An 11-year-old girl and her mother from Milford got the surprise of their wildest dreams at Thursday night’s stop on Taylor Swift’s ‘The Era’s Tour’ in Toronto.
Addison Shabbot was picked out of a crowd of tens of thousands of people to get the coveted “22 hat” which is handed out to one lucky fan at every show on the tour.
“Best birthday ever. For sure,” Britne Shabbot, Addison’s mom, said.
Addison was opening her birthday gift at home on Wednesday, when she pulled out a black and gold costume – a replica of Swift’s “Reputation” era costume – handmade by her mom.
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“When she opened the outfit, she didn't get it,” Britne said. “She didn't understand. She just thought, 'oh, this is cool. It's a Taylor Swift outfit.' Then the last thing she opened was sunglasses, and it said ‘Era’s Tour Toronto.’”
In a video, Addison screams when she learns she gets to go to the show. The next day, the pair drove 8.5 hours to Toronto from Connecticut.
But on the day of the show, the tickets they got through a third-party vendor still hadn’t been released to them.
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“We had the worst day ever,” Addison said, “because our tickets wouldn't come in and they couldn’t do anything about it until 4 p.m. So, we got a refund and we bought new tickets.”
Those new tickets, on the first row of stands up from the floor, put them at eye-level with Swift.
“When we were going into the show,” Britne said, “we said the universe owed us a really good night after the day we had.”
That’s exactly what they got. They were approached by someone on Swift’s team and whisked away from their seats.
“I was kinda just having a good time and being myself,” Addison said. “Then someone walks up to us…and she's like, 'come with us.'”
“She looked back at me and I go, ‘I think you're getting the 22 hat!’ and then they led us right up to the stage and they put her up there,” Britne said. “It was surreal.”
“It was incredible,” Addison said.
She can’t remember what she said to Swift, but she did remember to hand her a friendship bracelet that read, “Slay the Era’s.”
“She made it specifically for her the day of the show and she said, 'If I meet Taylor Swift, I'm going to give her this bracelet.' I said, 'Don't forget, that's like a one in 50,000 chance,' and she said, 'I'm going to make it and I'm gonna give it to Taylor Swift if I meet her.'”
The duo said Swift wore that bracelet for the rest of the show.
The hat Addison got was signed by Swift, with the date and location of the show.
“Addison is just the sweetest, most giving, loving person,” her mom said. “I felt like she was like getting rewarded for that because she really looks up to Taylor Swift. I think Taylor Swift is just such a gracious, beautiful, talented individual and she really looks up to her and it just melted my heart. We will never be able to top it.”
“Eleven is my favorite number,” Addison said, “and I’m 11 so I’m not sure anything can top that either.”
