A Taylor Swift themed hotel room at Bisha Hotel in Toronto on Sept. 10.Sarah Palmer/The Globe and Mail
When you step onto the fourth floor of Toronto’s Bisha Hotel in mid-November, you’ll emerge into a red glow, pass through red curtains, and walk past a bevy of posters paying tribute Taylor Swift’s Red era. Or if you’ve got $5,000 to spare, you might get off the elevator at the dimmed seventh floor, which will be an homage to her Midnights era, and stay in the suite called The Taylor — filled with Swift art, records, wall-bound quotes and even slippers, all cast in a lavender haze.
Just a few blocks north of the Rogers Centre, the massive major-league baseball stadium where Swift is set to perform six nights of her Eras Tour in November, the Bisha Hotel is both well-positioned and fantastically eager to take advantage of Taylormania. The whole hotel is set to transform for the occasion, with the lobby and each floor representing eras of Swift’s genre-hopping career, topped off with a 43rd-floor suite transformed into a Lover Lounge for guests to mingle, get amped up and trade friendship bracelets.
“Everyone from our engineering to our housekeeping teams are all working to pull it off,” said Aaron Harrison, the hotel’s general manager, in an interview as he walked through the hotel this week. The project has been in the works since Swift’s Toronto dates were announced a year ago. Harrison hopes it will both prime the hotel as a nucleus for her fans this fall and cement Toronto as a destination for other events. “People will see what our city can do,” he said. “It’s like an international showcase.”
The Eras Tour is positioned to be the highest-grossing tour in music history, and cities worldwide have rolled out red carpets for the Swifties those concerts bring. Swift’s massive fanbase is big on communing and community; even though the six shows are still two months away, organizations across Toronto are already announcing transformations and special events to bring her fans together and, just as importantly, through their doors.
Whether they’re targeting the thousands of tourists who will swarm the city’s streets or locals who want to celebrate with other fans somewhere outside of Swift’s concerts, restaurants, bars, event spaces and even a drag impersonator and a museum are getting ready to embrace as many Swift fans as possible.
The Bisha Hotel’s high-demand Taylor suite normally goes for $1,449 a night.Sarah Palmer/The Globe and Mail
The Bisha Hotel’s high-demand Taylor suite normally goes for $1,449 a night, and bookings are rolling in for November’s Eras dates, when the price will rise to $5,000, as such suites tend to be priced during high-demand events. Even though hotel staff have until now kept the Taylor transformation mostly under wraps, they’re already fielding booking requests for certain Era-themed floors from sleuthing Swifties who’ve already discovered their plans.
Eras concerts are a few hours long, but fans descending on Toronto will still have time, if not days, to spend in the city. There’ll be plenty for them to do. In the Junction neighbourhood, Le Dolci Culinary Classroom plans to host five classes in November to help fans recreate the heart-shaped cake that Swift stabs in her 1989-era Blank Space video, including a hidden, exploding red-jelly centre.
“We wanted to do something that welcomes her to the city,” owner Lisa Sanguedolce said. “We’ve invited her to the class; I think she’s busy.” But there are plenty of fans, even those who couldn’t get tickets, who are already filling up the classes. The sellout may have even been a motivator for Sanguedolce to host the event: “Obviously, I could not get tickets.”
The community of Swifties includes many who couldn’t get tickets, because of budgets, tickets’ sell-out speeds, or work schedules. The Caribbean-Asian fusion restaurant Patois on Dundas Street West is hosting two Swift-themed Saturday brunches on Nov. 16 and Nov. 23 for all kinds of fans – including its own staff.
Even though hotel staff have until now kept the Taylor transformation mostly under wraps, they’re already fielding booking requests for certain Era-themed floors from sleuthing Swifties who’ve already discovered their plans.Sarah Palmer/The Globe and Mail
“This is an initiative started by them,” owner and chef Craig Wong said in an interview. “Sometimes in hospitality, we’re working when other people are playing. They want to join in on that.” The celebration will feature Swift-heavy playlists, themed cocktails and mocktails, plus, for ticketholders, a free mimosa or orange juice.
The drag impersonator Tay BoBo was lucky enough to get tickets for one of Swift’s New Jersey shows earlier in the tour – and even got engaged after the show. On Sept. 26 at The Drink on Church Street, BoBo will be hosting the Eras Tour (Tay BoBo’s Version), a three-and-a-half-hour one-queen drag tribute featuring nine costume changes over more than 40 songs.
Taylor Cordingley, who has been performing as BoBo for about six years, said their work has brought them professional opportunities, joy and, through fellow fans, community. “We’re all like a family and the communal experience of getting to sing and dance to Taylor’s music in our safe, queer spaces is something that is akin to magic,” they said. They’ve already got more events lining up before and during the Eras shows.
Conventional and unconventional spaces across the city are trying to tap into the same joy. Toronto City Council has decided to name a stretch of downtown streets leading to the Rogers Centre “Taylor Swift Way” in November. The TD Music Hall at Allied Music Centre – the new cultural complex that includes Massey Hall – will be hosting a TayTay Dance Party on Nov. 19 featuring DJ Swiftie, who puts on massively popular tribute nights.
Aaron Harrison, general manager of Bisha Hotel, in Taylor Swift themed hotel room in Toronto on Sept. 10.Sarah Palmer/The Globe and Mail
The Metro Toronto Convention Centre will lend 150,000 square feet to a “Taylgate” party on concert days. And even the Bata Shoe Museum is getting in on the fun, hosting a Taylor Swift Fan Night on Nov. 12 ahead of the first shows, with a video dance party in its main event space and, staff hope, some special treats throughout the museum.
After all, said Shan Fernando, the museum’s manager of public programming, one of its major exhibits right now is Dressed to Impress: Footwear and Consumerism in the 1980s – which bears an obvious connection to Swift’s 1989 era.
“We wanted to do something recognizing that not everyone who want to go to the Eras Tour can go,” said Fernando, who plans to wear vintage cowboy boots to the event in tribute to Swift’s earliest country work. “We’re going to try to make it feel like a concert. Even though it’s not exactly that, it may be the closest thing some people will get.”
Only one ingredient might be missing – at least for now. “I wish we had some of her shoes here,” Fernando said. “Maybe she’ll donate some after the tour.”
Pop megastar Taylor Swift took home seven trophies on Wednesday at MTV's Video Music Awards, tying her with Beyonce for the most lifetime honours in the 40-year history of the video accolades.
Reuters