Taylor Swift fills our ‘Blank Space’ and teaches us her ‘Style’

Everyone knew we were trouble when we walked in. Donned with black leather, bronze eyeshadow and bright lipstick, we strode into Levi’s Stadium, ready to “shake it off.”

Surrounded by  50,000 Swifties on the night of Aug. 15, we waited as our hearts raced while we eagerly waited for Taylor Swift to appear on stage. After swaying the sound of  Shawn Mendes’ soothing voice and sipping cherry sodas while Vance Joy serenaded the crowd, we grew restless and chanted with the rest of the stadium for Swift to appear on stage.

Most of the crowd consisted of high school girls and couples. Many mothers brought their young daughters, who in turn wore homemade concert shirts and held sparkly posters. There were also a lot of adults and tech company employees who spent most of their time drinking at the bars and lounging in the suites.

Chattering excitedly, everyone in the crowd wore a wristband that had been placed at each seat upon arrival. The mysterious accessory heightened the audience’s excitement as they waited discover its purpose.

All of a sudden, each light blackened, and we held our breaths in the darkness. A few seconds later, every inch in the stadium flashed in unison as each audience members’ concert wristband lit up, flashing in sync to the opening beats of Swift’s hit, “Welcome to New York.” We eagerly scanned the stage, searching for the star.

Right on cue, Swift appeared as if rising from an unknown world, dancing onto the stage and greeting the ear shattering crowd with an enthusiastic, “Welcome to the 1989 World Tour, Santa Clara, California!”

Decked out in a sparkly silver jacket and purple shades, Swift belted out the catchy lyrics as her troupe of male backup dancers performed acrobatic flips and hip hop moves behind her. As we jumped up and down, our electrifying screams and out of tune singing were instantaneously drowned in the roar of the crowd.

But her music wasn’t all that enthralled us. The night was filled with surprises that put us all on the edges of our seats — figuratively and literally — since no one sat down during the entire concert.

Our first surprise came in the form of “Black Magic.” In town for their performance at the Teen Choice Awards, the girl band from the United Kingdom, Little Mix, joined Swift for a strut down the catwalk, singing their new chart-topping single.

After Swift gave us some heartfelt relationship advice on friendships and romances, we received our second surprise of the night. Joan Baez and Julia Roberts joined Swift on stage to walk down the stage arm in arm while Swift sang another hit, “Style.” Although it did seem a tad out of place for an Oscar-winning actress to make an appearance at a pop concert to just walk down the stage once and then leave, it was a unique experience to be so close to Roberts.  

Swift proceeded to sing a couple more songs from her 1989 album and a few songs from previous albums. She sent the audience back down memory lane when she sang “Love Story,” one of our favorite songs from middle school. Before singing this song, she gave us a short backstory about her songwriting process and the inspiration behind this song.

As the concert came to a close, crowd members piled out of theirs seats and into the parking lot and merchandise stores, still sporting their white wristbands. Instead of following Swift’s rhythm like they had earlier, the wristbands lit up in different colors when tapped. A constant reminder of the exciting night we spent dressed in all black, our wristbands still sit in our rooms, lighting up our memories of an unforgettable night.