Taylor Swift Begins Her Eras Tour
Taylor Swift performing on stage | Photo Credit: Terence Rushin/Getty Images via @taylorswift on Instagram
Five years is a long time since the internationally recognized singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has been on tour, but she is back under the spotlight. On Nov. 1, 2022, Swift announced her sixth world tour, the Eras Tour. An incredibly rare sight for an A-list celebrity, each show in the Eras Tour has a setlist of 44 songs and lasts over three hours. Its opening acts promise a great display of musical talent featuring other notable artists and bands including Gracie Abrams, Paramore, and Phoebe Bridgers.
The idea for the Eras Tour came after the pandemic cancelled any plans for Swift to go on tour for her four most recently released albums: “Lover”, “Folklore”, “Evermore”, and “Midnights”. Since her last tour Reputation in 2018, Swift has also re-released two albums following the 2019 masters controversy: “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Red (Taylor’s Version)”. She has not toured for these three albums and two re-releases. The Reputation Stadium Tour consisted of 53 shows and lasted for approximately six months. To date, Reputation has been Swift’s highest-grossing tour.
The Eras Tour does not focus on a specific album, but is instead split into ten parts called “Acts” that encompass Swift's entire career. Each Act of the show is about a specific album, with a different aesthetic and outfits. Acts are separated by scene changes, and highlights of the tour include Swift diving into the stage and seemingly swimming under it, reappearing with a different outfit to transition to her Midnights album.
Since the controversy with Ticketmaster in November—where the website crashed as millions of fans rushed to buy tickets—Swift has so far sold over two million tickets for the tour. High demand raised the number of shows in the United States from 27 dates to 52, and international dates haven't been announced yet.
There is speculation as to whether the international leg of Swift's tour will include Canada, but Swift has not confirmed any international tour locations yet. According to the Taylor Swift website international locations and dates have yet to be decided, so Canadian fans are left hoping that Swift will come to Canada. In the meantime, Canadian Swifties have been playing a “dangerous game,” caught between the tough decision of either waiting for a potential tour announcement in Canada or buying tickets for a US show.
The cities Swift has visited did much to honour her and her fans. Glendale, the city hosting the opening night of the Eras Tour, temporarily changed its name to Swift City for the duration of Swift's time there. Tampa, Florida, another stop in the tour, made Swift an honorary mayor temporarily. Other cities have also given Swift the keys to the city, temporarily renaming their city to honour Swift, renaming streets, or even naming her mayor.
The Eras Tour has proven to be record-breaking already; right from the first day of presales, Swift broke the record for most tickets sold by an artist in a single day.
The Eras Tour is having a big impact on the music industry. Its critical reception has been overwhelmingly positive, with entertainment critics praising the elements of theatre in the tour. Chris Willman of Variety Magazine called the show a “three-hour, 44 song epic that leaves ‘em wanting more”.
According to Pollstar, Swift’s earnings from the whole tour could amount to over a billion dollars. If this projection holds, the Eras Tour would be the highest grossing tour in history.
With a career of 19 years and counting, Taylor Swift and her fans sure know how to make the whole place shimmer.