Two Stonewall Taylor Swift fans arrived in Toronto for Night 3 of The Eras Tour. Rachel Kinsley and her daughter Talia are long-time Swifties who eked out some of the final tickets for Swift’s Nov. 16 concert in Toronto at the Rogers Arena.
Rachel explained that each day of ticket sales usually let around 10,000 to 12,000 fans purchase tickets.
“In the virtual queue, we were 11,000 so we knew we had a better chance of getting tickets,” explained Kinsley. “We honestly just slid in there (to the ticket sales) and got our seats. Right after we left our ticket confirmation screen the concert had sold out.”
The mother-daughter duo, along with two of their closest friends, spent over a year perfecting their outfits, making friendship bracelets, and planning their trip of a lifetime — and the concert was just that.
“The entire trip was so magical. Everything went so much better than we ever would have expected. It honestly felt like a dream the entire time.”
All the fun started the moment they got on their flight to Toronto. Rachel shared that it was obvious that a majority of the passengers were also flying out to see The Eras Tour.
“The pilots made an announcement calling it the ‘Swiftie Flight’ and then they were playing Taylor Swift music the entire time over the speakers!”
Once everyone arrived in Toronto, Rachel described the city as buzzing and accepting of all the Swifties from across the globe.
Toronto was prepared for the massive wave of Swifties. Many Taylor Swift-themed events were being held in the area, safety measures were increased, and street names were even changed. “Everyone was calling it ‘Tay-ronto’ and there were many street signs changed to ‘Taylor Swift Way.’”
On the concert day, Rachel’s crew started their Taylor Swift excitement at 1 p.m. with the Taylgate Party at the convention centre. They got to meet and party with other Swifties, trade bracelets, and add to the memories made on the trip.
“The whole day just flew by! I couldn’t believe it was over at the end.”
Night 3 of The Eras Tour in Toronto opened with Gracie Abrams at 6:30 p.m., who Talia is a massive fan of.
Rachel had to wait until 7:50 to see Taylor perform live and in person for the first time, but the 18-year wait was totally worth it, especially because she got to spend time with her daughter and her two best friends.
“Spending this magical moment with my two closest Swiftie friends and Talia made this experience whole. My Mom unexpectedly passed away recently and I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to go still. My aunty told me I had to go, so I did. Even though it was spent during the worst moment of my life, I was able to experience the magic and spend it with very important people. I honestly don’t think I am ever going to experience something like this again in my life.”
At the end of the concert, Rachel walked away with more than just memories because, of course, she needed to buy some merchandise to commemorate this adventure.
Before the concert, she knew she wanted to get her hands on one of Swift’s famous quarter-zip sweatshirts and blue crewneck – but so did everyone else.
“We knew it would be a war getting what we wanted,” she described.
Rachel managed to go home with both the quarter-zip and the crewneck. Her daughter even bought some Gracie Abrams merchandise. She was also in for a surprise when she purchased her tickets. Her tickets came with an additional VIP merchandise box that contained many exclusive items.
“We all got a collectors box, a poster, some concert pins, a lanyard, a holographic ticket stub, a tote bag and some posters from every album.”
Kinsley, her daughter, and her two friends will cherish this moment for the rest of eternity. They replay their concert videos and look at their photos as they wait to potentially live out their dream again on another tour.
