Taylor Swift donated hundreds of tickets to her Thursday night concert to a local police department. She performed at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The tickets were given to Robert Hedlund, Mayor of Weymouth, Massachusetts, who passed them on to police officers in Weymouth. Remaining tickets were given to officers in nearby Quincy and Hingham as a token of gratitude for their assistance following the slaying of a Weymouth officer in July.
The mayor indicated to local paper the Patriot Ledger that the donation was made in a “low-key” manner with no interest in publicity for the gesture. The exact number of tickets has not been made public, but Hedlund described it as “a significant number of tickets.” He described the extent of the donation, saying, “There were enough to send every police officer, firefighter and extended family to the concert, and then some” and thanked Swift for her “absolutely generous, significant and appreciated” gift.
Taylor’s gift was made as a show of support and sympathy for law enforcement following the shooting death of Weymouth Sergeant Michael Cesna on July 15. Twenty-year-old Emanuel Lopes used 42-year-old Cesna’s own gun against him while he was investigating a car crash. Also killed in the shooting was a 77-year-old bystander named Vera Adams. The Boston Herald describes the “sea of blue” created by thousands of officers from across the nation who attended the sergeant’s funeral.
Taylor Swift invites Hayley Kiyoko on stage to perform epic “Curious” duet https://t.co/H7Nsxa4zQD pic.twitter.com/LSvAl6Qmoe
— billboard (@billboard) July 27, 2018
Cesna is survived by his wife Cynthia and their two children, 9-year-old Olivia and 4-year-old Jack. He joined the military following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He had dreamed of becoming a police officer since childhood and knew his experience in the military would help him achieve that dream. He received a Purple Heart and served in multiple tours of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thursday night’s show is the first of three that Swift will perform in Gillette Stadium. The performances are part of her “Reputation” tour that kicked off in early May and includes nearly 30 stops in the U.S. During her performance at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the superstar fell on stage, likely due to rainy weather in the area. Unharmed, she rose to her feet right away and laughed it off and continued performing right through pouring rain. Swift later posted a photo to Instagram that shows her soaking wet during the concert. She captioned it with “FULL RAIN SHOW Last night we all danced together for 2 hours in the pouring rain – who knows what the Jersey skies will bring us tonight but we’re *ready for it*.”
