LOYAL. LOCAL. COMPLETE.
“Never be so polite, you forget your power. Never wield such power, you forget to be polite.”
-Taylor Swift “Marjorie” 2020
This past Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Nov. 1-3) the happiest place on Earth was not Walt Disney World in Florida. It was Indianapolis, Ind.
Ground Zero for happiness was Lucas Oil Stadium, usually known as the home of the Indianapolis Colts. But, on this past magical weekend, Lucas Oil Stadium was the epicenter of the final performances of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
What began as a celebration of one artist’s 18 years of music became a worldwide phenomenon allowing mothers, daughters, sisters and grandmothers a moment of pure happiness, according to Haley Sanders.
“(It was) lots of different people. It was just pure happiness,” Sanders told me.
I would argue that Indianapolis, which annually hosts the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, NCAA and Big 10 Tourneys and has even hosted the Super Bowl – hasn’t been this taken over by an event since The Beatles performed at the Indiana State Fair.
I talked to four mothers and daughters who reveled in everything Taylor Swift in Indianapolis, as well as Haley and Abby Sanders, who jumped on the Swiftie Express last summer when the tour filled Soldier Field in Chicago.
Megan and Olivia Carroll, Lucy and Ava Tarr and Kim and Leela McCulloch were still riding the Swift high Wednesday and Thursday. Each mother-daughter duo expressed not only the pure enjoyment of the concert experience but also what it meant to be together among the thousands of Swifties who invaded Indianapolis this weekend from all over the world. And, for Leela McCulloch, it was her first concert. How do you top that?
Being able to buy tickets for the event was a challenge, according to Megan Carroll who, along with fellow educator Creighton Tarr, kept each other up-to-date on the latest sites where tickets were being sold.
For the Sanders, Haley had to overcome the great monster Ticketmaster. After being on hold most the day and finally being allowed to buy tickets, Sanders was thrown off and lost the chance to purchase the Chicago tickets. Not to fear, however, as the website made it right and the mother and daughter were able to enjoy the June 3, 2024, outdoor concert.
Abby Sanders has been listening to Swift for years although she experienced a resurgence in her music when her 2020 album was released. While Haley Sanders admitted she has listened to the singer “but she’s not my favorite.”
The Chicago tickets were for Abby’s 16th birthday.
“We rode the train to Chicago, ate where we wanted just the two of us, went on a bus tour of the city and road the Highwater jet,” the Paris High School senior said. “We laughed together.”
Ava Tarr, an eighth grader at Mayo Middle School who is perhaps best known for her prowess on the softball field and basketball court, described attending the concert as one of the best days of her young life.
“I got emotional when she came to the stage for the first time,” Ava recalled.
Early on in the tour most spectators dressed in honor of their favorite album, but as the Eras tour became a full-blown spectacular, all ages were dressing in head-to-toe sequins from their boots to their dresses, even to the sequins or baubles in their hair.
“We weren’t sure we would be able to get tickets, but we wanted Ava to be able to be ready,” Lucy Tarr said. “She picked out a dress off of Amazon.”
Ava, Olivia Carroll and Leta McCulloch each wore the friendship bracelets – some handmade. Bracelets covered the arms of most of those attending the concert. Swiftie friendship bracelets are beaded bracelets made by Taylor Swift fans to trade with each other at her concerts.
The bracelets are inspired by the lyrics of Swift’s song “You’re on Your Own, Kid” from her 2022 album Midnights, which includes the line “So, make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it.”
In Indy, Megan Carroll said the convention center was filled with bracelet vendors. Ava Tarr made her friendship bracelets and Olivia Carroll participated in the trading with other fans. Even the Indianapolis Police Department got into the act as policemen were wearing friendship bracelets and trading them.
“We saw everyone from five years old to 70-year-olds,” Megan Carroll said. “This was empowerment for everyone regardless of background, religion, gay or straight. It was happiness.”
It wasn’t just the girls who wore the sequins, either.
“You know it,” Megan laughed. “Gold sequin pants, rhinestones in our hair, red lipstick. Everyone was dolled up.”
Although Swift didn’t sing Ava Tarr’s favorite song “Last Kiss,” she was happy to hear “Exile” while her mother really enjoyed “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me.”
“I feel like Taylor Swift is a good role model for our daughters,” Lucy Tarr said. “There aren’t negative stories about her. She’s good to the people who work for her and is a humanitarian.”
Lucas Oil Stadium was “absolutely full of joy” the night Lucy and Ava attended the concert.
“It was a bonding experience for us,” Lucy said.
Kim (Levi) McCulloch appreciated not only the happiness and good vibes of the concert but the overall production.
“Everyone is given LED wristbands when they enter and the crowd itself was a choreographed light show timed to the music throughout,” Kim said. Many times Leela had different colors than her mother.
“The amount of set, choreography and costume changes were insane,” Kim, who directs high school drama, said. “Not only did Indianapolis fully celebrate with local activities and police horses wearing giant friendship bracelets, it was such a warm, friendly vibe inside.”
So, for three very special days in Indianapolis, mothers and daughters, as well as Swifties from every walk of life, forgot about what was going on in the world and celebrated joy.
Good for them.
(Nancy Zeman is part-owner and past publisher of The Prairie Press. Email her at nzeman@prairiepress.net.)