SINGAPORE – Seeing Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert film twice when it opened in Singapore cinemas in November 2023 was a choice.

But watching the actual Eras Tour concert live twice in a week was an exhilarating experience and privilege I don’t take lightly.

I was fortunate enough to win “The Great War” with VIP 1 tickets at $1,228 each for March 7 with two fellow Swifties, who were ready to match my energy in screaming the lyrics to the American pop mogul’s set list of 44 songs.

The week before Swift came to Singapore in late February, my partner scored VIP 6 resale tickets at $328 each for the opening night on March 2 and immediately asked: “How does it feel to know you’ll see Taylor live twice?”

Making sure to capture and remember the moments, my mobile phone’s gallery is filled with videos in which I could be heard screaming slightly off-key to my favourite songs. Photos of my outfits – inspired by the 1989 (2014) and Reputation (2017) musical “eras” – served as evidence that I did not dream of the concert, but lived it.

The lack of sleep and aching feet from standing for 3½ hours in 8.5cm heels for a better vantage point were worth it to watch her perform with choreographed precision and perfection.

Truly, I had the time of my life fighting dragons with her.

For concertgoers like myself, who are working through the crash of the post-Eras Tour experience, or Swifties who were unable to get tickets for any of her six shows at the National Stadium, at least there is Taylor Swift The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) – an extended version of the theatrical release – coming to Disney+ on March 15 at 9am.

Earning more than US$260 million (S$346 million), this has become the highest-grossing concert film of all time.

Is it excessive to watch it for a third time when it starts streaming next week? Probably, but I’ll do it anyway.

While Swift’s March 7 gig had clear differences from March 2’s – like opening act Sabrina Carpenter’s outro line in her hit song Nonsense (2023), a more enthusiastic crowd that Swift commented on and backup dancer Kameron Saunders’ “alamak” versus “no lah” during We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (2014) – it was the smaller moments that stood out to me.

One that I was happy to notice and capture was two of her backup vocalists singing passionately and dancing together during the instrumental moments of Enchanted (2010).

I also have a video of myself trying and failing to get the attention of Paul Sidoti, Swift’s lead electric guitarist since 2007, as he threw guitar picks to the audience.

Let’s not forget the many, many videos I have of Jan Ravnik, known as the heart-throb backup dancer of the Eras Tour.

Phone in hand, I knew when to capture all of my favourite tour moments and when to live in the moment. I have no footage of myself singing passionately to All Too Well (10 Minute Version), but I will remember what those 10 minutes felt like.

I did, however, capture one of Swift’s power stances during the Reputation era as the air cannons blasted around her.

It was never a question that I would cry when seeing her so close on stage, it was only a matter of when. The opening song, Miss Americana And The Heartbreak Prince, had my eyes welling up, but it was her tribute song Long Live (2020) to her band members that made the tears flow.

Hugging my Swiftie friends close as we screamed, “Hold on to spinning around, confetti falls to the ground, may these memories break our fall”, felt like girlhood again.

For the duration of the song, nothing mattered except that I was with companions who shared my deep love of Swift’s lyricism and musicality – a fitting moment since it was the early talk of Eras Tour coming to Singapore that led to our friendship blossoming in the first place.