Drop everything now — and jump on the Taylor Swift bandwagon. This past week during an extended Thanksgiving break, I took a trip into the Big Apple to catch the last performance on the U.S. leg of Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now” tour. Let me start by explaining how worthwhile it was to miss nearly three days of class for the 2 hours and 40 minutes I got to spend with 20,000 other people jumping, cheering and singing inside Madison Square Garden. This tour was a must-see event.

If you’ve missed the “Speak Now” tour, don’t fret — the “Speak Now World Tour Live CD + DVD” is now on sale.

This tour featured nearly every song off the “Speak Now” album, in addition to her trademark hits such as “Our Song,” “Fearless,” “You Belong With Me,” “Fifteen” and “Love Story” thrown in as crowd pleasers.

Swift has the talent and dedication to be a four-time Grammy winner at age 21, but her deep appreciation of her fans and natural charisma really push her over the edge from a talented musician to an awe-inspiring force.

Anyone who has seen one of Swift’s shows can attest to the level of enjoyment brought to the audience by the Broadway-musical-esque performances on stage for every song, every night. The enormous amount of effort and creativity involved in synchronizing choreography, pyrotechnics and slideshows shown on the big screens in the arena is a testament to how much Swift cares not only about the songs themselves, but their presentation to an audience. Each song has its own mood, its own emotions that go along with it and the way the audience reads the performance is based on the lavish sets and lighting that continually change throughout the show.

Swift, who has complete creative control, designed the sets, skits and scenery that create a once-in-a-lifetime experience. In behind-the-scenes featurettes, she explains how as she writes her songs, she sees them played out in a certain way on stage and creates a performance based on her vision.

As loud as the cheers were throughout the show, and the sheer volume with which each word of Swift’s personally written songs echoed from the crowd, I have never before heard screams as loud as those that erupted when the first special guest was introduced. After Swift announced, “It just so happens Selena [Gomez] is here,” I couldn’t hear anything else over the piercing shrieks of all concert-goers age 6 to 16. Swift and Gomez then performed Gomez’s hit “Who Says” to the enthusiastic cheers of the crowd, and when they held the microphones out to the audience to sing the chorus alone, we sang even louder than they did.

My favorite parts of the show were when Swift stood on stage, seemingly alone with the microphone, and talked to the sea of fans as if we were quietly seated in her living room, trading stories. She told us about her inspiration for several of her songs such as “Last Kiss,” “Fifteen,” “Fearless” and “Mean.” She spoke for a little longer than usual, trying to savor every moment of the last show. She spoke of how long they’ve been on tour and how much it means to her and her band that the fans are so supportive. She also discussed the logistical planning of the tour and how she was honored to conclude her run at Madison Square Garden.

One of the most exciting stories, however, was when she told us how her mother asked her what her favorite class was when she was 10 years old. She had told her mom that singing in the chorus was her favorite, but qualified that she hated all of the songs they sang except one, “Fire and Rain” by James Taylor. Right as she told us that her mother actually named her after James Taylor, Taylor walked out on stage. And what did they sing? You guessed it, “Fire and Rain.” As a huge James Taylor fan, it brought me, and others like me (those of us old enough to know who James Taylor is), to tears.

After accompanying me, my friends and my sister to our first Taylor Swift concert over two years ago, my mom continues to look forward to seeing Swift perform. And as far as parents’ opinions go, she is not alone.

After the final curtain closed and the crowd settled down, I heard the woman sitting behind me turn to her daughter, who looked to be about 8 years old, and ask, “So, how was concert No. 1?” After the little girl smiled and nodded her head with delight, I turned around to inquire, “Oh, was this your first concert? Did you enjoy it?” to which she nodded her head again and her mother chimed in, “To be honest, I only came for her, but I had as good a time as anyone.” That, right there, is one of the strengths of Ms. Swift — she’s relatable to almost everyone.

The emotional roller coaster that is a Taylor Swift concert, from the jump in the air, so-happy-you-can’t-stop-smiling performances of “Sparks Fly,” “Mine,” “Speak Now” and “Long Live” to the bitter and regretful “Back to December” (paired with Timbaland’s “Apologize” and Swift’s own “You’re Not Sorry”), the revengeful “Better Than Revenge,” nostalgic “Enchanted” and gut-wrenching, overflowing-with-emotion “Haunted,” makes this concert, simply put, the most incredible I’ve ever seen.