All photos by Tracy May.

I wanted it to suck.

Not because I dislike Taylor Swift. I've always found her singles cute, catchy and downright enjoyable. Not once have I ever turned off the radio if one came on the air, and I've even had a few on my iPod.

I wanted it to suck so that I could have a headline about Kanye being right, or mention how I'd hoped he'd jog onto the stage and save Tampa Bay mid-song.

But it was amazing. Even better, it was Fearless and the night was a fairytale. It reminded me how much I actually hate Kanye West. And now that I'm straight and going to marry Taylor Swift, I hate him even more.

The sold-out concert, the first U.S. night of Swift's first headlining tour, may have opened as weak as one of Kellie Pickler's red high heels (wasn't she skinny on American Idol?), but to be fair to Gloriana, I missed most of their set. I'd never been to the Forum and I was anything but fearless in the traffic. Kellie Pickler wasn't terrible, and the audience — a sea of glow-sticks, Swift music video-inspired props (nerdy glasses) and cowboy hats and boots — practiced their Taylor-reserved enthusiasm to set the mood for the night.

But my boyfriend and I did what Pickler's jeans told us she'd been doing for some time: got a cheeseburger. (From Outback Steakhouse! What?) She sounded better from the halls of the venue, where I was free to find her 'tunes catchy rather than focus on how annoying I thought she was on Idol.

This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2010.