Kayla Neuhaus stayed up until 4:30 a.m. making friendship bracelets to swap and share at Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour.
Like many of her fellow Swifties, Neuhaus was embracing the preferred bonding ritual of the tour’s guests: finding beads with meaning to the singer’s audience and stringing them into bracelets to give away.
The idea seems to have originated with a lyric from “You’re on Your Own Kid,” a song from Swift’s current album “Midnights,” in which the artist encouraged listeners to “make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it.”
Famous Swift fans including Jennifer Lawrence, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have taken to social media to show off bracelets they’ve received from strangers.
Neuhaus, 31, said as someone close to Swift in age, who has been a fan since the singer’s debut album came out in 2006, she wants to connect with younger fans by sharing bracelets. She added that she made bracelets in a range of sizes for fans of all ages.
Swift’s The Eras Tour kicked off its sold-out Chicago leg on Friday. The pop superstar will perform Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Soldier Field. Doors opened at 4:30 p.m. for the show, which begins at 6:30 p.m.
By the early afternoon, crowds of Swifties in sparkly boots, DIY jean jackets and elaborate face paint were already forming around the venue. Some groups in bedazzled dresses and colorful cowboy hats congregated in the shady, grassy areas near the stadium. Others blasted Swift’s greatest hits at tailgates in the parking lot.
Temperatures reached the low 80s on Friday afternoon as fans posed for pictures and lined up to buy sweatshirts and posters at merchandise booths. Fans wore elaborate costumes and outfits representing different albums, songs and eras of the singer’s career.
Kaitlyn Estrada, who traveled from Milwaukee with her friend for the concert, wore a traffic light costume, a reference to the song “Death by a Thousand Cuts” from the album “Lover.”
Kailey Steward, a longtime Swiftie from Oak Forest, also was swapping bracelets Friday afternoon. She had arrived early with her mom, Janice.
Steward, who is also attending Sunday’s show, wore an outfit and face paint representing Swift’s song “Midnight Rain.” Around one eye, she painted a sun, and around the other, she painted a moon with blue streaks dripping down her face.
Steward, 27, designed and made outfits for herself and her mom, Janice. She painted a black T-shirt with the words “I had the best day with you today” on the front, a lyric from Swift’s song “The Best Day,” which Swift wrote about her mother. She painted the back of her own jean jacket with a lyric from “Midnight Rain.”
The mother-daughter duo said Swift’s music is connected with many fond memories for them. Kailey Steward recalled listening to Swift’s album “1989” with her mom as she drove home from her freshman year of college.
Antoine Budig, who came to the show with his dad, wore a sparkly jacket based on an outfit Swift wore while touring for her album “Red.” Budig, 15, came early to secure The Eras Tour’s most sought-after merchandise: the blue crewneck sweatshirt. Budig, 15, snagged the coveted $65 shirt, which goes for over $300 on some resale sites.
As showtime approached, some fans at Soldier Field were still without tickets. Olivia Alvarado, who celebrated her middle school graduation earlier on Friday, was counting on ticket prices to drop and waiting to buy with her older sister Emma.
The sisters said they would buy tickets if the price dropped to $300 or so, but if they don’t get any, they planned to come back tomorrow and Sunday and try again.
Swift’s music was a family affair for other fans at Soldier Field. Sisters Maddie and Rachel Perry came with their parents Natalie and Bill, who live in Elmhurst. Bill Perry wore a shirt that read “Swiftie Dad” and “real men love Taylor.”
In the parking lot, some Swifties tailgated — or “Taylor-gated” — as they tried to secure tickets. The Chicago Park District had said Thursday that tailgating would not be allowed after Swift started performing.
Emily Krakowski and her friends hosted a tailgate in the parking lot complete with friendship bracelets and Swift-themed cookies.
Krakowski said she and a friend bought two tickets during Ticketmaster’s presale for $68 apiece and resold them for about $650 each. On Friday evening, they bought two floor seats for $3,600 total. She said they lost some money, but that she was happy they would have better seats.
To buy the tickets during presale, Krakowski said she spent eight hours on her computer waiting. The ticket buying process for The Eras Tour has been the subject of controversy, and even a lawsuit. Some fans received presale codes that should have entitled them to buy tickets in November, but the website crashed and many fans were unable to buy tickets.
Some Swifties at the venue were not planning on going to the show at all on Friday. Ella Black and her sister Ava came to the stadium on Friday, but they do not have tickets until Sunday’s show. Addie Phillips, who came from Bloomington, Illinois. with the sisters, said she does not have a ticket at all.
But the three teens are planning to come every night this weekend to hang out, trade bracelets and try to listen to the music from outside. They traded bracelets from their extensive stash with Christine Sheets, 52. All four had wrists full of beads featuring lyrics and other Swift-related phrases.
