There are just over 30 minutes left until the Troxy theater in London open its doors and several dozen people are already waiting in line. Shanna Curtis, an 18-year-old girl, was one of the first to arrive along with two friends. “We found out that they were having this party through Tiktok and it didn’t take us a minute to buy the tickets,” she explains. The party she refers to is the ‘Swiftogeddon’an event held in dozens of UK citiesin which only Taylor Swift songs are played and which is causing a stir among the artist’s followers.
A few meters away, a group of friends throw a scream of excitement when they see the tattoo that their friend just got on his arm with the words “don’t blame me for what you made me do.” (don’t blame me for what you’ve made me do), in honor of the song ‘Don’t blame me’ of the artist. TO ellie, one of the girls in the group, lights up when she talks about Swift. “I’ve been a fan of hers since she released her first album. At that moment I loved it, I was about my age and I decided that she was going to be my older sister”. Next to her, Charlotte, adds: “She has a song for every situation you go through in life, you feel very identified with what she says.”
Inside everything is prepared for five hours of music continuously. The two DJs in charge of entertaining the party have already started playing the first songs on a large table with a screen on which you can read ‘Swiftogeddon’, in white and red letters. Behind them, a huge projector plays the most popular video clips of the artist. To start warming up the atmosphere, the DJs have opted for some slow songs, like ‘Glitch’ or ‘The Moment I Knew’although as the night progresses the music becomes more animated until reaching collective euphoria with ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ or ‘Anti-Hero’.
global phenomenon
He ‘swiftie’ phenomenon, as Taylor Swift’s followers are known, is hardly unprecedented. Her “Eras Tour” tour is being one of the highest grossing movies in history, with estimated revenues above 1 billion dollars, while some analysts suggest that the documentary about the tour, which will be released on October 13, could gross close to $120 million in the first weekend alone. The price of resale tickets for their concerts in the United States has exceeded $1,000, something that has made events like ‘Swiftogeddon’ appear as a good alternative for those who cannot afford to see their favorite artist live.
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The promoter of the event, Dave Fawbert, explains that he had been looking for the perfect artist for some time to organize parties dedicated exclusively to his music. “One day I heard ‘Style’ at full volume in a club and it blew my mind. a light bulb turned on in the head,” he says. In August 2019, Fawbert rented premises in the Hackney neighborhood of London to organize the first ‘Swiftogeddon’. “I thought it was worth a try and that even if it was a failure, at least I would have enjoyed it myself. During the first month I didn’t sell a single ticketbut suddenly I sold 30 or 40. Word spread and In the end they were all sold out”, he assures.
Since then he has organized more than 250 parties and has others 79 scheduled for the coming months in cities such as Manchester, Birmingham or Edinburgh. “I never expected her to achieve the success she has achieved, but at the same time she makes all the sense in the world: she is the best songwriter of our generation.”