Taylor Swift’s Record-Smashing “Eras Tour” Arrives in Los Angeles
On Wednesday night, Taylor Swift played her sixth and final show at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. In this article, I delve into the unprecedented success of her blockbuster “Eras” tour and give a first-hand account of my night amidst its beautiful chaos.
The Road to “The Eras Tour”
In the summer of 2019, it wasn’t quite clear where Taylor Swift’s career and legacy were headed.
She had just released Lover, her 7th studio album. It received a warmer response from critics than her 6th album (2017’s reputation), but it became her first album since 2008’s Fearless to sell less than 1 million copies in its opening week and her first album since 2010’s Speak Now not to score a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Then, to the surprise of many, she announced that she would not be going on a large-scale tour in support of the album, as she had done with all of her previous albums. Rather, she was going to play a total of just 17 shows across the United States, Europe, and South America. The mini-tour was dubbed “Lover Fest.” Demand for tickets was predictably outrageous, but the limited tour and relatively weaker reception to her latest album made some wonder if Taylor the artist was slowing down, fan’s enthusiasm for her was waning, or both.
And then the pandemic hit.
“Lover Fest” was postponed indefinitely (along with all live events) and eventually canceled.
But Taylor did anything but slow down.
Since COVID-19 hit the United States 40 months ago, she has released 3 albums of original material — folklore (2020), evermore (2020), and Midnights (2022). These three albums contained a whopping 56 new songs. During the same time period, she also released re-recordings of 3 of her albums — Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) in 2021 and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) just last month. These re-recordings, which she undertook as part of a bitter battle over the master recordings of her first six albums, contained a whopping 78 newly recorded tracks (including dozens of songs that had never been released in any form). On her final show in Los Angeles on August 9th, 2023, she announced 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Her 4th re-recorded album is set to be released October 27th, 2023 and will add 21 more new recordings. For those keeping track, that’s a jaw-dropping total of 7 albums and 155 new recordings in the 50-month period from August 2019 to October 2023.
All 6 of the albums she has released to date during the pandemic debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and each sold over 1 million copies (the latter is a feat that is increasingly rare to accomplish due to major shifts in the music industry away from purchasing music and toward subscription streaming services). The albums spawned 4 #1 hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100 (“cardigan,” “willow,” “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” and “Anti-Hero”). folklore earned Swift the best reviews of her career and made her the first woman to win the Album of the Year Grammy three times (a feat only accomplished in the past by Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, and Paul Simon). And the release of Midnights shattered several records, including becoming the biggest sales week of Swift’s career and the most streamed album in a single day in history, as well as making her the only artist in history to have 5 albums debut with opening week sales of more than 1 million copies.
11 days after the release of Midnights, Swift announced that she was embarking on an all-stadium tour that was be called “The Eras Tour” and feature songs from throughout her career, focusing on the 4 original albums she released since her last tour (2018’s “Reputation Stadium Tour”). The buzz was deafening and commercial interest was unprecedented.
Since the day it was announced, “The Eras Tour” has become something bigger than Swift’s most die-hard fans, and likely even Swift herself, could have ever dreamed of. In a recent interview with USA Today, music legend Billy Joel compared the hoopla surrounding the tour to the heights of Beatle-mania. The New York Times recently stated, “Swift’s catalog of generation-defining hits and canny marketing sense have helped her achieve a level of white-hot demand and media saturation not seen since the 1980s heyday of Michael Jackson and Madonna — a dominance that the entertainment business had largely accepted as impossible to replicate in the fragmented 21st century.”
The demand for tickets is already legendary and lead to enormous scrutiny of Ticketmaster by fans, the media, and politicians. The tour received rave reviews from countless high-profile media publications, who praised the expansive and diverse setlist, the innovative set design, and Swift’s ever-evolving vocal ability and stage presence. Tens of thousands of fans lined up in each city to shop at the merchandise trucks and listen to the shows. Market research firms have estimated that by the end of its run “The Eras Tour” could add a whopping $5 billion to the global economy through its boost to travel and tourism in the cities it visited. The tour has also had an enormous positive impact on Taylor Swift’s already-astounding dominance of the music charts. On the day I am writing this, Swift is charting 3 albums in the top ten of the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and became the first artist in history to simultaneously chart more than 10 albums on the chart in 4 separate weeks. She is also getting close to the Hot 100 summit again with “Cruel Summer” … a song first released in 2019.
Taylor and her team are cleverly not releasing box office figures city by city. It is unclear whether they will release them after each leg of the tour or wait until its very end, but one thing is clear — it will undoubtedly be the highest-grossing concert tour by any artist in global history. That is a certainty.
Let’s do some basic math. Currently, there are 146 shows scheduled. Let’s assume that all of those dates are kept and none are added. Now, let’s conservatively estimate that the stadiums that she is playing in hold an average of 60,000 attendees each. Finally, let’s very conservatively estimate that the average ticket price is $200. That would result in a box office gross of $1.75 billion with 8.76 million tickets sold. Currently, the highest-grossing tour of all-time is Elton John’s “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour, which grossed $939.1 million from 330 dates from 2018 to 2023. There is simply no possibility it doesn’t break that record.
My Swiftie History
I became a Swiftie during the Red era. Before that, I was … well, whatever the antithesis of a Swiftie was. At the time, I was primarily a fan of older, big-voiced pop divas and didn’t quite get what all the hoopla was about regarding this wide-eyed teenager singing wholesome country songs.
But something started to shift for me during the Speak Now era. I was jolted by her confident and passionate performance of her anti-bullying anthem “Mean” at the 54th Grammy Awards and found myself deeply moved by the emotionally raw songwriting of “Back to December.”
But I still wasn’t convinced.
Upon its release, I was instantly smitten with Red. I found it to be a startling and sprawling masterpiece. I was enamored with the brimming-with-passion title track, the dubstep-incorporating “I Knew You Were Trouble,” the lyrical storytelling of “The Lucky One,” the yearning romance of “Begin Again,” and — especially — the instant classic “All Too Well.”
I have had the privilege of seeing Taylor Swift live twice before “The Eras Tour.” I saw “The 1989 World Tour” at Petco Park in San Diego on 8/29/15 and the “Reputation Stadium Tour” at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on 5/18/18. (I reviewed the latter in depth in this article.) Both concerts were wildly entertaining and I was impressed by her live vocals and stage presence, as well as the spectacular and innovative set design.
Like millions of others, I tried to score tickets to “Lover Fest” and — astonishingly — I got them! I was excited to be one of the relative few to see the limited tour and to be there for the opening of the $5.5 billion SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on 7/25/20. But, of course, COVID ensured that didn’t happen.
Review of the 8/5/23 Show at SoFi Stadium
When “The Eras Tour” was announced, I was incredibly doubtful that I would be able to get tickets. Somehow a combination of sheer luck and the fact that “Lover Fest” ticket holders were given priority resulted in me scoring a Ticketmaster code. Just as millions of Swifties did, I navigated Ticketmaster outages, confusing instructions, and a variety of technical snafus as I put my life on pause on a hectic mid-November day trying to score tickets. But I got them. Six of them. The seats were in the nosebleeds, but I was so grateful to have managed to get tickets at all.
I have seen dozens of big concerts over the last 20 years, but in the months leading up to the show it was clear that there was something unique about “The Eras Tour.” The anticipation was extraordinary, the buzz on social media was deafening, and various media outlets were already speculating about just how record-smashingly huge this tour could become.
I have been following the social media chatter about the tour since she kicked off the show in Glendale, Arizona on March 17. Reviews from media outlets were glowing and even casual fans were shaken by the jaw-dropping 44-song setlist, which contained segments for 9 out of her 10 albums and a 10th segment where she played 2 “surprise songs” — one on guitar and one on piano. The inclusion of the “surprise songs” segment was a stroke of genius as it allowed each individual show to be a unique event and sent her famously obsessive fans into overdrive predicting what songs she would play.
I attended the August 5th show (the 3rd of her 6 Los Angeles shows) with my husband, brother, brother-in-law, and two friends. Three of us committed to costumes representing a specific era (I was “Lover,” my husband was “Reputation,” and our friend was “Midnights”). The other three respectfully declined. Of note, I am not one who will don a costume or otherwise attention-getting outfit without extreme coercion. But, there I was sitting at Martin’s Catina in Inglewood for a pre-show margarita decked out in a tie-dye shirt, light-up pink sneakers, and a friendship bracelet. This is yet another manifestation of Taylor Swift’s power.
I had never attended SoFi Stadium before and arriving there bordered on awe-inspiring. It is massive, modern, and sleek, but somehow inviting and even beautiful. As we funneled in with 70,000 fellow Swifties, we were surprised at how joyous and relaxed the vibe was. Sure, there were people everywhere, but there was room to move freely and fairly manageable lines. There was also a general air of intense excitement that somehow did not bubble over into bad behavior, chaos, or disrespect. Upon reflection, this might be the only major concert I have ever been to where I didn’t encounter a single unruly or deeply annoying attendee.
The show had two opening acts. The first was 19-year-old singer songwriter Gayle, whose solid 8-song set included a cover of Alanis Morissette’s classic “You Oughtta Know” and her Top 5 smash “ABCDEFU.” The second was rock band HAIM, comprised of the talented sisters Alana, Este, and Danielle Haim. They performed a confident 6-song set that kept energy levels high for Taylor’s entrance (and probably won themselves a few new fans in the process).
Then at 8:25pm (nearly 4 hours after the doors opened and 2 hours after the scheduled show time), Taylor Swift took the stage to ear-piercing shrieks from the audience. For the next 3 hours and 25 minutes, she seemed to leave the stage for less than 5 minutes total. During this time, she performed a whopping 45 songs across 10 distinct acts.
I tried to limit myself to a list of 5 highlights form the setlist, but I found that to be utterly impossible. I ended up with 10. Here they are, in chronological order.
- “Cruel Summer” After the countdown clock hit 0:00, a video montage played on the giant screens, and several dancers came out with gigantic swaths of flowing multicolored fabrics. They were raised to reveal Taylor, adorned in a bejeweled body suit. She kicked off the show with the ferocious bridge of critically acclaimed and fan-favorite Lover track “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince.” This quickly segued into a performance of “Cruel Summer,” a song that was not released as a single during Lover’s original release but eventually was this summer due to unrelenting fan demand. It was one of those great live concert moments where a catchy, high-energy song at the height of its popularity unites the crowd in a scream-along of unbridled ecstasy.
- “You Belong With Me” After the Lover set was over, she launched into a short set showcasing her superstar-marking sophomore album Fearless. She marched down the long stage with her band and back-up singers as they sang the impossibly catchy “You Belong With Me,” which was her first crossover smash. The song was made to be sung in an arena and the already-great performance was raised to the next level when the mid-stage thrillingly transformed into a series of multilevel platforms.
- “champagne problems” During the evermore set, Taylor sat down at a piano and spoke to the audience about writing and producing her pandemic albums. She noted that as she wrote “champagne problems,” she thought about how sureal it would be to perform such a personal and deeply sad song with tens of thousands of fans once live performance was a possibility again. She then launched into a gorgeous rendition of the song, with clear vocals and appropriate emotion. In my opinion, this is one of her all-time best songs and it floored me to see it live.
- “Look What You Made Me Do” Although the lead single off of reputation is not one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs (or even my favorite songs off of the album), the fast tempo, blistering anger, and tongue-in-cheek humor of the song make it ripe for a great live performance. She brought intense energy to the performance, in which she engaged with a number of backup singers dressed as various archetypes of Swift’s persona who were trapped in translucent boxes.
- “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” When I first heard Red, I declared that “All Too Well” was my favorite Taylor Swift song and one of my favorite songs of all time. In the 11 years since its release, it has only been surpassed for me by one song — the expanded 10-minute version that was released with Red (Taylor’s Version). Having the experience of seeing the heartbreaking, innovative, sprawling, and epic ballad live was quite simply an unparalleled emotional experience.
- “the last great american dynasty” folklore is an album of profound sadness that finds Swift successfully experimenting with a variety of genres and dabbling in new forms of storytelling. For me the album’s highlight is this singular track, which is decidedly lighter than the rest. In the song, Taylor tells the story of Rebekah Harkness, the heir to the Standard Oil fortune through marriage who also happened to be the previous owner of Taylor’s Rhode Island mansion. It is a masterpiece of songwriting that was passionately performed in front of the folklore cabin alongside an elegant dancer representing Harkness. As Swift flowed around in her bohemian dress singing, “I had a marvelous time ruining everything” she transformed into a thrilling combination of Stevie Nicks and Florence Welch (artists I respect and adore profoundly).
- “Shake It Off” Similar to my sentiment about “Look What You Made Me Do,” this is not my favorite song off of 1989 (that would be a close tie between “Blank Space” and “Wildest Dreams”) but it is the most thrilling to see live. With its scream-along chorus and rapid tempo, Swift swirled around the stage in a sea of dancers doing joyful and skillful choreography. It was certainly one of the highest-energy moments of the night.
- “You’re On Your Own Kid” I had been anticipating what surprise songs we would get at the show for months. My dream was for “right where you left me” (the bonus track from evermore that quickly became one of my all-time favorite Taylor tracks), but really I was just hoping it wouldn’t be one of the few Taylor album cuts that I am lukewarm about. The audience was in for a real treat that night as she played two of the best tracks of her entire discography that didn’t make her standard setlist. First, she played “Death by a Thousand Cuts” from Lover on guitar. Then she sat down at the piano for a rendition of “You’re On Your Own Kid,” which is my favorite track from her most recent album. It is an achingly beautiful song that begins in heartbreak and ends at hope and gets there through one of the most epic bridges of her career.
- “Vigilante Shit” After 3 hours of non-stop singing and moving, one might expect that the show would slow down toward the end. But 41 songs in, she did her most innovative and impressive choreography of the show with a seductive Bob Fosse-inspired chair dance for the vengeful “Vigilante Shit.” She may not be a great dancer like Britney, Madonna, or Janet, but her movement and stage presence improves significantly with each tour. This was perhaps the best choreography I have seen from her yet.
- “Karma” All good things must come to an end, including my night at “The Eras Tour.” Unsurprisingly, the meticulously curated setlist ended on a high note with the joyously celebratory “Karma,” a hit single from her most recent album that muses on the sheer joy that comes from living an honorable, respectful life. The performance was chaotic, energetic, and ebullient. In other words, it was the perfect capper to a wonderful night.
I have virtually no complaints about the setlist. Sure, I think it is odd that she didn’t even do a quick 1–2 song segment for her debut. (I would love to have seen “Should’ve Said No” live!) I also think it’s odd that she only performed two songs from Speak Now considering that the re-recording was just released to huge acclaim 2 weeks earlier. (I would have loved to have seen “Back to December,” “Better than Revenge,” or “The Story of Us” live!) But of the 45 songs she performed there was only 1 I am lukewarm on (“Tolerate It” from evermore). When you passionately adore 98% of the songs on artist’s setlist, you know they have done something right.
Perhaps the msot remarkable thing about the setlist is how versatile it is. As she bounced back between country pop, electronica-influenced dance music, acoustic ballads, and alternative rock, it was hard to doubt what a masterful musician she is. And, while I am talking about the setlist, here are some fun facts about it:
- In terms of representations from different eras, the standard setlist (excluding the rotating “surprise songs”) featured 7 songs apiece from Midnights and folklore, 6 from Lover, 5 apiece from evermore and 1989, 4 apiece from reputation and Red, 3 from Fearless, 2 from Speak Now, and 0 from her self-titled debut album.
- She played all 9 of her Billboard Hot 100 #1 songs — “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” from Red; “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” and “Bad Blood” from 1989; “Look What You Made Me Do” from reputation; “cardigan” from folklore; “willow” from evermore; “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” from Red (Taylor’s Version); and “Anti-Hero” from Midnights.
- Although the setlist is notable for being so hit-heavy, her setlist actually omitted a jaw-dropping 16 of her 42 top ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — “Today Was a Fairytale” (#2), “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” (#2), “Me!” (#2), “Mine” (#3), “Maroon” (#3), “Snow on the Beach” (#4), “I Can See You” (#5), “Back to December” (#6), “Red” (#6), “Exile” (#6), “Begin Again” (#7), “Question…?” (#7), “Speak Now” (#8), “Change” (#10), “If This Was a Movie” (#10), and “Jump Then Fall” (#10).
- Of the 45 songs she played, she did abbreviated version for 9 (20%) of them, usually featuring the bridge and a chorus or two. The other 36 songs were played in their entirety.
- The surprise songs at the 8/5/23 show — “Death By a Thousand Cuts” from Lover and “You’re On Your Own Kid” from Midnights — marked the first time during “The Eras Tour” that both were repeated from a prior show.
“The Eras Tour” was a technical marvel. The backup dancers, backup singers, and band were top-notch. The costumes were colorful, attractive, and functional. The set was state-of-the-art and featured pyrotechnics and flawless projection on multiple huge screens, as well as a long runway-style stage that was used to superb effect. (A major benefit of sitting in the nosebleeds is the ability to truly appreciate the expansive set.)
As impressive as the technical aspects were, however, the main attraction was Taylor. As I have mentioned numerous times in this article, her vocal power and agility has improved significantly over time, as has her stage presence and dancing ability. Her interactions with the crowd have also evolved, as she relies less on wide-eyed disbelief (“I can’t believe you’re really here for me!”) to heartfelt, tongue-in-cheek monologues and facial expressions that make you feel like you are a close, personal friend that she is sharing an inside joke with or confessing her deepest fears to. But the most impressive thing about Taylor at “The Eras Tour” was her sheer stamina. Her energy, attitude, and skill never flagged once during the 3 hours and 25 minutes she was on stage. She may have just set a new bar for live performers with this tour.
In sum, I had sky high expectations for “The Eras Tour” and the show managed to wildly exceed them.
Setlist for the 8/5/23 Show at SoFi Stadium
Song Title (Parent Album)
- Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince* (Lover)
- Cruel Summer (Lover)
- The Man (Lover)
- You Need to Calm Down* (Lover)
- Lover (Lover)
- The Archer (Lover)
- Fearless* (Fearless)
- You Belong With Me (Fearless)
- Love Story (Fearless)
- no body, no crime (with HAIM) (evermore)
- willow (evermore)
- marjorie* (evermore)
- champagne problems (evermore)
- tolerate it (evermore)
- …Ready for It? (reputation)
- Delicate (reputation)
- Don’t Blame Me* (reputation)
- Look What You Made Me Do (reputation)
- Enchanted (Speak Now)
- Long Live (Speak Now)
- 22 (Red)
- We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Red)
- I Knew You Were Trouble* (Red)
- All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Red)
- the 1 (folklore)
- betty (folklore)
- the last great american dynasty (folklore)
- august (folklore)
- illicit affairs* (folklore)
- my tears ricochet (folklore)
- cardigan (folklore)
- Style (1989)
- Blank Space (1989)
- Shake It Off (1989)
- Wildest Dreams* (1989)
- Bad Blood* (1989)
- Death by a Thousand Cuts (Lover)
- You’re On Your Own Kid (Midnights)
- Lavender Haze (Midnights)
- Anti-Hero (Midnights)
- Midnight Rain (Midnights)
- Vigilante Shit (Midnights)
- Bejeweled (Midnights)
- Mastermind (Midnights)
- Karma (Midnights)
* = A shortened version of the song was performed
