Rock in Rio Taylor Swift

Rock in Rio – wow! It was a four day music festival across the street from our condo. Usually it’s held abroad – the original was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (hence the name) and subsequent RIRs have been in Portugal. This was the first one in the United States! An outdoor event, it popped up on an empty 40 acre lot next door. Five stages, astroturf, restaurants, retail outlets and a Ferris wheel. The first weekend was ROCK weekend (Metallica, Linkin Park, No Doubt, etc). We didn’t attend that one, but lived through the thumping beat of sound and light checks, rehearsals and the concert itself, complete with fireworks. It sounded like when you pull up next to the guy in the car who has LOUD music with his windows rolled up, and all you can hear is the bass. We slept with earplugs and noise canceling headphones, since the music started at 8AM went on until 2AM.

The next weekend was POP weekend, and we decided to give it a go. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!!

: RFID (Radio Frequency ID) wristbands were our ticket to get in. They also linked to our credit card and paid for food and drinks. The entire event was cashless – fast lines!

: An overhead view of some of the grounds. Each day had 60,000 concertgoers.

: Mike showing off his FREE sunglasses.

: We need to sign a waiver to ride a Ferris wheel? This was the R80XL, the world’s largest portable Ferris wheel.

: EDM Spider (close enough with only 6 legs) was like a giant subwoofer. Our condo is right behind it.

: One of the 5 stages had DJ dance music with awesome dancers.

: Woohoo! We feel so hip!

: Tove Lo’s Talking Body was great.

: A little attitude from the Rock in Rio UK part of the park.

: Would it be Vegas without a wedding chapel? Elvis was there to sing at 20 weddings.

: Taylor Swift apparently never shows her belly button. Because you need to know what you don’t need to know.

: We were getting a little Taylor’d out when she introduced her cats on screen. “No animals were hurt during the making of this film. Only one pop star.”