Taylor Swift fever hits Cardiff - with one fan's 15-year wait nearly over

Sky News

Updated 17 June 2024 at 1:02 pm·3-min read

Taylor Swift fever has hit Cardiff ahead of her Eras tour performance in the city on Tuesday evening.

Fans of the 34-year-old singer - known as Swifties - were already arriving on Monday with many queuing for merchandise.

Road closures will be put in place for much of the Welsh capital's city centre on Tuesday.

Several fans told Sky News about their excitement for the performance.

Orla Condron, from Ilford in London, said it was "nice" to see other fans.

"It's like a little community," she said.

"We were coming up on the train and we saw a massive queue all the way across the bridge, and we didn't realise it was for merch.

"We were like 'What's happening?'. But we were quite lucky, we got some merch."

15-year wait

For Roxanne Cram, from Exeter in Devon, seeing Taylor Swift perform live has been a long time coming.

"15 years, we've been waiting for this. A long time," she said.

"[My friend] applied for Cardiff, I applied for London. And she got off the waiting list straightaway so as soon as she got the code, she was on there straightaway to buy tickets."

When the tickets were confirmed, Ms Cram said she "cried" with excitement.

"We're 30 now, we've been fans since we were like 12 years old," she added.

Amanda Huss has travelled all the way from Oregon in the US.

"We're stoked. We saw her in Seattle and now we're flying here for her," she said.

"Honestly, I signed up for a bunch of pre-sale codes for different cities and this is the one I was approved for and so we're here to make a vacation out of it, coming to Cardiff and to London."

'Crazy to be here'

Sabrina Scriven has travelled to Cardiff from Somerset.

She said she had decided to travel the day before the concert as it was "a lot easier".

"I've been a fan since I was a kid, but I don't think I'd class myself as a Swiftie until maybe five, six years ago," she said.

Ms Scriven has been getting involved with a trend among Swifites - trading friendship bracelets which pay tribute to the star's song lyrics.

She said: "I've traded five or six [bracelets] at the minute. I've got loads, I've even got more back at the hotel, but I'm also going to see her in Wembley later this year so I've got plenty of time to trade them."

She said the atmosphere in Cardiff was a "happy" one.

"I've been walking down the street and people have come up and said hello, which is not really something that happens very often now," she added.

Ed Talling, from Cornwall, said the fact the concert was so close hadn't "sunk in yet".

"We've seen a lot of Swiftie stuff... it's crazy to be here and see so many fans already," he added.