Five years is a long time off the touring circuit for any musician, let alone a global superstar like Taylor Swift. Granted, the COVID-19 pandemic had plenty to do with her delayed return to the road.
Taylor, though, was hardly twiddling her thumbs since her Reputation tour in 2018. She released four new albums (2019’s Lover, 2020’s Folklore and Evermore, and 2022’s Midnights), re-recorded and re-released three of her most iconic albums (Fearless, Red, and Speak Now) amid a dispute over control of her master recordings with Scooter Braun and Big Machine, broke all kinds of new ground and records with the success of those re-releases, and somehow still found time to star in the movie adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, host Saturday Night Live, and collaborate with a slew of other artists, including Ed Sheeran, HAIM, and The National.
That array of work product is almost as dizzying as her latest endeavor: The Eras Tour, which arrived in Los Angeles in early August to wrap up what turned out to be the first U.S. leg of her soon-to-be two-year circumnavigation.
As with all things on this go-round, Taylor upped the ante from two shows at the Rose Bowl in 2018 to a whopping six performances at SoFi Stadium—which, itself, was still under construction five years ago. For nearly three-and-a-half hours on Friday, the Pennsylvania native wowed a capacity crowd of 70,000 screaming Swifties with smash hits, stylish costume changes, dazzling dancers, explosive effects, and spectacular set design, all curated to fit the various phases of her nearly 20-year career in the music business.
Taylor afforded plenty of time to the material she produced during the time between tours. The 33-year-old emerged in a sparkly silver outfit to a slew of songs from Lover, including “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince”, “Cruel Summer”, “The Man”, “You Need to Calm Down”, the title track, and “The Archer”. She pulled another five songs from Evermore, most notably an era opener of “no body, no crime” that saw HAIM—her collaborators on the cut, tour companions, and admitted besties—emerge from the bowels of the catwalk to perform with her. Before diving into “Champagne Problems”, Taylor took a moment to explain how she used her many releases to remain connected to her fans during her touring hiatus.
She set aside many more moments for Folklore later on. Seven of that album’s 17 tracks earned time, among them a “womansplaining” of how to apologize with “betty”, a rendition of “the last great american dynasty” played amid a staged ballroom gala, and the sultry sounds of “cardigan”.
Only Midnights got as much run, with Taylor busting out seven songs from her most recent release to close out her sprawling set. She stomped around like a sad Godzilla on screen for “Anti-Hero”, managed a mid-song costume change behind spinning umbrellas during “Midnight Rain”, and made provocative use of chairs as props with her dancers on “Vigilante Shit” before ending with “Bejeweled”, “Mastermind”, and “Karma.”
In between all that newer material, Taylor made sure to more than nod to the many milestones that marked her career prior to this myth-expanding tour. She went back to her country-pop roots for Fearless with “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story”, relived her fairytale phase on Enchanted with the title track and “Long Live”, traced her rise as a bona fide pop star on Red with “22”, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”, “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “All Too Well” and on 1989 with “Style”, “Blank Space”, “Shake It Off”, “Wildest Dreams”, and “All Too Well”, and flaunted her vengeant edge from Reputation with “…Ready For It?”, “Delicate”, “Don’t Blame Me”, and “Look What You Made Me Do.”
Perhaps most endearing, though, was her second-to-last “era,” when she sauntered out to the end of the catwalk to play “Our Song” on guitar and “You Are In Love” all on her own. For all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds her shows (and gets baked into ticket prices), she is still incredibly capable as a solo musician, alone with her songs.
That relative lull in the action, along with the costume changes between eras, provided a slight but valuable reprieve from the sensory stimulation that Taylor’s production exuded. For all the enjoyment and entertainment that came from her show, it’s certainly not something for the faint of heart—just as putting it on night after night must be a Herculean undertaking for Taylor and her crew.
Sustaining through 200 minutes of music, even filled with songs as exciting at hers, requires a certain sort of stamina. So, too, does surviving the exaltations of her legions of dedicated fans ricocheting from side to side of an enclosed stadium, hitting every ear in between. Surely, music lovers who were lucky enough to see The Beatles live during their touring days in the 1960s can relate.
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Throw in smoke machines, sparklers, fireworks, actual fire, elaborate set pieces with matching on-screen graphics, dance numbers, and more LEDs than Zeppelin, and there’s plenty to keep any attendee on their toes the entire time. That said, anyone looking to make the most of their time at a show on The Eras Tour would do well to come equipped with earplugs and an energy drink, along with food and water for requisite hydration.
It certainly helps to have a gifted, charismatic performer like Taylor tying it all together. How she has managed to pull off the entire production of this tour, night after night, without collapsing from exhaustion may be the most impressive feat of all.
More impressive still, she’s only just getting started. After wrapping up her dates in Inglewood, Taylor will take her show on the road to Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil to close out 2023. She will pick back up in 2024 with performances in Japan, Australia, and Singapore in the winter before taking Europe by storm through the spring and summer.
Come the fall of 2024, the reigning queen of pop will be back on North American soil in Miami, New Orleans, and Indianapolis. There’s already speculation, as well, that the gap in her schedule during April 2024 could portend a headline appearance at Coachella.
Wherever in the world Taylor winds up, one thing is clear: she has more than made up for the lost time between tours with a set for the ages that cements her standing among the most iconic entertainers of all time.
For a full list of upcoming Taylor Swift The Eras Tour dates, head here.
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