By Valia Nikolaidou,
If you have scrolled through any social media app and especially TikTok in the past month, you have definitely seen a huge buzz around Taylor Swift’s new worldwide stadium tour, with its first leg starting in North America. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Swift was not able to tour the albums she put out in previous years, i.e. Lover (2019), Folklore (2020), and Evermore (2020). With the release of her newest album Midnights (2022), one of the most anticipated releases of last year, that broke many records in streams and sales, she has embarked on The Eras Tour, a “journey through all of my musical eras” as she has described it on her Instagram.
Her last stadium tour was in 2018 in support of her then-newest album, Reputation (2018). It currently holds the record for the highest-grossing tour by a female artist in the United States and according to the numbers, The Eras Tour is expected to outsell her previous endeavor. However, there was a big controversy concerning the ticketing of this tour. Due to incredibly high demand, the official ticketing and distribution company of this tour, Ticketmaster, crashed on the very first seconds that the presale started. As a result, thousands of fans were left without a chance to buy their ticket and coincidentally, many resellers catapulted the tickets’ prices into astronomical amounts. This chaotic situation drew a lot of criticism against the distribution company and its poor state of customer service, with this case even catching the attention of some US lawmakers and more specifically, members of Congress. Moreover, a group of fans took further action and even sued Ticketmaster.
Moving on from the controversy, the tour’s first date was on March 17, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona. To celebrate the first two opening nights, the town was temporarily renamed “Swift City” by the town officials. Also, Taylor made four releases on that day, again in regards to The Eras Tour: two re-released songs (Taylor’s versions) from the Hunger Games (2012) soundtrack, one from her Fearless (2008) album, and a completely new one from Lover (2019). The North American leg of the tour is supposed, to be concluded on August 9 in Inglewood, California. It is suspected that towards the end of 2023, new dates will be announced for the South American, European, and Asian legs of the tour respectively, which will most likely happen in 2024.
The set list of this spectacular show consists of a whopping 40-something songs, depending on the night. Because of her extensive discography of 10 albums, it is extremely difficult to narrow it down and have a proper amount of hits from each era. This is the reason why in every show she performs a different surprise song, that could be from any of her eras. Her four newest albums, which have never been performed on a stadium tour before, are at the forefront and take up most of the setlist. From the rest of her older albums, the songs featured are mostly her biggest charting hits and not fan favorites, except for Red’s (2012), and All Too Well (10 Minute Version). By far the most overlooked album of her discography on this tour is Speak Now (2011), with Enchanted being the only song performed, due to the huge following it got last year by trending on TikTok.
Taylor’s star power is undeniable and she is rightfully called “the music industry” by fans and pop culture experts alike. It is remarkable how she has managed to reinvent herself in so many different ways and experiment with different genres and styles while at the same time staying true to her songwriting roots. This tour is the perfect way to document all these changes throughout her career, the different phases of her life, and all the heartbreaks and dramas that got her to the icon status that she is now.
References
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Taylor Swift Tickets Are On Sale. Fans Say It’s Their Hunger Games. rollingstone.com. Available here
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Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Opener: A complete recap of all 44 songs. washingtonpost.com. Available here
