In the past Taylor Swift has had a certain formula for producing, releasing and touring her albums. Usually, she has followed a system of recording music, announcing new projects often with a single and music video, putting out a whole album and then following the entire process with a tour that lasted around six months on average. This routine was what she had been doing for over ten years of her career. According to billboard.com, previous tours grossed well into the hundreds of millions like “The Reputation Stadium Tour” and “The 1989 World Tour” which broke many records in her personal career.
Referencing billboard.com, “Swift was in the middle of her sophomore “Fearless” tour, performing in front of 1.2 million fans across the United States, U.K and Australia, earning $66 million in ticket sales.”
However, in a five-year span, Swift had five un-toured albums, raising the question of how she was going to schedule and make up for the time lost due to the pandemic in 2020. That question, however, did not hang in the air for long, because Nov 1, 2022, Swift announced her tour, not touring one album, not two, but a tour that would include every single album in her arsenal, which would be known as “The Eras Tour”.
Swifties alike had been referring to every album of Swift’s music as its own era, often relating it to their own life experiences, whether they are in high school, college, twenties and so forth. The Era’s Tour incapsulated every era, from her debut album “Taylor Swift” all the way to her newest album, “The Tortured Poets Department” and shining light on every era and the songs each era was known for.
Tickets for this tour sold at a record rate, leaving many people to pay insanely high resale prices. From ticket sales alone it became the highest grossing tour in history, earning 2.2 billion dollars through ticket sales. According to apnews.com, the tour originally started with 27 shows, across 20 cities throughout the US, although by the end of the tour 149 shows were performed on five continents, in 21 countries and 51 cities worldwide and reaching 10,168,008 people.
On the opening night in Glendale, AZ on March 17, 2023, nobody knew what to expect. There were many theories of how swift was going to go through 17 years of music. Plenty of people thought she was going to go through each era chronologically, to tell a story of how her career came to life or that there was something to do with the order of the re-recorded albums.
However, Swift started the tour off in the “Lover” era, kicking off the tour with “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince,” this era would be remembered by the colorfully striking visuals and four sparkling body suits that all coordinated with the colors of the studio album colors. Following “Cruel Summer” Swift put on a sparkling blazer for “The Man” and “You Need to Calm Down,” then taking off the suit jacket for a guitar performance of “Lover.” Finally, to finish out the era on the US leg of the tour an emotional performance of “The Archer” was preformed, before Swift lowered down into the stage for the next era.
The next era, “Fearless,” started out with a golden visual and a total of five different dresses for the era, all of them paying ohmage to the original dresses of the tour in 2009. Crowd favorites such as “Love Story” and “You Belong with Me” kept the energy high for this portion of the show, including an introduction to the band when she played “You Belong with Me.” As well as the well-loved heart fans made with their hands during the title track, “Fearless.”
“Evermore” was one of the two albums written during 2020 and is on the lower energy side of the night. With moody performances of “Willow” and “Tis’ the Damn Season” the Evermore era provides contrast with its somber lyrics and more emotional undertone. During this era Swift walks back to the piano to sing “Champagne Problems,” a fan favorite from the album. Then concluding the era with a simple performance of “Tolerate It,” which is performed at a dining room table towards the back of the stage. During this era, at certain shows on the US leg the band HAIM takes the stage to preform “No Body No Crime” witch Swift.
With little time to process one of Swift’s most lyrically deep albums, “Reputation” took the stage, filling the visuals with snakes and Swift’s high heeled boots. Until Miami night one, on the second portion of the US tour there was only one Reputation outfit, which was a black asymmetrical cat suit, eventually followed by a similar outfit but in gold. Reputation is high energy and included songs such as “Ready for It,” “Delicate” and “Don’t Blame Me” all being fan favorites off the studio album. Ending the era with “Look What You Made Me Do,” the lead single off the album.
An era that got a lot of attention during the tour considering its very small list of songs, was the “Speak Now” era. Swift also dropped the re-recording for this album during the tour. She announced it at night one in Nashville, TN and it was released on July 9, 2023. On the original set list Speak Now had one song, “Enchanted,” the hit single off the original album. Although in after the release of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” one more song was added, “Long Live,” which has always been a fan favorite and a tribute to the fans from Swift. There were nine ballgown style dresses for this era ranging from pink, to blue and purple.
Halfway through the three-and-a-half-hour production the Red Era takes the stage, starting with a playful music box performance from one of Swift’s dancers. This era also has one of the crowd’s favorite traditions made on the Eras Tour, during “22” Swift gives the hat she wears at the beginning of the era to a lucky fan, truly a special experience for the fan and everyone around. This era includes songs such as “Trouble,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and a dramatic ending of the era with “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault).”
“Folklore” was the first quarantine album Swift wrote and was one of the longest sets of the evening. It starts out with Swift appearing on the Folklore Cabin, singing either “Invisible String” or “The One” to start off the era. The cabin represents where Swift thought part of this album took place and really sets the scene for this part of the show. She sings “My Tears Ricochet” into a mashup of the bridge of “Illicit Affairs” and is one of the most emotional parts of the night. She finishes this era off with the lead single “Cardigan” and disappears off for another costume change. This eras outfits were flowy with many different colors, ranging from pale pinks and purples, all the way to more vibrant blues, yellows and fuchsias.
“1989” is the next high energy portion of the night and after “Folklore’s” more melancholy mood it certainly brings the crowd’s energy to an all time high. Swift starts the era with “Style” and bringing light to one of Swift’s most impactful eras of all time. With songs like “Wildest Dreams,” “Shake it Off” and “Bad Blood” the stadiums energy is electric throughout. During the final night of the first leg of the US tour Swift announced “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” and debuted a blue version of the two-piece set worn for this era.
Starting in Paris TTPD is added to the official set list, with songs such as “Fortnite,” “Down Bad,” “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” and “But Daddy, I Love Him” highlight her newest era. For this new era, she wore a white dress over top of a two-piece set, which she later preforms “I Can Do It with A Broken Heart” for the closing song of the era, after being revied from singing “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.” This era had to guests for certain points in the tour, her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, made an onstage appearance in London that shocked fans. As well as Florence and the Machine, who came onstage to sing “Florida!!!” at the Miami shows.
The acoustic set of the evening was a highlight no matter what show one attended. From fans getting their favorite songs, to wild mashups of different eras, this was always a high light of the evening. Every night, there would be a guitar song and a piano song, at first Swift did not want to repeat any songs unless she made an error while singing them, but on the second leg of the tour Swift let go of that rule, leaving more repeats and mixed songs throughout all the shows.
Finally, to end the evening, it is only appropriate to bring the “Midnights” era to everyone’s attention. Full of sparkly navy and purple body suits and whimsical mid-century modern visuals, “Midnights” closes the show with a futuristic and energy packed vibe. Swift sings “Lavender Haze,” “Anti Hero,” “Midnight Rain” and “Mastermind” which all bring light into this rather dark and mysterious era. “Bejeweled” is a crowd favorite and Swift even preforms a dance created by a fan during this song. To finally close out the night “Karma” is played, while Swift and all her dancers wearing metallic multicolored fringe jackets to take their final bow of the evening.
