Home » Tours » Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour

Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour

2023-2024

This article is about the tour. For the concert film, see Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour (2023).

“The Eras Tour” (stylized as “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour”) is Taylor’s sixth concert tour. A homage to all her studio albums, she has described it as a “journey through all of her musical eras“. “The Eras Tour” is her second all-stadium tour and her most expansive one yet overall, with 146 shows across five continents. It commenced on March 17, 2023, in Glendale (United States) and will end on November 23, 2024, in Toronto (Canada).

“The Eras Tour” is designed as a tribute to Taylor’s discography across her 17-year career and covers all styles of music from her ten studio albums, ranging from country and pop to folk and alternative rock genres. Media outlets have described “The Eras Tour” as a “Greatest Hits” tour of an artist still in her commercial prime: “Swift is just entering her prime and absolutely dominating the post-pandemic touring game, with no one even coming close.”

Background and Development

In support of her sixth studio album, reputation (2017), Taylor embarked on the record-breaking “reputation Stadium Tour,” her fifth concert tour, in 2018. Due to the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, she cancelled her scheduled sixth concert tour, then titled “Lover Fest,” which had been planned to support her seventh studio album, Lover (2019). Since then, she had released three more studio albums and two re-recordings — folklore (2020), evermore (2020), Fearless (Taylor’s Version) [2021], RED (Taylor’s Version) [2021], and Midnights (2022) — without touring any of them.

During the days leading up to the release of Midnights, on October 18, 2022, Taylor’s United Kingdom website indirectly confirmed a forthcoming concert tour. Pre-ordering the album on the UK store resulted in “special presale code access for forthcoming and yet-to-be-announced Taylor Swift UK show dates.” On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on October 24, Taylor stated she “should [go on tour]. When it’s time, [I will] do it”. She further said “it’s going to happen” at The Graham Norton Show on October 28. On November 1, 2022, Taylor appeared on Good Morning America to formally announce “The Eras Tour,” which was confirmed on her social media accounts at the same time. On Instagram, she wrote:

«I’m enchanted to announce my next tour: Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour, a journey through the musical eras of my career (past and present)! The first leg of the tour will be in stadiums across the US, with international dates to be announced as soon as we can! Feeling like the luckiest person alive because I get to take these brilliant artists out on tour with me: Paramore, beabadoobee, Phoebe Bridgers, girl in red, MUNA, HAIM, Gracie Abrams, GAYLE and OWENN. I can’t WAIT to see your gorgeous faces out there. It’s been a long time coming.»

Taylor Swift

Taylor further told GMA: “I’ve been planning for ages and I finally get to tell you: I’m going back on tour! The tour is called ‘The Eras Tour’ and it’s a journey through all of my musical eras of my career. And really I’m just so excited that I’ll get to look you guys in the eye and say thank you for everything. Thank you for this incredible week with Midnights and everything that you’ve done for me. I just am very excited to see you. So, hopefully I’ll see you soon!” “The Eras Tour” marks Taylor’s first concert tour in five years. Its US leg, which initially consisted of only 27 dates across 20 cities, began on March 17, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona, and will conclude on August 9, 2023, in Inglewood, California. The opening acts for the American leg of the tour are Paramore, HAIM, Phoebe Bridgers, Beabadoobee, Girl in Red, Muna, Gayle, Gracie Abrams and OWENN, each two of whom share a date. Messina Touring Group, an Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) partner, is the tour’s promoter.

High demand prompted 25 more shows to be added, making “The Eras Tour” the most extensive US tour of Taylor’s career with 52 dates, surpassing her preceding “reputation Stadium Tour.” International dates are to be announced later.

Ticketing

Tickets were previously set to go on sale to the general public on November 18, 2022. As a result of Taylor’s multi-year partnership with Capital One, cardholders had presale access, which was set to begin on November 15. Fans could register for the “Ticketmaster Verified Fan” program from November 1 through November 9 to receive a code that granted exclusive access to purchase tickets on November 15, entitled “TaylorSwiftTix Presale;” previous “Lover Fest” ticket holders also received preferred access to the presale if they registered using the same Ticketmaster account. Taylor confirmed ticket prices in advance, abandoning the “platinum ticket” model; they range from $49 to $449, while VIP packages start at $199 and go up to $899.

According to Ticketmaster, the “TaylorSwiftTix Presale” provides “the best opportunity to get more tickets into the hands of fans who want to attend the show and keep tickets away from bots”, by evading bots and scalpers. The ticketing platform noted that if demand from the fan program “exceeds supply”, it is possible that “verified fans may be selected at random to participate in the presale.”

Ticketmaster Controversy

Later that same day, Ticketmaster issued an apology “to Taylor and all of her fans” via their Twitter account. Various US lawmakers, including attorneys general and members of the US Congress, took notice of the issue, which became a subject of multiple congressional inquiries. The New York Times reported that the US Department of Justice had opened an antitrust investigation into Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster. A group of 26 fans sued Ticketmaster on December 2 for “intentional deception”, “fraud, price fixing and antitrust violations”.

Various journalists highlighted Taylor’s influence, and how the controversy could bode well for the music industry. Arwa Mahdawi wrote for The Guardian, “Swift has had an incredibly impressive career. But you know what? If she gets people to sit up and pay attention to the disgraceful state of antitrust laws in the U.S., I reckon that will be her finest achievement.” Brooke Schultz of Associated Press discussed how Taylor’s fans magnified a website crash into a political movement and considered them an influential voter demographic during elections: “the sheer power and size of Swift’s fandom has spurred conversations about economic inequality, merely symbolized by Ticketmaster”. Bloomberg journalist Augusta Saraiva termed the phenomenon “Swiftonomics”—a microeconomic theory that explains Taylor’s supply, demand, fanbase and political impact following the Covid-19 pandemic. I-D dubbed Taylor the last remaining “real” popstar for “[s]hifting more albums and filling more stadiums than her contemporaries” and “creat[ing] a hysteria unseen since the industry’s golden era.” Pitchfork asked, “Is there any other artist who could force urgency into the federal investigation of a music industry monopoly just by going on tour?”

«Well. It goes without saying that I'm extremely protective of my fans. We've been doing this for decades together and over the years, I've brought so many elements of my career in house. I've done this SPECIFICALLY to improve the quality of my fans' experience by doing it myself with my team who care as much about my fans as I do. It's really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse. There are a multitude of reasons why people had such a hard time trying to get tickets and I'm trying to figure out how this situation can be improved moving forward. I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could. It's truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them. And to those who didn't get tickets, all I can say is that my hope is to provide more opportunities for us all to get together and sing these songs. Thank you for wanting to be there. You have no idea how much that means.»

Taylor Swift

“The Eras Tour” recorded an incredibly high demand for tickets. On November 15, Ticketmaster’s website crashed following “historically unprecedented demand with millions showing up”, halting the presale. Ticketmaster immediately published a statement saying they were working to fix the issues “as the site was unprepared to accommodate the sheer force of hundreds of thousands of Swift fans”, and subsequently reported that “hundreds of thousands of tickets” had already been sold and postponed the remainder of the presale. The public on-sale was later canceled due to “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand”. Ticketmaster was widely criticized by fans and customers online for a flawed ticketing model. CNN Business stated that the “astronomical” demand indicated Taylor’s popularity. However, Fortune and Bloomberg News attributed the criticism to Ticketmaster’s “oft-confusing multistep buying process plagued with additional fees”, as well as “long waits, technical problems, and poor customer service”.

Greg Maffei, chairman of Live Nation, claimed that Ticketmaster prepared for 1.5 million verified fans but 14 million showed up: “We could have filled 900 stadiums.” The company confirmed on November 17 that the November 18 public on-sale was canceled as well, citing an inability to meet demand. Taylor released a statement on November 18, 2022, via her Instagram story:

Midnights

Midnights October 21, 2022 Midnights is Taylor’s tenth studio album, released on October 21, 2022, through Republic Records. A concept record about nocturnal ruminations, it was written and produced by Taylor with longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff. She has described the album as a collection of songs encapsulating “a journey

The Show

The show is approximately three hours and 15 minutes long, the longest of Taylor’s career, and heavily features elements of theater. It consists of 44 songs that are divided into 10 acts. Each act is characterized by a specific color scheme, while transitions between acts are facilitated by on-screen interlude visuals and marked by costume changes with negligible intermissions. Taylor also addresses the crowd several times throughout the show. An Eras Tour show encompasses the following acts:

Lover

A clock on-screen counts down to show time as Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me” (1963) plays. Surrounded by pastel-colored, fan-like tapestry, Taylor merges from the platform at mid-stage in a glimmering bodysuit and knee-high boots. She opens the show with the chorus of “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince” leading into “Cruel Summer“. She then delivers the welcome note with the dollhouse from the “Lover” music video on the screen, depicting her various album eras. Accompanied by dancers and in a sequined blazer, she performs “The Man” and “You Need to Calm Down” through a set emulating an office space and sings “Lover” on a guitar, followed by a stripped-down rendition of “The Archer” alone on the ramp.

Fearless

As gold sparks rain down, the stage pivots to an aesthetic representing Fearless. Taylor reappears in a gold fringed dress and country boots characteristic of her early style as welcomes the crowd to “high school.” She performs “Fearless” on the main stage, “You Belong With Me” at mid-stage, and “Love Story” on the T-stage, all alongside her band.

evermore

The stage adopts a forest aesthetic. Taylor begins singing “’tis the damn season” in a “burnt orange autumnal gown”, followed by a dark theme that leads to “willow” in a “witchy” séance; Taylor wears an emerald cape and performs with dancers holding luminescent orange orbs. She continues with “marjorie“, then “champagne problems” on a moss-covered piano beneath an oak tree, concluding the act with “tolerate it” on a dinner table setup.

reputation

The act begins with visuals of snakes, and the lights dim. Taylor reemerges in an “asymmetrical serpentine catsuit” reminiscent of her “reputation Stadium Tour” costumes, and the dancers wear black leotards. She delivers a high-energy performance of “…Ready For It?” with gothic dancers and “Delicate” surrounded by beams of light. Performing “Don’t Blame Me” supported by elevated harmonies, Taylor leaps skyward on a platform. She transitions to “Look What You Made Me Do“, which features on-screen visuals of T aylorfrom all her eras trapped in glass boxes and the dancers also dressed in some of Taylor’s older looks.

Speak Now

Abstract mosaic of purple lights appear. Taylor, in a ball gown, performs “Enchanted“, accompanied by acoustic strums and a full-band crescendo.

RED

The stage turns red; a dancer opens a box that plays snippets of “Red“, “Everything Has Changed“/”Holy Ground“, and “State of Grace“. Balloons emerge, and Taylor performs “22“, wearing a modified version of the hippie-inspired T-shirt from the song’s official music video. She sings “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble.” next, dressed in a romper and with the dancers in red. She dons a coat and performs “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” on an acoustic guitar alone. The act concludes with artificial snow falling.

folklore

The act, characterized by its cottagecore aesthetic, is introduced with the reverse animation of the previous artificial snowfall on-screen and a spoken word interlude of “seven“. Onstage is an A-frame cabin setup, similar to the one from Taylor’s performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards (2021), on an elevated platform with a staircase. Wearing a frilly gown, she performs “invisible string” on the cabin’s roof, “betty” with her band, and “the last great american dynasty” with dancers dressed in period clothes. She then starts singing “august“, which transitions to the bridge of a rock-tinged “illicit affairs“, followed by “my tears ricochet” on the secondary stages with a choreography resembling a funeral procession. Taylor returns to the cabin to perform “cardigan“. The act ends with fireflies.

1989

The act begins with the stage transforming into a city aesthetic with neon lights. “Style” kicks off the act, with Taylor wearing a beaded crop top and skirt that calls back to her style in 2014 and 2015. Moving to mid-stage, the dancers dressed in black and white outfits ride neon-lit bicycles for “Blank Space” and use blue-lit golf clubs to smash an animated Shelby Cobra car, a reference to the song’s official music video and the choreography from “The 1989 World Tour“. It is followed by “Shake It Off“, performed as a robust dance party; “Wildest Dreams“, backed with clips of a couple in bed; and “Bad Blood“, accentuated by intense pyrotechnics.

Surprise Songs

Taylor, wearing a frock over her dress from the preceding act, performs one “surprise song” on guitar and another on piano. In a “particularly remarkable” optical illusion, a body of water develops around the piano and envelops the stage; Taylor then dives into the stage and appears to swim underwater, along the ramp and the main stage.

Midnights

A wave from the illusion crashes against the screen, revealing Taylor, who wakes up from a bed and climbs up a ladder into a cloud. The lower screen splits, and dancers carry out clouds as Taylor reemerges in a purple fur coat to sing “Lavender Haze“. She removes the coat and performs “Anti-Hero” with a video of herself as a “Godzilla-esque creature terrorizing a city” on the screen. Dancers perform with umbrellas as she sings “Midnight Rain” and undergoes an onstage costume change, reappearing in a rhinestone-adorned, midnight blue bodysuit. She then performs a choreographed “chair dance” for “Vigilante Shit“, influenced by “sultry” burlesque and the 1975 musical Chicago. Taylor follows with “Bejeweled“, featuring choreography inspired by the song’s viral TikTok dance, and “Mastermind” with the entire dance crew. “Karma” closes the show with fireworks, colorful visuals, and confetti.

«I’m loving this tour. It's become my entire personality. I've always loved putting on shows, loved that connection. Knowing you have felt the same way is the most comforting feeling in the world for me...I need you guys very much, for my wellbeing.»

Taylor Swift

Critical Reception

The tour received rave reviews from music and entertainment critics. Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph, Keiran Southern of The Times, Adrian Horton of The Guardian, Kelsey Barnes of The Independent, and Ilana Kaplan of i gave “The Eras Tour” total five-star ratings. McCormick called the show “one of the most ambitious, spectacular, and charming stadium pop shows ever seen”, lauding Taylor’s musicianship, vocals, and energy. Southern declared Taylor “a pop genius at the top of her game”. Horton praised the “rapturous” music selection, concept, “extravagant” staging, and Taylor’s stamina and vocals. Barnes noted the tour as “a career-defining spectacle” with acts marking the shifts in Taylor’s artistry, while Kaplan commended the “unparalleled” showmanship, “spicier” choreography, camp styles, and “seamless” transitions between acts.

The versatility of the show’s music, visuals, and performance art was often a subject of praise in the reviews. Journalists Rebecca Lewis and Carson Mlnarik of Hello! and MTV, respectively, commended Taylor’s stage presence and commitment to her artistry; Lewis described her alter ego during the tour as “country ingenue to pop princess and folklore witch”, whereas Mlnarik affirmed that the on-screen visuals stayed true to every album’s aesthetic. The Week and Dallas Observer critics agreed, highlighting the “jaw-dropping” visuals and “bedazzled” fashion. Billboard editor Jason Lipshutz underscored Taylor’s “powerhouse” vocals, engaging artistic personas, and skill set. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times highlighted the tour’s scale, ambition, and portrayal of all the musical pivots of Taylor’s career, whereas The Atlantic‘s Spencer Kornhaber complimented the show’s art direction, suspense, and the sequencing of the acts. Mikael Wood of Los Angeles Times described the show as a “masterclass in pop ambition”, showcasing Taylor’s range.

Critics also appreciated the tour’s production value and artistic direction. Philip Cosores of Uproxx dubbed it the “most impressive stadium show ever conceived”, atypical of pop and rock artists, with USA Today‘s Melissa Ruggieri noting that no mainstream artist since Bruce Springsteen has “packed so much music into one show.” Spin critic Jonathan Cohen admired the rich stage design, usage of “state-of-the-art” technology, and immersive experience into Taylor’s “increasingly accomplished musical world-building”. He added that artists at their prime very rarely present their discography as Taylor did. Variety journalist Chris Willman felt that the “epic” show demonstrated that “the person who has come up with the single greatest body of pop songwriting in the 21st century is also its most popular performer.” Pollstar‘s Christina Fuoco and Rolling Stone‘s Waiss David Aramesh opined that the tour is “live music at its highest spectacle” and “a production spectacle of the highest echelon”, commending Taylor’s showmanship. Melinda Sheckels of Consequence praised the tour’s “nuanced and interpretive” approach in depicting Taylor’s albums and the “sheer magnitude, artistry, and technical prowess” of the production.

Box Office

Variety projected “The Eras Tour” to outgross the “reputation Stadium Tour,” which holds the female record for the highest-grossing tour in the United States, with US$266,100,000 from 38 dates; “The Eras Tour” had already expanded to 52 dates within the country. However, Variety noted that “setting a record gross for international touring may be tougher” as English singer-songwriter (and Taylor’s close friend) Ed Sheeran held the record with his “÷ Tour” (2017–19), which consisted of 255 dates, at the time of the projection. Taylor’s five-show run at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles also stands to generate the highest boxscore at a single venue in the US. She could break the SoFi Stadium record set by South Korean boy group BTS’ four shows in 2022, which grossed $33.3 million, and the all-time US record held by Bruce Springsteen’s 10-night stand at Giants Stadium in 2003, which grossed $38.7 million. Following the Ticketmaster controversy, Pollstar projected Taylor to gross an increased $728 million sum across her 52 US dates and “a mind-boggling billion dollars” internationally, surpassing Sheeran’s all-time record with less than half of his tour’s dates; it would become the first tour in history to gross a billion-dollar sum.

Midnights Era

Midnights Era 2022-present “Meet me at midnight.” With the release of her tenth studio album, Midnights, Taylor became more universally loved than ever before. When 20,000 people regularly started showing up outside her sold out “The Eras Tour” stadium shows, it became clear that something unique was happening. Streaming records made

Records and Achievements

In the first day of its presale alone, “The Eras Tour” sold over 2.4 million tickets, the most sold by an artist in a single day, surpassing Robbie Williams, who had sold 1.6 million tickets for his “Close Encounters Tour” in 2005. Billboard reported on December 15 that “The Eras Tour” had already grossed an estimated $554 million, and projected the US leg to finish with $591 million, surpassing the former all-time female record set by Madonna’s “Sticky & Sweet Tour” ($407 million) in 2008–2009. Following the tour, Taylor rose to No. 1 on Pollstar‘s “Artist Power Index” chart.

«I just want to talk to you guys for a second about how this tour, and what you have done — you know, this tour, I hear so many people talking about how they wanted to come to these shows just because of you guys, and the joy, and the friendship, the open heartedness with which you guys have approached this tour. Like you’re making friendship bracelets and trading them with each other, you’re dancing with each other, you’re making friends with the people next to you. I see you FaceTiming people who are your friends and like, singing with them too. It’s really beautiful, and like the nicest thing in the world is how you guys have approached this tour with so much excitement, and you’ve gotten so into it, and you dress up, and the fact that you care this much is what has made this tour so special for me, and everyone that you see onstage. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I figured it would be fun, but I did not know it would be like this. I just didn’t. And the thing is that you guys have made it so much fun.»

Taylor Swift

Impact

Taylor released four songs on the day of the opening show to celebrate the tour’s launch: “Eyes Open (Taylor’s Version)” and “Safe & Sound (Taylor’s Version)“, originally from the 2012 soundtrack The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond; “If This Was A Movie (Taylor’s Version)“, a re-recording of one of the deluxe tracks from Speak Now (2010); and “All Of The Girls You Loved Before“, a previously unreleased song from Lover (2019) that had leaked online.

Following the opening shows of “The Eras Tour,” five of Taylor’s albums entered the Top 40 of the UK Albums Chart. Billboard reported that Taylor’s entire discography rose in daily streams, especially the songs on the set list; seven of her albums subsequently re-entered the Top 40 region of the US Billboard 200 chart for multiple weeks, making Taylor the first living artist to do so.

The Guardian journalist Dave Simpson wrote that the 44-song set list of “The Eras Tour” might increase the demand for “longer” concerts and may “trigger a setlist arms race as artists battle to play longer than each other.” He opined that the “It’s All a Blur Tour,” an upcoming co-headlining tour by Drake and 21 Savage, was inspired by the concept of “The Eras Tour,” with the former’s promotional poster depicting a “career retrospective” similar to the latter.

“The Eras Tour” had an economic impact on the cities it visited, boosting the local businesses and tourism revenues by millions of dollars. For instance, Taylor’s three-day stop in Tampa caused a huge increase in demand for hotel rooms, car-parking services and clothing stores; the concerts generated US$730,000 in taxes throughout Tampa.

Tributes

The cities visited by “The Eras Tour” celebrated the tour in various ways, creating a “friendly competition” between them over honouring Taylor.

Glendale temporarily changed its name from March 17 to 18 as it hosted the first shows of “The Eras Tour.” Mayor Jerry Weiers announced the “symbolic” name, Swift City, on March 13. The Westgate Entertainment District, a mixed-use complex in Glendale, put up welcome messages, and local restaurants offered Swift-themed menu items.
Las Vegas displayed light shows inspired by the color palettes of “The Eras Tour” every night through March 25 at the Gateway Arches on the Las Vegas Boulevard.
Arlington, Texas, renamed Randol Mill Road, the street outside AT&T Stadium, to Taylor Swift Way on March 30. Mayor Jim Ross declared March 31 through April 2 “Taylor Swift Weekend”, during which the steel sculptures outside Arlington City Hall were illuminated red; Taylor was also presented with a key to the city. Additionally, the Arlington Museum of Art announced on March 30 that it would host an exhibit exploring Taylor’s “evolving, boundary-pushing” artistry, featuring costumes, photographs, and concert videos from her album eras. Titled “The Eras Tour Collection,” the exhibit ran from June 2 to September 24, 2023.
Tampa, Florida, presented Taylor with a key to the city; Mayor Jane Castor invited Taylor to be the city’s honorary mayor for a day. The Tampa City Hall, Tampa Riverwalk and downtown bridges are to be lit red. Hillsborough County temporarily changed its name to Swiftsborough.
Houston illuminated its city hall lavender as a nod to “Lavender Haze”, celebrated “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour weekend”, and renamed NRG Stadium to NRG Stadium (Taylor’s Version) from April 21 to 23, as per a proclamation by Harris County judge Lina Hidalgo.
In Atlanta, Georgia’s Own Credit Union welcomed Taylor with a large “Welcome to A-TAY-L” sign displayed atop its skyscraper building. Taylorsville, Georgia declared April 28, 2023, “Taylor Swift Day” and presented Taylor with a key to the city following her three sold-out shows in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
In Nashville, Tennessee, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum opened an exhibit entitled Through Taylor Swift’s Eras, displaying original outfits from every album era throughout May 2023. Mayor John Cooper recognized May 5 to 7 as “Taylor Swift Homecoming Weekend” and placed an “honorary bench” at Centennial Park as a monument dedicated to “Nashville and Swift’s long-standing relationship”, in reference to lyrics in her song “invisible string”.
Philadelphia unveiled a mural on South Street on May 12.
Massachusetts governor Maura Healey conferred a “Governor’s Citation” upon Taylor in recognition of her Foxborough shows.
New York City’s Museum of Arts and Design announced an exhibit called “Taylor Swift: Storyteller” on May 3, describing it as a “career-spanning look at [Taylor’s] artistic reinventions”; it opened from May 20, ahead of Taylor’s shows in East Rutherford, to September 4.
New Jersey governor Phil Murphy declared the “Taylor Swift ham, egg, and cheese” as the state’s official sandwich on May 25, referencing the cultural debate about Taylor ham and pork roll.