A reflection on Taylor Swift’s worldwide tour before it comes to an end this December
By NATALIE SALTER—arts@theaggie.org
It’s impossible to ignore how much singer-songwriter Taylor Swift’s popularity and fame has grown over the course of the nearly two decades she has been on the music scene. Swift is undoubtedly one of the most popular musical artists worldwide, with a massive fanbase and 11 albums under her belt.
Perhaps one of the most major moments of her career as of late, however, has been her expansive global tour — “The Eras Tour.” With 149 shows across five continents, the tour is easily one of her most important accomplishments, and with the last show of the tour set for this December, it’s the perfect time to look back at what the “The Eras Tour” has done not just for Swift but for the industry as a whole.
Each night of “The Eras Tour” — all of them in packed stadiums — comes out to a total of nearly 3.5 hours of Swift performing on stage. For those three hours, she goes through numerous outfit changes and entire set transformations. One moment she dons a flowing white dress while lounging on a moss-covered rooftop in the woods, singing to the audience the poetic and flowery lyrics of “folklore”; the next, she’s all sparkles and short skirts, dancing to the infectious pop tunes of “1989.” The “Eras” part of the tour’s name is taken very seriously — almost every one of her 11 albums, with their own unique aesthetics and sounds, are given the chance to shine.
The performances themselves are carefully crafted to enhance the stories each song tells. For example, “the last great american dynasty” — a song chronicling the life of Rebekah Harkness, the previous owner of Swift’s Rhode Island mansion — is choreographed with spinning dancers in old-fashioned gowns and suits. A mournful ode to feeling unwanted and unappreciated in a relationship, “tolerate it” is portrayed on stage by Swift carefully setting a table and then destroying it while her disinterested lover looks coldly on. This level of cinematic storytelling that she pours into her performances brings them to life and makes each one unforgettable.
Another standout part of the tour is the surprise song set. Each night, Swift performs two unique acoustic songs from her catalog, giving every show a moment special to them alone. As the tour dates progressed, Swift shifted to singing mashups, combining different songs from multiple albums to create entirely singular performances.
During certain shows, Swift brought guests on stage to sing alongside her. This star-studded list of cameos includes Sabrina Carpenter, Gracie Abrams and Florence Welch of “Florence + The Machine,” as well as her long-time co-producers, Jack Antonoff from “Bleachers” and Aaron Dessner from “The National.”
Given that the tour has been running for nearly two years, many achievements have been claimed by Swift during her time touring. She announced and released two re-recordings of previous albums — “Speak Now” and “1989” — during the United States leg of “The Eras Tour” and released 31 new songs with her latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” in early 2024. The latter of these events resulted in Swift shaking up her already extensive set list by adding an entirely new section of the concert devoted to the album.
The economic impact of “The Eras Tour” is not to be underestimated. It has earned itself the title of the highest grossing tour of all time. Local economies felt Swift’s impact — wherever her tour landed, business boomed thanks to the influx of fans and the massive social media coverage that followed. Swift herself made a financial impact at each stop, sending massive donations to food banks in each city she visited.
Fan collaboration has also been celebrated throughout the course of the tour’s run. Following a lyric on “You’re On Your Own, Kid” — “Make the friendship bracelets / Take the moment and taste it” — fans started a tour-long trend of making handmade friendship bracelets themed after Swift’s various songs and albums. Bracelet making and trading has remained a crucial part of every “The Eras Tour” date from the very first.
Though the tour has generally been a triumph, it has not been without its hardships. In Vienna, the three scheduled concerts had to be cancelled after local authorities intercepted a plan to bomb and attack the shows. This resulted in heightened security at the following shows and a greater fear presented for fans.
“The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows,” Swift said on her Instagram after ending the European leg of the tour. “I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together.”
For those who grew up with her music and those new to her fanbase alike, “The Eras Tour” has provided a safe space to express their love of her music and find community. Every concert serves as a sort of love letter from Swift to the people who made her success possible.
In no moment is this better seen than in her nightly “22” performance, in which a fan is selected from the audience and taken to the edge of the stage for a special interaction with Swift. Each time, after putting her signed hat on their head, Swift shares a tender moment with the fan, hugging them and exchanging friendship bracelets. This sweet moment carries in itself a clear message: Taylor Swift loves what she does and pours that love into every song and every performance.
If “The Eras Tour” shows us what happens when she’s doing what she loves, it’s obvious how she has stayed a prominent aspect of the music industry for so long — a trend that fans hope she will continue in the years to come.
Written by: Natalie Salter—arts@theaggie.org
