Over 500 hours performed, 91 stops, 152 dates, and almost 2 billion dollars in sales, Taylor Swift’s Eras tour has become one of the most successful tours in history. Every show, Swift performs 40 songs and sings for around three and a half hours. Starting off the tour on March 17, 2023 and ending on December 8, 2024, Swift has achieved what many artists can only dream of.
Following a 11 month break, Swift released her tenth studio album, “Midnights” in October of 2022. This album shattered records as the first artists in history to claim all top ten spots on the Billboard Hot 100. After five days of the album being released, it has the biggest streaming week with almost 400 million streams. While many fans were excited about the release of a new album, many expected a tour to follow. Swift has not toured since 2018 for the album of “Reputation”, and the outbreak of Covid-19 led to the cancellation of the Lover tour. Less than a month after “Midnights” was released, Swift announced the “Eras Tour”.
The Eras Tour tickets went on pre-sale, November 17 2022. During the pre-sale, many things happened that got fans talking. The pre-sale was highly anticipated, and the demand for tickets was high. Fans experience wait times lasting hours, and technical errors caused fans to be kicked out of the wait line and Ticketmaster to temporarily shut down. The Eras Tour tickets sold out quickly, leading to those who were not able to get in the pre-sale having to purchase tickets for double the price or not getting them at all. Junior, Anna Althouse, attempted to buy Eras Tour Tickets right when they came out. “I tried on Ticketmaster, and I sat there for three hours, and I ended up not getting them,” Althouse said.
Fans who were able to get tickets now had to wait months to see Swift. When the Eras Tour kicked off in March of 2023, the wait proved to be worth it. Valen Hanson, junior, got tickets to see Swift in Tampa, Florida. “It was really fun, she put a lot of hard work into performing,” Hanson said. While on tour in North America, Swift performed rain or shine. Giving fans different songs and experiences based on which show they attended.
While still on the North American leg of the tour, Taylor Swift announced the re-recordings of two of her most popular albums, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version). 1989 (Taylor’s Version) was released only three months after Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). These two albums continued to put Swift in the record books. Speak Now TV reached number one on album charts in Australia, United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain, and Canada. 1989 TV broke the most single-day streams for an artist, breaking her previous record set by Midnights. Swift was still singing and performing on tour, she continued to break records. On October 13, 2023, Swift announced the release of “Taylor Swift; The Eras Tour”. This was a movie of the whole Eras Tour performance, shown in theaters and on Disney+.
The Eras Tour movie provided a way for fans who didn’t get tickets to experience the tour like they were there. Many theatres traded friendship bracelets and sang along like they would in concert. Anna Althouse saw the Eras Tour movie in the theatre and enjoyed it. “She can offer so many different experiences to people, and it’s awesome for everybody to be able to see that,” Althouse said. Many have stated that they have not seen a fanbase as big as Swift’s sense the Beatles around 50 years ago.
English teacher Colin O’Grady took his daughter to one of the last Eras Tour show in Toronto, Canada to see Swift. As the tour progressed, Mr. O’Grady’s daughter grew more and more into a “Swifty.” “It kind of got down to the end, and I realized that this is something I wanted her to experience,” O’Grady said. As the O’Grady’s drove up to Canada, they listened to Swift’s whole catalog, and they didn’t even finish until they came back from the concert. Mr. O’Grady and his daughter both highlight Swift’s dedication, storytelling, and the sense of community at her concerts. Mr. O’Grady even said that he felt comfortable enough to let his daughter leave his side to get food.
As a huge fan of music himself, Mr. O’Grady has seen his fair share of musical talent. From Joni Michell to Stevie Nicks, not many can easily compare to the way Swift connects to her fans. “She has the ability to validate people’s emotions, she has a gift.”
