I am a Swiftie and Love Taylor but there are some things that I just don’t just love but I actually live for. Liverpool Football Club is my life. Nothing matters bar Liverpool really. I mean people speculate that football is the new religion etc. which it isn’t really – it’s just a sport but people do feel very strongly about it. It binds friends and families together. It can, in its more vicious, nasty side cause division, enemies and violence. There are highs and there are lows. Liverpool are at the extreme of this. They are the most successful British club in Europe but we’ve also had our lows, Heysel and Hillsborough disasters are two of the worst incidents ever to have taken place in world sport. I bleed Liverpool Red and to think that my favourite music artist is going to be dancing around in front of The Kop, belting out my favourite songs, well – that is sort of what I want to speculate about on here in this blog post. I did a post on successfully getting Wembley tickets for the Summer Solstice yesterday and meekly tried to contrast The Doors with Taylor Swift, discussing the merits of ‘LA ‘Woman’ and ‘Midnights’. That’s more on a music tip. But that’s Anfield South for you. (which to the uninitiated is, what we, Liverpool fans, call Wembley).
You see, Wembley’s good and big. It’s the National Stadium and on FA Cup Final Day it sure goes off there. But, it still lacks a bit of character and personality. It’s not used all the time, for a start. It’s not slap bang middle in the heart of the community. It’s a real nightmare trek getting to and from Wembley, even from central London. And entertainment around the ground isn’t super either. It’s a large ground and, although I haven’t been to the new Wembley stadium (yet) I bet the acoustics would be on a par with the vast Old Toilet (Old Trafford – Manchester United) or perhaps the Millennium stadium in Cardiff (Principality now I think they call it) which again is very big and does well for Welsh rugby internationals but it lacks intimacy and intimacy is what Anfield has. It’s a personal experience from the moment you enter the vicinity of our stadium. The pubs, surroundings, the streets, Stanley Park, it’s a journey. Even the fact Everton’s ground, Goodison Park is just a stone’s throw away, adds to the buzz of arriving at Anfield.
On a football match day you’ll meet lots of scarf sellers, loaded up with matchday badges and programmes and the Official Club Store is always rammed. You can brave a scouse pie inside the ground or in the surrounding streets there are lots of nice and affordable takeaways. It’s going to feel weird to me, going to Anfield to watch a music concert. I’m hyped up, believe, and looking forward but, equally, nobody on Earth can recreate the atmosphere of Liverpool supporters at Anfield. A European Cup night in the ground is just mesmerising. World class players admit that it is the most intense atmosphere and credit the supporters as genuinely being the extra twelvth man and really do affect the outcome of the game. The most intense that I have ever witnessed the atmosphere inside Anfield was in 2005 in, first the quarter final against Juventus, when Luis Garcia scored the best goal that I have ever witnessed and then, the semi-final against Chelsea where, again Luis Garcia (scored) – the winning goal to get us to the Champions league Final in Istanbul. I went to Istanbul but that is another story. (Best night of my life). So, I’m an Istanbul Kopite, but: also. I’m a DJ. I’ve done some good gigs around the place. Never stadiums, but I’ve spun in some pretty good nightclubs and to some large crowds. I know music. I know sound. And one thing I’ll say for Anfield is that it has absolutely perfect acoustics. Yes, the crowd are renowned for being very vocal with a large repertoire of songs. It’s a proud moment the day you can remember all the lyrics to a chant and fully participate in the crowd at Anfield. I listen to those songs ringing around. My favourite seats at Anfield are not even on the Kop. I used to sit in the Anfield Road End, just behind the goal, next to the Away supporters. It’s a lively spot there and it’s great having a bit of banter with the opposition fans, but my main joy in having those regular seats was that I got to fully hear the Kopites in full voice at the opposite end of the stadium. It does make you wonder as a musician just what it would like to see a real top world class musician perform there and how the acoustics of the ground would fare then. Scientifically, it will just enable you, as a fan, to separate exactly how good the Kop and Kopites are and exactly how good the Anfield Stadium is – that is for a football match. I know that they use Anfield for concerts and I bet they are amazing. I was kind of reluctant to go to see Taylor Swift there. It is my most favourite place on Earth but I just can’t seem to get in my head that I’m going there, but not to see the match. It’s a bit of a negative like but I know I’ll be weighing it all up and comparing the difference. I’m stupid like that. But by heck, I’m sure when Taylor lets loose it will be magnificent inside with the acoustics reverberating her beautiful voice and melodies in all sorts of heavenly ways. I mean the Kop do have a heavenly voice, but also they are mainly slightly overweight, usually drunk, middle-aged average blokes. They sing sweetly but they also swear a lot and are a bit smelly and rough etc. No offence intended lads… You go to watch the footie, innit? Who cares if there’s a bit of body odour and someone farts just before halftime?
My point is that we are talking a very beautiful woman, at the peak of her prime, who is exceptionally talented and gifted by God in terms of her ridiculous highly-energised creative output. She plays God knows how many instruments perfectly and writes the most engaging and passionate songs and then gets out and performs and delivers them. Liverpool and Anfield have had many people with incredible work ethics and a superhuman drive do their business on the pitch. I went up regularly to Anfield during the Steven Gerrard era. If that man isn’t driven for success, God Only Knows who is. The captain wearing his heart on his sleeve. I dread to think what is was like watching King Kenny Dalgleish play at Anfield, from the standing Spion Kop, when we had far more success in terms of trophies, and arguably a better team of players. Taylor is the biggest music artist ever. It might offend some people in the city of Liverpool, the home of The Beatles. But they are ‘Yesterday’ I wasn’t alive to witness Beatlemania but you tell me that they were getting 50 billion Spotify plays at that time. Yes, different era but this is the modern world and Tay Tay is here to stay. I personally think, although there is a lot of healthy competition out there, which is good (and I like most of it too) ; that it could be many decades before we see an artist actually surpass Taylor Swift probably a theoretical question for me as I will be floating around in the sky should that situation ever arise it is that far off into the future. Lads, we are talking Messi, Maradona, even Pele… That’s where Taylor Swift is at. Music is like football in many ways and people have their different opinions and that is part of the rich tapestry of life, yet every so often a star transcends reality and just, like Enoch is the Bible, walks with God. I hope Taylor doesn’t get carried away in Anfield and float off… And I most definitely hope she doesn’t score any goals against us like Messi, Maradona and Pele would have tried to! Taylor you are either home or away. I do hope that you start making public statements endorsing our club in your global Eras Tour travels. I have a feeling that it will be one of the standout venues that you are performing in. It’s going to be a special occasion, undoubtedly, with a special performance by a special lady. She’s been doing her bit for Liverpool already and filmed ‘I Can see You’ in the city a few months back and released that the last week as part of the ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ album release.
Just a word of warning to the caretakers at the club – Lock down the trophy cabinets, just in case, as she seems to have walked off with that piece of art in the video without paying. As much as I love Taylor I don’t think I could forgive anyone who nicked OUR European Cup – ‘Old Big Ears’- The Real won: the one we won FIVE TIMES in ISTANBUL and got to keep. Not like the fake ones they manufacture in other clubs – see Manchester United, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Glasgow Celtic. – Oh – and not forgetting Manchester City…. Yes, the sharp-eyed among you will say – but there’s is the real one – and yes, it is but in order to actually keep it forever they will need to win the European Cup another four times, because it will be going back at the ned of the season (I hope). Sorry, supposed to be talking about music, but got sidetracked… far too easy for men to slip into thinking about football. On that note, I’d like to remind the team that we need an extra special push this season and hopefully a load of trophies as, in that case, the crowd and the city will be super-buoyant and Taylor Swift, when she does her three Anfield gigs in June 2024 will be able to witness the very best of Liverpool. A Liverbird upon my chest!
I have already tweeted Taylor several weeks ago rambling on about Liverpool songs etc. I’ll probably do a few blog posts on the issue in the future – Almost a year to go until the concert – and a full season beforehand to get through and focus on. I think and I don’t’ want to force anything upon a legendary singer but if she were to do a rendition of our club anthem ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone,’ I’m sure it would be very much appreciated by the audience and it is a very beautiful song. It would go down well. My little hope and suggestion is that Lana Del Rey turns up at Anfield, as a special surprise guest performer. Just make sure she sorts her hair out unlike at Glastonbury where I’m still fuming with the BBC for cutting the footage halfway through her performance! She has already recorded a good version of YNWA and isn’t ‘Snow on the Beach’ a duet from the Taylor Swift – ‘Midnights’ album? Four hours or so of Taylor belting it out. That’s more than extra time and penalties! I hope we qualify as I have to go down to see her in Wembley the following week for the Cup Final.
I’m up in the Main Stand in U8, looking out over the Kop. I can’t wait to visit the ground after a long time away and I am really keen on seeing all the changes. I know it’s not just a football crowd going to the gigs as Taylor has her own audience but equally I am sure that there will be a lot of people attached to the club who are fans of both Taylor Swift and Liverpool FC and I’m certainly one of them! #ynwa xx luvs ya Tay Tay xx
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