Andrew Caldwell was the same age as his daughter is now when he saw his favourite band. He was 15, it was 1989, and Metallica was touring Australia for the first time.
His daughter Emily’s tastes are a bit different. She’s a diehard Swiftie and Caldwell spent countless hours trying to secure a ticket to Taylor Swift’s Eras tour for Emily so she could have the same formative experience seeing her favourite band at 15.
They’d had no luck landing a ticket amid unprecedented demand but that changed on Thursday night at a pub in Echuca in regional Victoria.
About 100 local Swifties had gathered for a Taylor Swift trivia night and to find out who would win a sought-after prize – a ticket the Echuca hotel had been gifted by a corporate connection to an Eras tour show in Sydney. Almost 800 people had entered the competition.
Emily had come to the pub with her family and her wrists covered in friendship bracelets to hand out. She danced the hardest and sang the loudest to Taylor Swift covers played during the night by a local act.
Emily didn’t win but Molly Davis – who organised the event and was taken by Emily’s enthusiasm for Swift – had a few other ideas to get her to the concert on Sunday 25 February.
“I was sitting with my friends and we’re all big Swifties and we kept saying to each other that if we won it we would give it to [Emily] because she was such a dedicated fan and we all really wanted to see her go,” Davis said. Sadly, none of them won either.
But Davis had a final card to play. A friend had a spare ticket – a restricted view that went on sale on Tuesday to a show in Sydney – that wasn’t needed so they decided to offer it to Emily.
“As soon as I told her she was going, she burst into tears. Her mum was crying, her dad was crying … her sister was like, ‘thank you so much for making my sister’s day’,” Davis recalled on Friday.
“Me and my friends are all 2006 Swifties, we’re all going. It’s so nice to see another generation getting so much joy from her and to be able to share that.”
Caldwell said he could not contain his emotions when he realised Emily would get the chance to see Swift.
“It took me straight back to my first concert and how special it was. The memories from it, it’s something you never forget. But the way she got the ticket – it will just be a lifetime memory for her.”
