In her second year training to be a nurse, 19-year-old Gail Harper spent weeks preparing, organised days off work, and got dressed up to be part of a record-breaking tour.
But the year wasn’t 2024, and the artist wasn’t Taylor Swift.
It was 1959, and Australian crowds were flocking to see American evangelist Billy Graham.
“It was awe-inspiring, that’s the only word I can use. I can still feel it,” said Mrs Harper, who is now 84.
Graham spent 15 weeks in Australia in 1959.
The ABC reported that more than 3 million Australians went to see the charismatic preacher during his tour — nearly a third of the country’s entire population at the time.
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Swift set her own crowd record this month, playing to 96,000 people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) three nights in a row and is expected to play to 300,000 in Sydney over four shows.
Mrs Harper’s granddaughter will be at one of Swift’s Sydney concerts.
But rewind 65 years and Ms Harper was preparing to sing with Billy Graham’s choir at the showgrounds.
“I’d sung in the church choir and the school choir, but never had I ever sung with so many people,” she said.
She still remembers the songs by heart.
“Every time I sing How Great Thou Art it just takes me straight back to that time. It was an experience beyond anything I’ve ever experienced and have ever experienced since,” she said.
“I remember this sea of people, looking down and seeing the crowd of people that were there, eager to hear what Billy Graham was saying.”
A month earlier he had been at the MCG where the crowd of more than 130,000 still holds the record of attendance to this day.
The MCG itself estimates it could have been as large as 143,750 as the crowd “spilled onto the arena”.
Ron and Cath Kingsley were newly married and invited friends to go along.
“We obviously didn’t have a seat in the stands so we sat on the grass on the hallowed ground,” Mrs Kingsley recalled.
“I do remember George Beverly Shea singing, but I don’t remember the passage that Billy Graham was speaking on, or anything like that.
“But there was, of course, the invitation at the end, and a lot of people went forward.”
How really big tours make a difference
The impact of large tours has been in the spotlight during Swift’s current tour.
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‘Swiftonomics’ has impacted the economy — from airfares, all the way to creating a shortage of jewellery and craft supplies as fans make friendship bracelets to share at concerts.
The 1959 tour also had an impact.
The ABC reported Graham’s crusade was said to be responsible for a nationwide drop in crime rates and alcohol consumption following his visit.
Historian Judith Smart told ABC’s Compass program “I think it’s probably true that the crime rate did go down for a short period of time, and that attendances at church went up for a short period of time”.
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While big crowds still gather for sports and music, Mrs Harper thinks the scale of what she experienced in 1959 will stay unmatched.
“I think we were a lot more open back then to discover things of God, certainly the younger people, than we probably are now,” she said.
And it was free.
Mrs Harper admits she was a little shocked at 2024 concert pricing when her granddaughter told her how much a Swift ticket cost.
“I went to Billy Graham for nothing, and received everything,” she said.
“I just remember being totally surrounded by the sound … and just feeling so special to be able to be part of it.
“I still feel that way all these years later.”
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