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Oct 25, 2024

Taylor Swift approves massive friendship bracelet in Nola | Taylor Swift | nola.com

An oversized inflatable friendship bracelet created by Miami-based artist Shawn Kolodny hangs from the Caesars Superdome on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, ahead of the weekend's sold-out Taylor Swift

An oversized inflatable friendship bracelet created by Miami-based artist Shawn Kolodny hangs from the Caesars Superdome on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, ahead of the weekend's sold-out Taylor Swift concerts.

The Eras Tour has officially taken over New Orleans. Look no further than the exterior of the Caesars Superdome.

Even the Dome, it seems, has gotten into the Taylor Swift spirit of creating beaded friendship bracelets.

But this one is Superdome-sized.

As stagehands with forklifts unloaded Swift's staging from trucks and moved it into the Dome this week ahead of her three-sold shows starting on Friday, a surprise emerged that is unique to the Eras Tour stop in New Orleans.

Outside on the Dome’s elevated plaza on Wednesday, Shawn Kolodny directed a crew hanging a 140-foot-long, inflatable reproduction of the handmade friendship bracelets Swift fans create and exchange.

The idea for the giant inflatable friendship bracelet originated with Abby Jones, the director of sales and marketing for the local office of ASM, the company that manages the Superdome.

Jones got approval from Swift's team, then recruited Kolodny, a Miami-based artist who specializes in large, inflatable installations.

In about four weeks from idea to completion, Kolodny’s creation came to life: two sets of double-stranded inflatable bracelets spelling out “Taylor Swift The Eras Tour.”

Contemporary artist Shawn Kolodny, bottom center, installs a 140-foot inflatable friendship bracelet outside the Caesar's Superdome in New Orleans, just days before the Taylor Swift concert. He was working on one of the four that will hang outside the dome on Wednesday, October 23, 2024. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)

Made of nylon, each bead in the strand with a letter on it is seven feet tall. Blowers will inflate the huge bracelets strung on either side of the Dome.

“It’s like a giant friendship bracelet bouncy house,” Kolodny said.

The "bracelet bouncy house" will undoubtedly be the backdrop for countless Swiftie selfies this weekend.

Go here to see more of our Eras Tour coverage.

Email Keith Spera at [email protected].