UBC July 2024 - Entertainment

Welcome back to July's UBC. This month I'm going to be talking about cultural differences between Switzerland and the USA.

Today let's talk about Entertainment. Ugh, Switzerland will totally fall flat. Or won't it?

Let's see. The US has Disney Land, Disney World, Sixflags, huge arenas for sports events and concerts, aquariums, zoos,...

Switzerland? Our "amusement parks" barely deserve the name. I mean, yes, fun can be had, but you barely get to spend an entire day.

If we want something comparable to an American fun park we have to go to Germany (Europa Park in Rust or Legoland in Günzburg) or France (Disneyland Paris).

We're more into small scale entertainment, and there's nothing wrong with that. A friend of Colin's, so a 16 year old girl, her name starts with an M, applied for a program in which the city offered a budget to creative people who submitted ideas to help shape their neighborhood or the city. 

M's idea was to show various water themed films from the last few decades on a screen on the premises of the outdoor pool. 

During the screening, you could make yourself comfortable on your towel with a bag of popcorn and watch the movie. We were there for Mamma Mia and it was a magical evening. 

I forgot to ask her whether she got inspired by "the Wedding Planner". 

Moving on.

The biggest Swiss hockey arena has space for 12,000 spectators. The two largest soccer stadiums, where also concerts are being held, host a maximum of 30 - to 32,000 sports ans and 44 to 50,000 for concerts. 

Let me tell you how that works...

Tuesday one of the two Taylor Swift's Era Tour took place at Zurich's Letzigrund stadium. 50k fans were expected, and also 32°C, that's 90° F were expected. A lot of rules about door openings, prohibited items, the maximum size of purses and the like were communicated ahead in time. 

One of the rules was you were not allowed to bring in any food and beverages. This had me really worried. I expected long lines (and steep prices) for concession stands inside the stadium.

Fortunately the event organizers couldn't afford to let the visitors dehydrate before they even got in, so they handed out free cooling "blankets" and bottled water. I thought this was really thoughtful and classy. 

Too bad they forgot to place a lot of trash cans along the way. People just left their crap on the floor, and cleaning crews didn't even have a chance to get there because people were literally blocking the way.

Colin - who doesn't even know I'm doing this comparison series on the blog - noted that Switzerland had no idea how to handle a large crowd. In the US we are used to a structured approach of waiting and boarding. There will be sectors, groups, fences or ropes, that way ticket holders know where to stand and wait.

Around here? Chaos. 

At least Swift fans are peaceful and respectful. Except the ones that were smoking. In the crowd, in the heat. Yuck. 

After spending about 90 minutes in this mess, we finally got in and got some ice cream. Luckily these vendors had mobile stands and were moving around, so there wasn't a long wait!

One cool feature on this heat day was this mist machine!

My Swiftie son and I showing off our friendship bracelets. We had made some the day before and got to exchange all of them, and this was frankly one of the highlights of the overall experience! We met a couple from Alberta, a young girl, a lady from the French speaking part of Switzerland and a lot of random teenage girls. And of course our friends. 

The stadium quickly filled up with concertgoers. While the opening band Paramore was playing, I thought it would be a good time to go to the bathroom and get something to eat. I wasn't quite the only one with this idea, and the line was correspondingly long. It continued downstairs and around the corner... 

Although it was still very early in the evening, the soap dispensers were already empty. 

Next, I tried to get an overview of the food situation, which is not so easy as a short person looking over all these people. But I found out that not all the stalls had the same offer. So if someone wanted chicken nuggets and fries and someone wanted pizza, I had to queue at two different places - twice for about half an hour each?! So everyone would just have to eat pizza! Again, the queue for the food wasn't marked, so we shared the line with the one for the toilet for a while.... 

Good thing I didn't wait with my food run until I became really hangry!!

Next challenge: to balance several cardboard plates full of pizza slices through the crazy crowd. I had the hardest time even finding my party. Luckily my niece, who's pretty tall, kept waving her red cap in the air, which was super helpful!

I felt really claustrophobic, and the music was super loud, even though we were wearing ear protectors, I could feel the bass in my stomach, which made me feel sick, and I just wanted out. Handed them the pizza and said I was going to look for a quiet spot. Haha, quiet spot at a concert venue. 

I sort of found one. Far, far away from the concession stands. From there I enjoyed some people watching. I was fascinated by the people who went to great lengths to dress up, like the girl in pink in the background. But of course I also appreciated the countless football fans ;-)

By the way, I had read that 14k out of the 50k fans actually traveled here from abroad. Many from North America. Apparently prices for Taylor Swift concerts had become that high that they warranted a flight, accommodation and food in high price Switzerland?!

Good for Swiss tourism, not so good for Swiss fans who couldn't get a ticket and *have* to travel to Gelsenkirchen or Vienna now. Not that true Swifts minded to combine the concert with some sightseeing.

Speaking of sight... People who live in neighbouring buildings got to enjoy their very own concert. They were dancing and singing from the open windows, it made me smile. 

So the performance itself was impressive! I enjoyed the music and the atmosphere still from the "quiet" space above, close to where access was banned because it lead to the seats behind the stage". It provided a direct view to the big screen. Perfect!

It also provided a view to the first aid tent, and boy were the paramedics busy! Many people in the audience suffered from the heat and the crowded space I guess. 

Let's talk about what makes Taylor Swift so special. A former coworker of mine raised the question on my Facebook post. 

Full disclosure: I don't consider myself a fan. My son, however, grew up being one. As early as in elementary school he asked for her Reputation album that was going to be released after his birthday, and he had to wait for it for quite some time. 

I still appreciate her music and her overall vibes. Here are the reasons on what sets her apart from mainstream are the following:

• She's not just a product of the music industry, she *is* the music industry. Taylor writes her own songs, and apparently she does it in a way that many (young, female) people can deeply relate to. I have heard fans say they feel like Taylor is a friend of theirs who went through the same heartbreak and stuff.
• Unlike many other stars Taylor Swift is actually musical and plays the guitar and piano herself. She's also proven her musical versatility by transitioning from country to pop to indie folk and alternative rock.
• I perceive her as a real person, meaning she's vulnerable, not afraid to share personal struggles. You won't read about Taylor being into drugs or plastic surgery and the like, which makes her a nice role model. I'd much rather today's kids adore her than some aggressive, half-criminal rapper. 
• Taylor connects with her fans via social media in an authentic way. She likes to embed "easter eggs" in her lyrics, videos, artwork on album covers or social media posts, hinting to future projects or release dates. Fans connect online to collaborate on "decoding" the message.
• She may have started out as your average straight white woman making money with her music staying politically neutral, but at some point she had the courage to speak up and position herself as liberal and an advocate against homophobia, racism and discrimination. 
• The record company with whom she signed her first deal, was eventually sold, and with it the ownership of her songs' masters, which she wasn't happy about. Hard working lady she is, Taylor re-recorded her six early albums. These are now called "Taylor's Version". 

Wrapping up this post  took the quiz "Which Taylor Swift Era Are You?" Which was quite hard as I didn't know all the songs I had to choose from. Eventually it turned out my era is "Speak Now".

What are your thoughts? Do you like mass events? Are you into Taylor Swift? Why (not)?