‘It was a total madhouse’: Fans overcome hurdles as Taylor Swift wraps up her final concert at Gillette Stadium

FOXBOROUGH, MA. (WGGB/WSHM) - It’s the final night of the Taylor Swift Eras Tour at Gillette Stadium this weekend. Fans from near and far traveled to see the pop star.

Sunday night is the 13th show of the Eras Tour which happens to be Swift’s lucky number, and even fans without tickets enjoyed the show despite warnings from police.

Western Mass News spoke with local fans who were lucky enough to secure tickets about what makes this tour so special.

“She’s an icon, obviously,” said Vanessa Bernardo.

Over the weekend, fans battled “midnight rain” traffic and a Ticketmaster fiasco all to see Taylor Swift perform a montage of her albums throughout each of her eras at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Vanessa Bernardo of Ludlow told us it’s part of what made this tour so iconic.

“She hadn’t put on a tour in like five years so there was a ton of hype around it, and this to, especially sort of all of her albums not just one, so like it’s even more of a desire to be there and experience at all,” said Bernardo. “I think I like the past five years since the pandemic you know she’s put out like five new albums.”

Bernardo added that she’s been to a few Taylor Swift concerts in the past, but she doesn’t remember the experience being quite like this.

And Kayla Casamento of Agawam agrees.

“I’ve been to a lot of concerts,” said Casamento. “I’ve been to a lot of big concerts and just no one does it as good as she does.”

It wasn’t just those who were lucky enough to secure tickets. Fans without tickets disregarded previous warnings from police and crowded the venue, soaking in the concert from the parking lot.

“So, I didn’t notice it as much like before we went into the concert,” said Bernardo. “But then, after the concert, like Gillette has these rams that you can sort of see outside the venue in the parking lot there was people like all around like with their signs, and just kind of like watching from the outside and I think there’s like an opening where they could see the stage. “I also heard like an echo speaker, because I think outside of Gillette, they were also like having extra speakers to play outside for people waiting.”

Casamento told Western Mass News these “fearless” fans also added to the traffic on the way out.

“It was a total madhouse,” said Casamento. “I mean between that all the Ubers, and like Gillette they had everyone down to like one lane trying to get in there and then trying to get out.”

But despite all the crowds Casamento said it was all worth it.

“Her concerts are more than a concert,” said Casamento. “It’s like a whole show. It’s like a performance like you feel like you’re on Broadway. “I would come to see her anytime. She comes to Gillette despite the hassle. Now for Sunday night’s show, Massachusetts State Police are still advising people not to head to Gillette without a ticket.

But as you can see that hasn’t stopped fans from living their “wildest dreams” outside of the concert.