Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour
Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” has been “a long time coming.” Fans have awaited Swift’s return to concerts since her last stadium tour in 2018 for her album “Reputation.” Due to COVID-19, Swift’s tour of music festivals for her album “Lover,” titled “Loverfest,” had to be canceled in 2020. Five years later, Swift is now back on the road, performing in different stadiums each weekend.
“The Era’s Tour” opened on March 17, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona at State Farm Stadium. The opening, sold-out show did not disappoint. Fans were ecstatic to see Swift perform 44 songs over the duration of three hours.
While performing, Swift takes fans through each one of her eras of music. The show begins with the “Lover” era as Swift performs six songs from the 2019 album. Swift opens each show with “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince.”
Following “Lover,” Swift turns back time to 2008 and performs her ever-famous songs from her second album, “Fearless.” During this era, Swift performs “Fearless,” “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story.”
The next era that Swift covers is “evermore,” singing songs from the 2020 album. “evermore” is one of Swift’s newer albums so this is the first time that she’s performed these songs live.
After “evermore,” Swift jumps into her “Reputation” era and performs four songs: “…Ready for it?,” “Delicate,” “Don’t Blame Me” and “Look What You Made Me Do.”
Swift then performs one song to represent her 2010 album “Speak Now.” While many fans were disappointed that Swift did not perform more “Speak Now” songs, they were thrilled to hear her sing “Enchanted.” Fans were even more thrilled while Swift performed in Nashville, Tennessee on May 5, 2023. During the concert, Swift brought everyone’s attention to the screen above the stage and revealed that “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” will be released on July 7, 2023. “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” will be Swift’s third re-recorded album.
Swift travels to the “Red” era next, performing classics like “22,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble,” as well as her 10-minute version of “All Too Well.” At her concerts that include Phoebe Bridgers as an opening act, Swift also sings “Nothing New” with Bridgers.
The next era performed is “folklore.” Swift released “folklore” in the summer of 2020 so, like “evermore,” this is the first time she is performing songs from the album.
Swift then jumps into her “1989” era and performs her hit pop songs from 2014. Included in the “1989” set are “Style,” “Blank Space,” “Shake It Off,” “Wildest Dreams” and “Bad Blood.”
After “1989” comes the highly-anticipated part of the show: the surprise songs. Each show, Swift chooses two songs to perform that are not on the setlist. She performs one song acoustically and one song on the piano. Some of the surprise songs are chosen for a specific reason. For example, in Philadelphia, Swift performed “gold rush” as one of the surprise songs due to the fact that the song makes a reference to the Philadelphia Eagles in the lyric “With my Eagles t-shirt hanging from the door.”
Swift performed “Come Back…Be Here” as the other Philadelphia night one surprise song. On night two in Philadelphia, she sang “Forever & Always” and “This Love.” Swift sang “The Best Day” and “Hey Stephen” during night three in Philadelphia. Fans correctly guessed that Swift would sing “The Best Day” on May 14, 2023 because the concert took place on Mother’s Day, and “The Best Day” is dedicated to Swift’s own mother, Andrea Swift.
After the surprise songs, Swift ends the night with her most recent era: “Midnights.” Swift performs seven songs from the October, 2022 album and ends the show with “Karma.”
Swift has outdone herself with “The Eras Tour” and fans can’t get enough. In fact, some fans even livestream the show on social media so that others who were unable to get tickets can join in on the fun. Some fans also hang out in the parking lots outside of the stadiums to hear the concert from outside.
“‘The Eras Tour’ was definitely the best concert I’ve ever been to. I loved dancing with my friends for over three hours and singing along to some of my favorite songs,” Eloise Kipnis (‘24) said after attending the Philadelphia show on May 13, 2023.
Swift will conclude the tour in Los Angeles, California, where she will perform five consecutive shows. Although fans want Swift to “Stay, Stay, Stay” on tour forever, “The Eras Tour” does have to end at some point. The final show on the North American leg will take place on August 9, 2023. With two months of the concerts still remaining, fans look forward to seeing Swift’s upcoming performances.
