Imagine having the amazing opportunity to go to a Taylor Swift concert at Ford Field in Detroit-a magical land where perfect melodies and harmonies grace your ears and countless sparkly costume clad dancers run across the enormous stage. A place where Taylor becomes the most epic performer, singer, and even motivational speaker. Now imagine standing in the pit next to the stage and dancing along with Taylor and screaming every lyric at the top of your lungs. This is how I spent my Saturday night with my best friend. There is one more “imagine that” that I must add. Imagine meeting Taylor Swift before her concert in a locker-room-turned-New-York-Loft setting.

When my best friend and I heard that we would be meeting one of our idols and role models we decided that we needed to do something special, and original. After thinking of enough plans to fill a notebook and endless screams of the phrase “YES WE NEED TO DO THAT”  we came up with one idea that stood out among the rest. We decided to serenade her with her song “Welcome to New York”, but change the lyrics to say “Welcome to Detroit”.

PLEASE EXCUSE MY HORRIBLE CLAPPING

Before the show we spent a lot of time practicing our song and making sure it would be perfect. When we inevitably got stuck in traffic on the way to the show we leaped out of the car with t-shirts thrown over our heads to protect our hair from the downpour of rain. We assumed that we would be totally late and miss the entire meet and greet so we started running. When we actually got into the stadium we realized that we needed to run around the ENTIRE THING to get to where we needed to be. Our high-heeled-shoes ended up in our hands and we finally arrived, completely out of breath, to the meet and greet. Little did we know that we were in store for a whole lot of waiting.

In order to actually get to the meet and greet location we needed to wait in a total of 4 spots. The first was where we got to see a graffiti artwork done by a Detroit artist in honor of Taylor’s show.

(Photo courtesy of TaylorSwift.com)
After practicing our song for Taylor next to the artwork a few more times we were taken to go and wait in the second location. By the time we made it to the third waiting location the security guards were there and we were told that we were not allowed to bring anything in with us to meet her. We had to leave my ukulele out on a table along with our phones, purses, and letters to Taylor. While we were devastated that we couldn’t perform for Taylor we were still beyond excited to even meet her at all! Nothing could stand in our way of making the most of the short time we had to speak with her!

As the line dwindled down to the fourth location, we began to catch glimpses of her through a curtain and hear snips of her cheerful voice. Finally, we were next in line. We opened the curtain and there she was. She is stunningly beautiful and has legs for days. When we walked in, she immediately complimented Sierra, telling her that that she was so tall and beautiful.  I then joked that I am super short (a whopping 5′2″!) making us all laugh. Taylor then confided that she had quite a few tricks up her sleeve and surprises during the show tonight!

Next Taylor said that we both looked super familiar so I told her all about THIS SPECIFIC BLOG! I said “I have a blog” and Taylor started asking me what it was. I told her that it was called “Swaggie Maggie’s View from the Pit” and that I wrote about music, bands and concerts. She thought that the blog was really cool and asked if I wrote about all sorts of music to which I answered YES! I told her that I was super into rock and metal and she laughed and said “Which is surprising because you look like a dainty ballerina!”. Taylor asked if she followed the blog (wink wink taylorswift if there’s even a chance that you’re reading this). She doesn’t, but I’m hoping that she stumbles upon this post one day.

     The time came for us to take a photo together an it turned out great! I feel like we all look like best friends and that this photo is the definition of squad GOALS! I love that she has her arms around our shoulders, and is leaning into Sierra. It looks so natural, like we have known each other for years. After taking the photo we both hugged her again and our time was up.

We left the meet and greet feeling lighter than air! Her mom was standing outside the room so we skipped over to her-giddy from meeting Taylor, and struck up a conversation. When she asked us what grades we were in we both told her that we are Seniors in High School and that we are both going off to college next year. I will be at Michigan State while Sierra will be at Notre Dame: Her son Austin’s Alma Mater! After hugging Mama Swift we left the Loft.

We made our way to the Left Pit to claim our spots for the show. Vance Joy (aka James) was just beginning his performance, and since we were front row we had the perfect view of James and he was absolutely breathtaking. In between two of his songs Sierra screamed  “I love you James.” We could visibly see that he was surprised that someone knew his real name and looked over at us. We both waved and Sierra even blew him a kiss. His set was great! He even covered Bruce Springsteen’s song “Dancing in the Dark”. I am a HUGE Springsteen fan so I freaked out…I’m pretty sure I was the youngest person who knew the song. He ended with Riptide since it is his most popular song. I swear for an entire chorus he made eye contact with us and we died. We literally just died!

Finally, Taylor took the stage wearing one of many dazzling outfits. The crowd (myself included) went wild and the show began. Having to run on a stage through a room filled with 51,000 screaming fans and dancing as if her life depended on it, it’s hard to believe that her vocals sounded as flawless as they did! I have said this before and I will say it again: Taylor Swift is not only a talented singer, but she is an amazing performer! She sang every single song off  her new album as well as putting new spins on songs from previous albums such as “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”. My dad got tears in his eyes when she performed “Love Story” because that was the song I sang for my school’s talent show when I was in 6th grade!

Those surprises that Taylor hinted at? She was telling the truth! Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons made an appearance to sing Radioactive, even though he is currently on tour! We all went crazy and had, as Taylor calls it, a Rage Fest! Then during “Style”, Taylor’s two friends Martha Hunt and Gigi Hadid came out and walked the runway! The three of them had the biggest smiles plastered on their faces and we could really tell that they were having the best time. I only hope that they realized that the fans were having the best time as well.

I loved every second of the concert and writing this blog allowed me to relive every glorious moment! I have quite a few more fun blogposts lined up for this summer, so stay tuned!

-Swaggie Maggie

(co-written by Sierra Mayhew)