Friday 9th September 2022, London. Lives were changed. Mostly mine.
If you know me you’ll know I kind of love Taylor Swift.
That love has intensified over the last few years due to TikTok, the pandemic, the recent albums and re-releases, and just generally enjoying being a fan of something. Through social media I had seen videos about Swiftogeddon: a dedicated night club event with only Taylor Swift music. I had been talking about going with my cousin for months and in May I finally bit the bullet:
[4:27 pm, 30/05/2022] Me:
[link to booking] Fri 9 Sep 2022 21:00 – Sat, 10 Sep 2022, 02:00 BST
I’m sure there is something I am probably doing then just to annoy me, but do you want to go to this?
[4:29 pm, 30/05/2022] Cousin:
Yes!!
We asked 3 other Swiftie friends, booked the tickets and hotel, then waited. It was so worth it.
Getting there
After a quick stop at the hotel, we headed out for the 7 minute walk to Troxy, the Art Deco, grade II listed music venue in London. We didn’t even make it into the elevator without finding other people attending the club. We all looked the same: people between the age of 18 – 30, looking excited, with Taylor Swift inspired clothing or fun club outfits, and comfortable shoes.
On the walk we found more of us (there are dozens of us) and it wasn’t long before we were outside Troxy.
If the attendees of Swiftogeddon were representative of the general public, we were the boomers. I printed our tickets because I didn’t want the stress of having 5 QR codes. I had a clear bum bag (a requirement for the 2019 Ariana Grande concert) which the security staff loved, making the check-in smooth. We arrived at approximately 9:25pm, wanting to get there as close to opening as possible unlike other nightclubs where arriving at 10:30pm is considered the norm.
Before we even entered, I could hear Jump Then Fall: one of the bonus tracks from Fearless Platinum Edition. A song I have never heard play out loud, other than through my headphones or my speakers at home. We ran in and I already knew I was going to have one of the best nights of my life.
Drinks/toilets/cloakroom
It is no surprise that it was majority women at this club night, so the queues for the toilets were huge. Back when I’d go clubbing at university, I’d go to the toilet at least 4/5 times during the night. Once the seal is broken it’s hard to stop, plus I wasn’t missing any songs I cared about and it was good to cool down. At Swiftogeddon though, I went to the toilet only once as a necessity. The queue downstairs was too long, so my friend and I went to the upstairs as I had a feeling there would be another toilet block. I was right and the queue was much smaller, though we still had to queue for about 5 minutes (I missed the last great american dynasty – very sad).
There was a cloakroom, though none of us used it. The queue for this at the end of the night was long too, but once the event is over it’s not like there is much to miss if you do need to use it.
When we first arrived we grabbed some drinks, despite still having a buzz from our pre-drinks in the hotel room. Though expected, drinks were expensive. £5 for any type of drink (my favourite: jagerbombs – gone are days of 3 for £5) and the Taylor Swift themed cocktails were £12 – £24.
We only went to the bar one more time in the night, as it wasn’t worth missing the songs and the fun I was having was buzz enough.
By the time we went for our second round, queues for the bar were enormous. Around 6 Taylor Swift songs played during our queue, including London Boy and Out of the Woods but that didn’t stop me and my friend enjoying them in the queue. The queue was horrible though, people pushing and stealing people’s spots. Shout out to the guy I was chatting to in the queue who was at the event with his girlfriend and work friends, who told the bar staff I was there before him.
The people
Despite the queue pushing, Swiftogeddon is a place that feels a bit dreamy because you know that there is a shared a mutual love with the people around you.
The guy in the queue for the bar struck up a conversation with me, asking me straight out: “what’s your favourite album, then?”. I LOVE talking to new people and as the question is something I have given a lot of thought to before, I answered instantly, “Lover, if I had to choose just one, but folklore, evermore, and red, are others I love”. The guy also like Lover, it reminded him of a holiday he was on. “Me too” I replied, I was in Santorini for my cousin’s wedding so it’ll always remind me of then. I then asked his favourite songs (quite harsh of me, as that is an impossible question for Swiftie) and he replied “I do really like ‘You Are In Love‘. I think it’ll be my wedding song if I marry my girlfriend”. I then told him my cousin who I was there with had “Lover” as her aisle music and first dance, so I told him he has to have Taylor Swift at his wedding too. I never got his name, but he was lovely. Everyone was.
One very big difference about Swiftogeddon compared to regular nights out, apart from the obvious thing being the music, is that I never felt unsafe. In regular clubs, you have to be on edge. It’s a harsh reality, something we have to admit. Especially as a young woman, you have to be careful. I can’t even count on my fingers the amount of times I’d have parts of my body touched without my consent in night clubs. Seeing someone stare at you and try and get you alone. Here I didn’t have any of that. Everyone was together for their shared love: Miss Taylor Swift.
Same with mess and people being silly. I didn’t see anyone too drunk that they were being sick in the club (a common occurrence on other nights out), no fighting or arguments, or anything negative. It’s not anything shocking or amazing, but something I noticed that made the night better. If you have anxiety or are worried about a club night but wanted to go to Swiftogeddon, I would say that’s the safest and most pleasant night out I have ever had.
At breakfast the next morning I saw on Twitter that Maisie Peters was there. Her song Cate’s Brother was number 5 in my On Repeat of that week. Gutted I didn’t see her!
Music
As it says in the name, it was non-stop Taylor Swift songs from 9pm – 2.10am with no repeats. Obviously the best part of the whole thing was dancing and singing along to these songs surrounded by people who also know all the words. For other fellow Swifties, this should give you an idea of the music played:
Some of my favourites didn’t play, which I’m not surprised at (or they played in the first 15 minutes), like ’tis the damn season, Daylight, gold rush, ivy, King of my Heart, Bye Bye Baby.
I’d Lie played! I elevated. I never expected an unreleased song to be chosen. You could tell who the veterans were when this came on.
Some of my personal favourites that got played included: Girl At Home, All You Had To Do Was Stay, Death By A Thousand Cuts, cardigan, Message In A Bottle, exile, Cruel Summer, The Very First Night, Enchanted, The Way I Loved You, champagne problems.
When Better Than Revenge played the feminism left my body. It was incredible. august played too and it was an experience I never want to forget.
Our final song was a bit of a downer: Nothing New (featuring Phoebe Bridgers), a song I adore but I don’t think it’s the best choice for a final song of the night unless you want to send me into depression.
I had planned on having my hair down for the night, but it was up in a claw clip from song 3. I was a sweaty mess but it’s no surprised as I was dancing non-stop.
I took a few videos of the night, mostly 15-20 second moments from my favourite songs for the memories. If I’m ever old and grey, it’s the type of memory I want to look back on. It’s been less than a month and I already watch the videos back and feel so happy. Here is a snippet of All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault), which felt like the closest thing to a religious experience I’ll have. Every single person knew every single word. A song I only listen to through my headphones or at home. In a club! Ascended.
It was truly, one of the best nights of my life
If you’re debating going to Swiftogeddon: book the tickets right now! It’s one of the best things you can do as a Swiftie.
