Swifties come out in force for ‘Eras Tour’ concert film

Swifties came out in droves to see “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” as they brought their energy, camaraderie and friendship bracelets they shared over the summer to theaters across the country.

On Oct. 13 — the original opening day for the concert film before Taylor Swift surprised fans by releasing the movie a day earlier —Swifties packed the lobby of the AMC 16 theater in Burbank, California, as they waited to relive the exhilarating feeling they felt when they watched the pop star belt her biggest hits during the “Eras Tour.”

An hour before the first showing began at 6 p.m., groups of Swifties arrived donning shimmery dresses and their favorite concert tees.

Michelle Perez paired her glittery look with three friendship bracelets which read, “Shimmer,” “Bejeweled” and “Folklore.” In her hand, she held a bag filled with about 100 more bracelets with references to the pop superstar’s 10 different eras. Her friend Lissette Turnbaugh stood beside her in a silver mini dress and matching boots. Turnbaugh's purse was covered in more bracelets.

“We had a whole day dedicated to making bracelets in September,” Perez told TODAY.com.

Even though the two friends prepped a month in advance for the film’s release, Perez still needed to pull an all-nighter to finish their project. “We started the process and then I was up until 4 o’clock this morning just finishing them,” she says.

Perez, who has been listening to Swift since 2010, says she became a diehard fan during the musician’s “1989” era. Turnbaugh considers herself a newer fan who started following Swift after “Folklore” was released. The pair saw the 33-year-old singer perform at one of her Los Angeles shows in August and said they couldn’t wait to see the concert again on the big screen.

Turnbaugh shared, “We had so much fun at the show, so we kind of wanted to do like a part two of it. We’re hoping while we’re watching the movie (that) people are up and dancing.”

Perez pointed out that the concert tickets were expensive, so she hoped the film would make all the fans who weren’t able to see Swift in person feel included. She said being surrounded by other fans in the theater felt like a “community.”

College friends Hattie Dahlberg, Jo Whitelow, Gabriel Taibi and Dominique Kent also experienced this sense of kinship while bonding with other Swifties over the summer at multiple stops on the tour.

The foursome took a road trip together to the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona to see the first “Eras Tour” show. Then they saw Swift again during her final U.S. shows at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and couldn’t wait to watch the movie.

“There’s a big cinema aspect to this because she puts a lot of care into her concerts when she does record them,” explains Whitelow, who described seeing the concert over the summer as “life-changing.”  “It’s almost like an added bonus (of) not only witnessing it, but then being able to rewatch it and (remember) those feelings.”

“We have memories with the music and memories with each other,” Taibi added. “(To) be there together now to get to watch it, like up close and personal, it’s gonna be really freaking cool.”

Taibi continued, “It’s one thing to turn on a song and listen to it…but to come up with outfits with each other and to trade the bracelets and have human interactions with people, it kind of elevates the whole thing. It’s no longer just about the music or about the sparkly outfit. It’s about the friends we made along the way.”

All four of them wore t-shirts with pictures of Swift, and some with her lyrics, to watch the concert film.

Dahlberg, an OG fan, said their attire was a form of “camaraderie.” “It’s kind of like football fans when they all dress up (in) their cute little jerseys,” she explains.

Just like sports fans in a congested stadium, they could easily spot a fellow Swiftie in the crowded theater and form a connection, Dahlberg said.

Kent said she had never experienced that type of togetherness before attending her first Swift concert this summer. “I have a friend who I know came from Brazil to come to an LA show. So it’s crazy to see and hear everyone’s different connections to Taylor and how she brought us all together in ways that she probably didn’t even think possible,” she marvels.

At the AMC in Burbank, each Swiftie was given a “Eras Tour” poster. Yising Kao, who was one of the fans hand-selected to attend the Los Angeles premiere on Oct. 11, told TODAY.com she plans to see the film multiple times during opening weekend to collect other memorabilia, like the custom popcorn buckets and drinks that are being handed out at different theaters.

Kao, now 26, has been a fan of Swift since she was 9-years-old. She revealed she saw the “Anti-Hero” singer 10 times this summer — she was in attendance for the “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” and the “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” announcements.

The devoted Swiftie was overcome with emotion when she met Swift at the premiere.

“She was so sweet. It was unreal,” she gushes. “But then it finally hit me like a few minutes later and I just started crying.” Kao shares that Swift interacted with each red carpet fan and visited every showing at the premiere to give a speech before the film began.

The 26-year-old praised the concert film, describing it as “basically a front row view for all her performances.”

“It was just so special to truly relive those moments and sing along with everyone in the theater,” she said. Kao mentions that even though they didn’t know each other, it felt like everyone was “united” together in the theater.

She saw the film again with her friend on Friday and plans to go a third time on Saturday to experience the euphoria from the concert over and over again. Kao said the exhilaration is something even non-Swifties will appreciate.

“The tour really transports you into another world. So I think everyone will find something in the film that they enjoy,” she said.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com