointed the way westward toward the Rogers Centre, fans young and old were decked out in Swift-inspired outfits.
Grade 8 students Ava Avila, Jayde Ayotte and Victoria Martins all skipped class Thursday for the concert. Ava was dressed in a Reputation-inspired outfit. “That’s Taylor’s grunge era,” she said while riding Toronto’s east-west subway line. She laced beads through her Doc Martens that said: “The Eras Tour Toronto” and “It’s been a long time coming.”
Ava said she wanted to bring binder clips to carry all her friendship bracelets, like the Swifties did at the U.S. shows, but they were forbidden at the Rogers Centre. Instead, she had a couple dozen on her wrists.
And it wouldn’t have been a Swift show without the dads. Online, they’re known affectionately as the “Swiftie dads,” who can be spotted at any Swift concert hauling coats and bags, or tapping their credit cards for yet another purchase of merch.
On Thursday afternoon ahead of the show, Peter Kotylak wore the label proudly, with a shirt that read “It’s me, hi. I’m the dad. It’s me.”
Mr. Kotylak, a cattle and grain farmer from Montmartre, Sask., first became a fan after his daughter Marley introduced him to Ms. Swift’s music. The family flew to Toronto this week for the concert, fulfilling a promise Mr. Kotylak had made to Marley way back in 2009. “He didn’t know it was gonna be such an expensive promise,” she said.