Travis Kelce Details His and Taylor Swift’s Enchanted Coachella Date Night
Travis Kelce knows you're thinking about him at his cool indie concerts every week.
Especially when that concert is Coachella and he had none other than Taylor Swift by his side. It's why Travis—at the urging of his brother Jason Kelce—gave an inside look at the couple's April 13 date night at the desert music festival, where he and Taylor were seen enjoying the music in the crowd alongside all the fans.
"I like to see it from the fans' perspective," Travis explained on the April 17 episode of their New Heights podcast of why they weren't watching from backstage. "Because I am a fan of music, I'm a fan of live shows. I want to see it from the front of the stage. We probably could have finessed it that way, but I think it's just that much more of an experience if you're in the pit, man, if you're in the madness with all the fans."
In fact, for the Kansas City Chiefs player, being able to spend the whole weekend around live music was like losing himself in a daydream.
"I love live music, I don't get enough of it in my life," Travis explained. "I just like going to events, going places where people are seeing all these talented people in the world, I just like to experience that type of s--t. That's the one thing that I really enjoy about Coachella is that it's not just one genre of music genre."
And while the 34-year-old got to see some of his favorite artists—such as Dom Dolla and Jungle—he also got to experience a new one for him and a go-to favorite for Taylor: Bleachers, headed by Taylor's BFF Jack Antonoff.
"My guy Jack Antonoff—he absolutely ripped it," Travis remembered. "I had so much fun seeing him go nuts with the guitar, all his boys. He had two sax players, two drummers, two guitars, and they just ripped it. It was so much fun."
The brothers also referenced the fact that their New Heights branded green hat—which Taylor donned at the music festival to cap off her otherwise all-black ensemble—soon became the merch website's most popular item.
As Jason put it, "Sold out of the green hat real quick."
And keep reading to relive Travis and Taylor's romance from the very beginning, the journey that brought them form friendship bracelets to date nights at Coachella.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's love story began in July 2023, when the singer's Eras Tour made a stop at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
As a huge Swiftie, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end caught the show with hopes of giving Taylor a friendship bracelet with his number on it. However, he failed to complete the pass due to her pre-show rituals.
"I was disappointed that she doesn't talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings," Travis shared on the July 26 episode of his New Heights podcast. "So, I was a little butt-hurt I didn't get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her."
After publicly recounting his fumble—a move Taylor would later describe as "metal as hell"—Travis decided to shoot his shot and invite the Grammy winner to watch the Chiefs play at Arrowhead Stadium.
"I threw it out there, I threw the ball in her court," he shared on The Pat McAfee Show. "I told her, you know, 'I've seen you rock the stage in Arrowhead, you might have to come see me rock the stage in Arrowhead and see which one's a little more lit.' So, we'll see what happens in the near future."
Travis was rocking a mustache—which he debuted in August during training camp—when he was first introduced to Taylor.
As he later noted of the era, "That 'stache and the 87 jersey was pretty iconic there for a little bit, and I had it when I met Taylor for the first time."
By early September, a source close to the situation told E! News that Travis and Taylor were "texting and talking here and there."
"It's been very low-key," the insider explained, "as he's been in season."
Accepting Travis' invite, Taylor joined the athlete's mom Donna Kelce at Arrowhead Stadium to watch him and the Chiefs take on the Chicago Bears. After the game, Taylor and Travis were seen packing PDA at a local bar.
Though folklore had it that it was the couple's first in-person meeting, the "Karma" singer later clarified the two had spent a "significant amount of time" getting to know each other beforehand.
As Taylor noted, "We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date."
As an indication that the relationship was heating up, Taylor brought her squad—including friends Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Sophie Turner, Hugh Jackman, Sabrina Carpenter and Antoni Porowski—to watch the Chiefs play against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Another sign that Travis could be The 1? Taylor started bonding with Brittany Mahomes—the wife of Travis' BFF and teammate Patrick Mahomes—in and outside of NFL games.
The couple took their romance to TV, making a surprise appearance on the Oct. 14 episode of Saturday Night Live. Their Big Apple takeover also included the after-party for the NBC sketch show and a date night at the Waverly Inn.
During a bye week, Travis traveled down to Argentina to catch the South American leg of Taylor's Eras Tour. Not only did the NFL star bond with Taylor's dad, Scott Swift, at the Nov. 11 show in Buenos Aires, but he also got a special shoutout from the stage.
"Karma is that guy on the Chiefs," Taylor sang, "coming straight home to me."
After the show, the Midnights artist was seen running up to Travis backstage and greeting him with a passionate kiss.
Taylor addressed the lavender craze surrounding her appearances at Travis' games.
"I'm going to see him do what he loves, we're showing up for each other, other people are there and we don't care," she told Time. "The opposite of that is you have to go to an extreme amount of effort to make sure no one knows that you're seeing someone."
The music superstar turned Travis' Dec. 17 game into a family affair, bringing her dad to cheer on her man.
Taylor and Travis spent their first New Year's Eve together, sharing a romantic kiss when the clock struck midnight on Jan. 1.
Continuing to bond with Travis' family, Taylor hung out with his brother Jason Kelce and sister-in-law Kylie Kelce at the Chiefs' game against the Buffalo Bills.
Taylor joined Travis on the football field when the Chiefs won the AFC Championship, a victory that cemented the team's spot in the 2024 Super Bowl. The couple shared a celebratory kiss before exchanging the L-word.
"Tay, I'm gonna enjoy with the guys," he told her. "I love you—so much it's not funny."
The pair locked lips on the field after Travis led the Kansas City Chiefs to victory on Feb. 11, 2024 in Las Vegas.
Taylor posted footage of Travis on social media for the first time Feb. 12, poking fun at how she took her parents clubbing with the athlete after the Super Bowl.
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