When I arrived in Germany in late 2021, I worried whether I had made a mistake. What exactly did a Training Liaison Officer do? I certainly didn’t know. Even prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, I realized my time in Europe would be anything but relaxing.

I originally volunteered for a one-year mobilization to Germany, but it eventually evolved into three. After spending my first year supporting the senior leaders of Seventh Army Training Command with my copious notes, detailing key events happening across the continent, I transitioned to medical operations and medical planning roles.

While stationed in Europe, I often worked long hours. Days often bled into nights, as we constantly crossed tasks off our extensive lists.

Despite the somewhat grueling work schedule, we all did our best to travel and enjoy Europe as much as possible. Before I set foot in Germany in 2021, I had only set foot in four countries: the United States, Mexico, Kuwait, and Afghanistan. I’ve now been to 32 countries and counting.

By the summer of 2024, I’d grown somewhat disenchanted (if you will) with traveling, especially with the rising costs of summer tourism. Rather than traveling to a few European cities to meander around their “Old Town” or visit another ancient castle, I decided to select a few events and attend those, instead.

“If you’ve seen one castle, you’ve seen them all,” I’ve heard many of my friends say. While I respectfully disagree, I do believe in Castle Overload Syndrome (I promise it’s a real thing, but don’t bother looking it up, because I just made it up).

I added three items to my summer 2024 bucket list: attend the Olympics, go to a multi-day rock festival, and see Taylor Swift at her Eras tour.

Now that it’s 2025, I’m excited to report the subsequent completion of all bucket list items. The Paris Olympics and Rock Werchter deserve their own stories, however, which I will tell in another post.

Today’s post is dedicated to Taylor. It was quite enchanting to see her perform live.

The Road to Amsterdam

I’ve attended many concerts in my life. So many, in fact, that I’ve embarrassingly lost count. I could probably compile a list, but that’s not we’re all gathered here today.

The Foo Fighters have always been my favorite band, and it was great to see them perform live in Champaign, St. Louis, and Belgium. While their headlining set during the fourth and final night of Rock Werchter was the shortest of the three, it was perhaps my favorite two and a half hours of all time.

That being said, Taylor Swift’s Eras tour was an incredible experience, and the best performance I’ve ever witnessed with my eyeballs. Incidentally, a little drama occurred between Dave Grohl and Taylor a few weeks earlier, after he insinuated she doesn’t fully sing at her shows (Taylor does use backing tracks during some of her songs, she doesn’t lip-sync).

Funny story: I originally bought a ticket to attend the Eras tour in Germany (Gelsenkirchen) in mid July. The show was scheduled to occur only a few hours from Wiesbaden, where I lived, and I found a standing room only ticket for a reasonable price.

While attending Rock Werchter in Belgium over Fourth of July weekend, I made an impulsive decision. I checked the ticket prices for Taylor’s show in Amsterdam. After all, I was only a few hours away.

I won’t tell you exactly how much the ticket cost, because I like to leave a little mystery, but I know roughly 98.6% of you would be shocked. Okay, okay, I’ll tell you. I paid 300 euros for a standing floor ticket. Does that surprise you? Like the question of how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop, I’ll never know.

The three-hour drive from Werchter to Amsterdam went extremely smooth. After easily finding parking, I walked to the stadium and gawked at the size of the lines.

Men and women, many dressed as their favorite era, lined the streets. The ground held an abundance of trash, including empty diaper boxes from people who believed bathrooms to be a tremendous burden.

While in line, I made friends with a few Americans, who asked me, “What’s your favorite era?” It was a question I should have anticipated, but I was nonetheless caught off guard.

“Um, Red,” I blurted out, without actually thinking. In hindsight, after much reflection, I’m quite torn between Speak Now, Red and 1989. In an incredible gesture of kindness, the Americans each gave me a friendship bracelet. I was touched.

Once inside, I slowly made my way to the front of the crowd. I didn’t realize how good my tickets were, until a kind, Dutch woman in the crowd realized I could move closer to the stage. “Get over there, while you still can. I would,” she told me.

A Performance Unlike Any Other

Paramore opened for Taylor, which was a delight in itself. I’ve listened to their music since high school, and it was a delight to see them live. Hayley Williams brought tremendous energy to the stage, as she lively danced around while singing. The crowd loudly sang along to the choruses of “Still into You” and “Misery Business,” two of their most popular songs.

Eventually, it was time for Taylor to rise up and out of the stage. I watched the Eras Tour special on Disney Plus a few months earlier, where she played live at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles, so I knew how most of the set would go. I also knew there would be some changes, since she released the album The Tortured Poets Department only a few months earlier.

Her performance was nothing short of breathtaking. The men and women around me (mostly Dutch and American, it seemed) belted the lyrics to every song, as we watched in mystified amazement. The moments didn’t feel real, and yet, they were.

As expected, she added several songs from her newest album, like “But Daddy I love him” and “Fortnight,” to her set. Every night, she played two different songs during her piano/acoustic set. That night, she played “You Are in Love,” while the audience belted the lyrics alongside her.

As the show concluded with the final lines of her song “Karma,” from the Midnights album, I took in the sights and sounds of the arena, one final time. I wasn’t sure if I would ever witness such a grandiose and monumental performance again.

A Mildly Chaotic Excursion to Gelsenkirchen

I still possessed a ticket to the Gelsenkirchen show, which I decided to attempt to sell. However, ticket prices began to fall rapidly. I assumed the main reason for the drop was due to a large number of American attendees who realized they could no longer partake in their European vacation, although I’m sure there were a variety of reasons.

To complicate matters, I was asked to fly to Washington, D.C. that same week to brief the Defense Health Agency Director and the Army, Navy and Air Force Surgeons General on my work as a medical planner. I could still make the concert, I realized, but it would be tight. My best option was to sell the ticket.

Days ticked by, and ticket prices dropped to the point where I decided to remove my listing and try to attend the show. I shifted my flight from D.C. to the night prior, so I could depart immediately after my briefs concluded.

In hindsight, moving my flight was a brilliant decision, as there was a ton of airline drama the next day, leading to many delayed or cancelled flights. I landed at Frankfurt airport in the early hours of the morning and made my way to my apartment, and then onward to Gelsenkirchen.

I sadly arrived a little late to this show, so I’m glad I watched the entire performance in Amsterdam. I ran up to the stadium while Taylor sang the lyrics to “Love Story” and I entered the arena shortly before she performed the ten-minute version of “All Too Well.”

Nonetheless, it proved to be an amazing performance. The German-heavy crowd smiled and danced or swayed happily throughout the performance, although they sang along far less than the Dutch.

I decided to stand a little farther back from the stage this time, especially since I arrived late. The silver lining to this, however, was that the audio sounds way clearer in my video recordings.

Long Live

Well, what can I say? I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to see Taylor Swift live twice, while stationed in Europe.

I’ve experienced plenty of dark days in my life, especially after returning from Afghanistan and during the stressful days, weeks and months following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Taylor’s music always provided a light to cut through the darkest of my days. It was certainly enchanting to see her perform.

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