Figurehead of the London nightclub scene and die-hard Swiftie, Dave Fawbert, initially encountered Taylor Swift’s “brilliance” when he first listened to Speak Now, her third studio album, in 2010. From the outset, it was kismet.

Fawbert is not the person you might immediately envision as the mastermind behind a Swift club night. He’s a father to a young family and, perhaps even more surprisingly, appears to casually approach his Swiftie enthusiasm, a slightly uncommon trope among those in the fanbase.

In 2019, Fawbert was looking to DJ and host a single artist club night, having seen the success of tribute events such as Fleetmac Wood and the Bruce Springsteen-centric Hungry Heart.

“I thought it was a really interesting concept,” he remarks. “I had wondered if there was anyone else I could do it for. Obviously, there was Elton John or Pet Shop Boys, but the fans of those artists were too old to go clubbing.”

The answer came during a sound check for a separate club night, when Fawbert played Taylor Swift’s ‘Style’ to test the speakers and sound system.

“I thought, Jesus Christ, the song sounds amazing on a PA system,” Dave recalls. “Suddenly, I had that lightbulb moment. Back in 2019, she had released six albums and I wondered if that was enough to make a Taylor Swift night work. But God, it would be such a laugh, wouldn’t it? And as soon as I thought of it, I knew I had to do this.”

From there, he could see things starting to fall into place. Fawbert booked London’s MOTH Club and posted an announcement promoting Swiftogeddon. After a month of struggling to sell tickets, word eventually got out and tickets quickly sold out. By total chance, the first Swiftogeddon coincided with Swift’s announcement of her seventh studio album Lover on the same day.

Having sold out the first night in London, Dave set his sights on hosting another Swiftogeddon in Manchester the following weekend.

“So I did the first two and didn’t really know what to expect. I spent the week before revising and checking. At that point, I didn’t really know her first two albums that well, outside of the singles.”

Despite fears that the setlist wouldn’t satisfy the audience’s taste, the first Swiftogeddon proved to be a knock-out.

“I remember [MOTH Club] was full after twenty minutes, everyone had come early,” he reminisces. “I played ‘All You Had To Do Was Stay’ off 1989 and the roof came off. Everyone knew all the words.”

“What was lovely about it was I finished the set with ‘All Too Well’ and ‘Long Live,” Dave muses. “I figured ‘All Too Well,’ we all know that’s the best one, it’s a fan favourite. Anyways, I remember someone posting somewhere online saying ‘Oh, you can tell the [DJ] is a Swiftie because he ended with those two songs.’”

“When you’re a Swiftie, it’s not about the singles. It’s about the album tracks and knowing the arc of every album.”

Dave Fawbert at the Reputation Tour in Wembley

Following the first weekend’s success, Dave booked venues across five different cities across England, Scotland and Wales. Naturally, he set his sights on hosting a Swiftogeddon in Ireland, which led to him booking venues in Dublin and Belfast.

The Irish stint was originally announced in November 2019, when tickets went on sale, but the pandemic brought such plans to a grinding halt. After a years-long wait - and nearly 25 reschedules - the first Irish Swiftogeddon took place in March 2022. It was a scintillating success.

As Swift’s widely-celebrated Eras Tour comes to Ireland and the UK in June, Fawbert organised 40 Swiftogeddon pre-parties in the run-up to the concerts. As such, each club night encompasses a certain album or era of Taylor Swift’s to amp-up the hype for the tour. When the Taylor Swift apocalypse comes to Dublin’s Grand Social in June, there will be five nights dedicated to the featured albums where fans can expect a mix of fan favourites, chart toppers and deep cuts. The night will be overseen by Anna Jacobs, who has organised several Swiftogeddons across Ireland.

It’s a night for the hardcore fans and Swiftie-curious alike, with something for everyone to enjoy.

“You’d often see people turn up clearly a bit like ‘what am I doing here?’ Then they would just be sucked into it,” he laughs. “That’s the great thing about her songs. They’re so brilliantly written and arranged where even if you don’t know them, you get the hang of it. The general atmosphere is so lovely, euphoric and welcoming. Even if you only know a half dozen songs, that is more than enough, you’ll have a great night.”

It’s shaping up to be another buzzworthy year for Taylor Swift, with her forthcoming UK and Ireland Eras run, a new album out in April and the never ending maelstrom of gossip and rumours surrounding her - from her highly-publicised relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce to the easter-egg clues populating the upcoming record The Tortured Poets Department.

Alex Hughes and fans feeling the Swiftogeddon love.

Dave believes, however, that all the chatter and lore distracts from what’s at the heart of Taylor Swift: the music, which he calls “the bedrock of everything.”

“If the music wasn’t brilliant, she would not be known,” he asserts. “That’s why Swiftogeddon is brilliant, because you’re stripping away everything else.”

It’s quite the spectacle and a real treat for Swifties, with many of them donning Taylor-themed costumes at the Swiftogeddon club nights. As with many Taylor Swift fans, they took it to another level.

“It’s always been a thing, I think, dressing up for the show. The first time in London, someone was waving this green dog at me and I thought ‘What on Earth is that?’ Then obviously it played on ‘the last great american dynasty’ and the dog dyed key-lime green.”

Another gem came during a night in Norwich, where a devoted fan dressed up as a mirrorball, another folklore reference.

“I thought that was absolutely phenomenal,” laughs Dave.

Nights such as Swiftogeddon strengthen what is sometimes a chaotic and competitive fanbase with shared experience between tours. It allows diehard fans the chance to fully experience the music without the added pressure of having to look at the stage, film every second or take out a second mortgage to buy tickets. It’s a safe space, a place where external pressures and fears of embarrassment fall by the wayside.

“It’s a joyous thing,” Fawbert notes. “We’re up on stage and we want to get everyone going, jumping around and making sure people feel comfortable. We’re fans and we’re singing along and loving it so you don’t feel the need to be self-conscious.”

If his word isn’t enough, just take Taylor’s, who acknowledged the event after its first weekend, when someone posted a video of it on Tumblr. The popstar saw the video on the social media platform, commenting “WHAT!!!!!!!! This is amazing!!!!”

The commendation was huge, but it wasn’t everything. At the end of the day, it’s the music that makes Swiftogeddon a phenomenon worth experiencing. Not even the DJs see themselves as anything more than followers spreading the pop gospel.

“We’re not important,” Dave says. “Actually, no one’s important. Taylor’s not there. It’s about the music and being with your friends without pressure or expectations. We’re all just there to celebrate and enjoy the music, bringing it back to its purest form.”

When Swiftogeddon returns to Dublin in June, it will be a celebration in the lead up to the Eras Tour, which comes to Dublin’s Aviva Stadium for three nights from 28th-30th June. With five Swiftogeddons scheduled for June, each night will cover selected albums, starting from the very beginning.

• Swiftogeddon returns to Dublin’s Grand Social for five nights, each one celebrating different featured albums: 07 June: Debut / Fearless • 14 June: Speak Now / Red • 15 June: 1989 / Reputation • 21 June: Lover / Folklore • 22 June: Evermore / Midnights / The Tortured Poets Department