Core Memories With the Swiftie Dads
In 2023, Paul Scheer spent a few days talking to fathers who accompanied their daughters to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in LA, either as concert-goers or just chauffeurs. I love this video. One of the dads summed up the vibe of being there for your loved ones, even if it’s maybe not entirely your thing:
Life is moments. Life has nothing to do with money, nothing to do with things. Life is dancing, that is life! It’s when you feel happy. Their happiness is my happiness.
Elizabeth Spiers wrote about the Swiftie Dads on Bluesky:
This is a model for what actual masculinity should be. Men don’t need to spend more time in caves beating their chests with other men; they need to take their daughters to a meaningful thing and talk to them about it.
These guys taking their daughters to Taylor Swift concerts — and unabashedly enjoying it! — are the model. They are being themselves and not treating their daughters’ interests as stupid or aberrant or a thing they should be patted on the back for participating in.
See also The Joy of Fortnite. (thx, caroline)
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Rewatching the Beatles Anthology on Disney+. There were Beatle Dads at Shea Stadium in 1965. 🤩
This was delightful and heart-warming. 💙
Way to get one point and then completely miss another. “Life has nothing to do with money” says the man who can afford hundreds/thousands of dollars per ticket to see this show in LA of all places. I want to love this but let’s settle down about how to beat toxic masculinity with insanely over priced concert tickets.
Tickets for the LA Eras Tour shows started at ~$50. We have no idea how much these people paid. None of them looked particularly wealthy. And even if they did pay hundreds or thousands, maybe it's for a 16th birthday? Or is the family's vacation for that year? Or they're been saving up for years? I dunno man, maybe just let the Taylor Swift fans & their dads have their fun w/o judging.
I think it hit a little weird for me also, but I think it kind of drives towards the idea that the guy was already supremely comfortable in his dad role, and this is him kind of putting his money where his mouth is. But the money part is top of mind for him still, and this still being a sacrifice. Not in the “I’m not going to make rent” kind of way. But more in the “I’m three weeks farther from retirement now” kind of way.
I think multiple things can be true here. The love radiated through these dads, which was so heartwarming to see. It's also unfortunate that more fathers and their children can't access similar experiences given the high costs of tickets.
I always love how a third person asking questions can open up unexpected conversations between two people. There were some sweet conversations in that parking lot.
Got time for a lengthy Worst Dad Ever Goes to See Taylor Swift story?
2018 Taylor Swift tour. I take joy in what brings either of my two daughters joy. Happy to take my 17 year old daughter to see Taylor Swift. It involved snakes for some reason.
Months in advance she camps out online and scores two tickets. Days out she decorates a t-shirt. Concert day she gets home from school, paints her face. We sit in traffic for two hours to get to the stadium. She floats across the acres of parking lot, grooving on the scene. We get to the gate.
“These tickets were for last night. “
O.
M.
G.
We head for the ticket office, 180 degrees around the stadium. While we’re walking I frantically log onto the stadium WiFi and download stubhub, start searching for two tickets. I’ll pay anything.
Two people in front of us at the window. A young guy approaches me from the left. “hey, do you need tickets?” Wary of scalpers, I start to wave him off.
“I have two extra tickets. I want to give them to you. “
What?
“My mom works at a venue downtown. She got comped four tickets. I’m only using two. I want to give the other two away.”
OMG.
I tried to pay him. He won’t accept. We go inside. He finally lets me buy him and his date some merch.
My daughter has kept a stiff upper lip the entire time. Seven years later I still tear up thinking about it.
Thank you, anonymous guy at a Taylor Swift concert. But for you, I’d be a shoe in for a Worst Dad Ever prize.
🥹
That video was extraordinary, so many tears from memories of doing similar things with my daughter. I kind of can't believe Paul Scheer didn't release it soon after he filmed it, it's such a gem of a piece.
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