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‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ Film: An Honest Review

Glittery outfits, memorized chants, lyrics written all over one’s arm, singing along nonstop, and trading friendship bracelets. That’s right, the film, ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,’ officially came to theaters worldwide on Friday the 13 and Swifties worldwide are once again in awe of Taylor Swift’s ability to put on a showstopping performance for three hours and 15 minutes.

I had the privilege of being able to attend Swift’s Eras Tour on her first night in Los Angeles! For this reason, I was ecstatic when Swift announced she would be bringing The Eras Tour to big screens worldwide. I was all the more excited because parts of the movie were filmed at my show! I was in the nosebleeds at Swift’s concert so I was looking forward to seeing it from a closer perspective.

The film featured 40 of Swift’s songs from all of her studio albums except for her debut album. This differs from the actual Eras Tour concert in which Swift performed 45 songs. The songs that were omitted from the film included “The Archer,” “No Body No Crime,” “Long Live,” “Cardigan,” and “Wildest Dreams.” I was a bit disappointed that Swift chose to not include “The Archer” in the film because that is my all-time favorite song from Swift’s album “Lover.” I relate to it so much, so it was a pretty devastating loss, to say the least.

My favorite eras from the film were the “Folklore” era, the “Lover” era, and the “Fearless” era. I was surprised by how much enjoyed the “Folklore” era in the film because I’m more of a “Reputation” fan. I do enjoy the vocals of the “Folklore” album but I typically prefer music from the pop genre. The vocals that Swift utilized in the “Folklore” era of the film were undeniably stunning and the choreography couldn’t have been more perfectly executed.

As for the “Lover” era, I loved this portion of the film so much because the outfits and visuals were so beautiful. I particularly took a liking to the sparkly pink bodysuit with purple sequins which Swift performs in while singing “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince.”

The “Fearless” era was such a fun era to relive by watching it on a big screen. It brought back so much nostalgia from my childhood. When I discovered Swift’s “Fearless” album at age six, I became an official Swiftie! I remember having so much fun dancing around and screaming my lungs out to “You Belong With Me” in my bedroom at age six. It was so sweet to see all the Swifties in my theater dancing around and singing the lyrics of Swift’s songs during this portion of the film!

My top two favorite songs Swift performed in the film were “Illicit Affairs” and “August.” “Illicit Affairs” was really cool to see performed by Swift in the film because her vocals were amazing and her range truly did not disappoint. “August” was really cool to see performed in the film because it took me back to my tour date in which Swift performed “August” in August!

I was a bit disappointed that Swift did not include any behind-the-scenes clips in this film. I would’ve loved to see what she had to go through during the planning of The Eras Tour and what her opinion was on the concerts she put on each night.  Nevertheless, I personally think that The Eras Tour is by far the best tour Swift has gone on!

Veronica Cobian, a junior at ERHS, really enjoyed Swift’s film and even purchased some fun merchandise.

“[I] loved it! I also got a cute AMC friendship bracelet,” Cobian said.

Raquel Zeledon, a junior at ERHS, had a blast with her sister while watching the Eras Tour movie.

“I loved ‘Tolerate it’ because it felt like it was a really good performance but both ‘Lover’ and ‘The Last Great American Dynasty’ were so cute! I loved them as well,” Zeledon said. “I really wish there were more songs from ‘Speak Now’ in the film because I felt like they left out a lot of great songs from that album [like] ‘Back to December.'”

Natalia Garcia, a junior at ERHS, attended Swift’s concert and was disappointed to see that Swift omitted one song in particular from the film.

“I wish ‘Long Live’ would have been in the film because that technically is a love letter to her fans. Seeing her perform that in front of 70,000 people was a magical experience that I wish would have been captured,” Garcia said.

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The Startling Intimacy of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour

By Amanda Petrusich

Critics are always bellyaching about the death of the monoculture—we no longer consume the same cultural objects at the same time or in the same way, and as a result we feel disconnected, adrift, lost. The mind-boggling inescapability of Taylor Swift ’s latest endeavor—a sixty-date stadium romp known as the Eras Tour—offers one enormous exception. The tour recaps all ten of Swift’s studio albums, presenting each as an epoch, with its own elaborate sets, costumes, and vibes. (The scope of the show reinforces the hysterical demands on twenty-first-century pop stars: be something new every time you show up, or don’t show up at all.) Swift cancelled her previous tour, in 2020; the sweeping concept of this one, combined with the long delay to see her live again, guaranteed that the demand for tickets would be preposterously high. Ticketmaster bungled the rollout so badly that the company received a public talking-to from Swift herself. Not long afterward, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to investigate whether Live Nation Entertainment, which owns both Ticketmaster and many major concert venues, has an illegal monopoly. The tour, which concludes in November, could, by some foggy estimates, make Swift a billionaire.

I attended a show at MetLife Stadium, in New Jersey. It was a warm Saturday evening in May, and I wore a cardigan. My daughter, who is about to turn two, had picked out my socks, which had cats all over them—a little wink to the fans, I thought. (Swift loves cats.) Let me tell you: no one was looking at my socks. This crowd had made it fashion. The fits were shimmering and often bespoke. The eye makeup was elaborate. The pavement outside the stadium was dappled with thousands of fallen sequins. Strangers were mouthing the word “slay” to each other. Forearms were wrapped in bracelets featuring Swift-isms spelled out in lettered beads. I was seated in front of two people dressed as fully decorated Christmas trees. (Swift was brought up on a Christmas-tree farm in Pennsylvania.) The crowd was ecstatic, doting, and very sober. The line for chicken fingers was, per my calculation, fifteen times longer than the line for beer.

Swift has for years been a savant of what I might call “you guys” energy, a chatty, ersatz intimacy that feels consonant with the way we exist on social media—offering a glimpse of our private lives, but in a deliberate and mediated way. When Swift addressed the seventy-four thousand people who had gathered to see her, I felt as though she was not only speaking directly to me but confessing something urgent. After one long applause break, she said, “There’s nothing I can say that can accurately thank you for doing that. You just, like, screamed your head off for an hour and a half. That was insane.” Maybe it’s her savvy use of what feels like the singular “you.” When I attempted to explain this feeling to other people, it sounded as though I had been conned. Yet I’d prefer to think of it as an act of kindness: Swift sees each of us (literally—we were given light-up bracelets upon entering) and wants us to know it.

On TikTok , fans discuss each concert with a fervor and knowledge that reminds me of the grizzled heads who spend years analyzing old Grateful Dead set lists. Swift’s show is famously long—more than three hours. By the end, mothers were carrying out sleeping children. I found Swift’s stamina astounding. (She is onstage the entire time, save costume changes.) Some eras translate better than others to the shape and echo of a football stadium. The lusty bite of “Reputation,” for instance, overpowered the aching ballads of “evermore.” There were some nice surprises: Phoebe Bridgers came out to sing “Nothing New,” a wounded song from “Red (Taylor’s Version),” and the Bronx-born rapper Ice Spice performed on a smug remix of “Karma.” Toward the end of the set, Swift does two acoustic songs, on piano or guitar. It’s the only part of the show that reliably changes. That night, she performed “Holy Ground” and “False God.” The latter is one of Swift’s most carnal songs. “I know heaven’s a thing / I go there when you touch me,” she sings.

Swift’s voice has become richer and stronger over the years; its clarity and tone foreground her lyrics. Played on piano, absent the R. & B. production of the studio version, “False God” felt, suddenly, like a reflective song about resigning yourself to failure. Love and sex are a trap, its lyrics suggest; never trust the fantasy sold to you by pop songs:

We might just get away with it The altar is my hips Even if it’s a false god.

Swift is sometimes described as “professional,” which feels like a pejorative—it suggests decorum, efficiency, steadiness, and various other qualities that, in general, have nothing to do with great art. She has perhaps been unfairly dismissed as too capable and too practiced, an overachieving, class-president type. I’ll admit that I’ve struggled, at times, with the precision of her work. If you’re someone who seeks danger in music, Swift’s albums can feel safe; it’s hard to find a moment of genuine musical discord or spontaneity. Over time, though, I’ve come to understand this criticism of Swift as tangled up with some very old and poisonous ideas about genius, most of which come from men slyly rebranding the terrible behavior of other men. (Swift sees it this way, too. On “The Man,” she imagines life without misogyny: “I’d be a fearless leader / I’d be an alpha type.”)

The intense parasocial bond that Swift’s fans feel with her—the singular, desperate throb of their devotion—can swing from charming to troublesome. When Swift débuts new costumes, as she did in New Jersey, a wave of glee washes over Twitter. But when she puts out a new song (“You’re Losing Me”) with lyrics that suggest romantic turmoil (“And I wouldn’t marry me either / A pathological people pleaser”), it can provoke vitriol—in this case toward the actor Joe Alwyn, Swift’s former partner. (Weeks earlier, Swifties were outraged after one of Alwyn’s co-stars posted a photo of him on a scooter, which was read as an egregious slight because Swift has been in a public battle with a music executive named Scooter Braun.) It’s hard enough to understand a relationship when you’re inside it; trying to piece together a narrative via song lyrics and a few paparazzi photos seems like a fundamental misunderstanding of human relations. Swift was recently rumored to be dating Matty Healy , of the British rock band the 1975. Healy is, depending on whom you ask, either an irascible provocateur or a disgusting bigot. Some of Swift’s fans deemed him a racist torture-porn enthusiast, owing to comments he made on a podcast, and groused about him after he and Swift were photographed together. Though it would be easy, and maybe even correct, to dismiss this sort of hullabaloo as ultimately innocuous—just people being hyperbolic online, in the same way one might tweet, say, “Taylor Swift can run me over with a tractor”—the swarm-and-bully tactic feels at odds with Swift’s music, which has always lionized the misunderstood underdog. Maybe Healy deserves it. Alwyn, at least, seems innocent. This is the obvious flip side of Swift’s purposeful cultivation of intimacy. From afar, her fans’ possessiveness appears both mighty and frightening.

Still, the intensity of her fandom manifests so differently offline. Swift’s performance might be fixed, perfect (it has to be, of course, to carry a tour so technically ambitious), but what happens in the crowd is messy, wild, benevolent, and beautiful. I was mostly surrounded by women between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. As Swift herself once sang, on “22,” that particular stretch into post-adolescence is marked by feeling “happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time.” The camaraderie in the audience invited a very particular kind of giddiness. My best friend from childhood had accompanied me, and when she returned from the concession stand carrying two Diet Pepsis so enormous that they required her to bear-hug them for safe transport, I started laughing harder than I have laughed in several years.

As the night went on, I began to understand how Swift’s fandom is tied to the primal urge to have something to protect and be protected by. In recent years, community, one of our most elemental human pleasures, has been decimated by COVID , politics, technology, capitalism. These days, people will take it where they can get it. Swift often sings of alienation and yearning. She has an unusual number of songs about being left behind. Not by the culture—though I think she worries about that, too—but by someone she cared about who couldn’t countenance the immensity of her life. In her world, love is conditional and frequently temporary. (“You could call me ‘babe’ for the weekend,” she sings on “ ’tis the damn season,” a line I’ve always found profoundly sad.) On the chorus of “The Archer,” she sings, “Who could ever leave me, darling? / But who could stay?” Toward the end of the song, she adds a more hopeful line: “You could stay.”

As she sang that “you” on Saturday, she raised an arm and pointed directly to the audience. Swift has written many songs that describe her devotion as a punishment to be endured. “I love you, ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?” she bellows on “Cruel Summer.” She believes that the force of her affection will push people away. But her fans have remained. They have buoyed her; in turn, she has given them everything. ♦

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Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour First Reviews: Don't Miss It, Even If You Saw the Live Show

Swifties rejoice critics say the pop icon's record-breaking concert on the big screen offers the best seat in the house and spectacularly captures the magic and energy of the show..

TAGGED AS: First Reviews , movies , Music

Here’s what critics are saying about Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour :

Does it live up to the hype?

“It gives the audience directly what they want: the ability to experience Eras in a theater with the best seat in the house.” – Kristen Lopez, The Wrap

“The singer promised that she would work to bring the tour to as many people as humanly possible. Overall, that’s exactly what she’s accomplished with Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour .” – Katie Campione, Deadline Hollywood Daily

“The film more than justifies the hype and rather than a rushed cash-in, Swift has gifted her fans a spectacular, lovingly crafted movie that somehow captures everything great about the live show.” – Keiran Southern, Times (UK)

“Serious fans know the setlist by heart: This might be the most spoiler-proof blockbuster of all time.” – Chris Willman, Variety

“Filled with both spectacle and strikingly intimate moments, The Eras Tour is almost too much of a good thing — so many hits, so many memorable set pieces, so many peaks.” – Tim Grierson, Screen International

(Photo by AMC Theatres)

Does it accurately convey the Eras Tour experience?

“ Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour radiates the same energy that reverberated through the stands each night, complete with the deafening sound of the crowd. Expect to leave the theater with your ears ringing.” – Katie Campione, Deadline Hollywood Daily

“Though it isn’t possible for a movie to take the place of a live concert, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour comes as close as possible, less because of how the movie is captured and more in how fans are going to interact with it.” – Philip Cosores, Uproxx

“At my premiere screening, The Eras Tour played less like a film than an extension of the concert experience: Audience members sang along and danced in the aisle and cheered so loudly I often couldn’t tell where the roar of the crowd onscreen ended and the roar of the crowd in the theater began.” – Angie Han, Hollywood Reporter

“Director Sam Wrench hasn’t really messed with what millions have already seen on stage (or watched via bootleg fan live streams) this past spring and summer, apart from the addition of digital title cards that make it clear to less devoted viewers which ‘era’ is being entered into.” – Chris Willman, Variety

“The runtime sails, especially as it doesn’t have the downtime you’d experience at an actual concert. Swift and Wrench have done something truly special with the Eras film and that is making a colorful celebration of music and, unintentionally, cinema.” – Kristen Lopez, The Wrap

“It’s impressive that The Eras Tour manages to fit in roughly 40 songs in the span of 169 minutes. As with many massive stadium shows, the film can occasionally be exhausting, the prolonged high levels of technical mastery risking becoming monotonous.” – Tim Grierson, Screen International

How is the concert itself, for those who missed it (or didn’t try) the first time, live?

“A staggering feat. In the space of one seamless performance, Swift is at turns a playfully eccentric artist, a country star and a genuine pop icon. Yet for all the spectacle, it might be those acoustic songs that linger longest in the memory.” – Kevin EG Perry, NME (New Musical Express

“Whether you were at the concert or seeing it for the first time, Swift put on a show that dazzles, amazes, and enchants… Hits like ‘Shake It Off’ and ‘Cruel Summer’ are present and accounted for, but it’s wonderful to get to see how Swift plays with her audience and plays different characters during the performance.” – Kristen Lopez, The Wrap

“To see all the chapters of her career laid out next to each other is to marvel at how much she’s transformed herself over the years.” – Angie Han, Hollywood Reporter

“Unless you’re a devoted fan, concert films can be a rather dreary experience but the sheer spectacle and energy of the film is enough to convert even the most rabid anti-Swiftite.” – Lina Das, Daily Telegraph (UK)

Does the film offer more than what fans saw live?

“Aside from a few onstage ‘bloopers’ over the closing credits, there’s next to nothing in the way of supplementary material — no interviews, no behind-the-scenes footage, no commentary on what any of this means.” – Angie Han, Hollywood Reporter

“It is nice watching the end credits where Swift fans are shown alongside moments where Swift endures costume malfunctions.” – Kristen Lopez, The Wrap

“Wrench and cinematographer Brett Turnbull don’t avoid the obvious shots, but they also have some wrinkles up their sleeves that startle you out of any sense you’re just watching those concert screens redux.” – Chris Willman, Variety

Should fans who went to the live show still see the film?

“Even if you have been treated to the live show, The Eras Tour still gives everyone in the audience a chance to experience every song from the best seat in the house. You’ll get up close and personal with Swift and also see sweeping shots that put the stage’s stunning visuals on full display.” – Katie Campione, Deadline Hollywood Daily

“Even the best seats in a stadium could provide only so much detail. But on the big screen, the close-ups are glorious, whether zooming in on Swift’s cat-eye makeup outlining her crystal blue eyes, the moss covering her piano and the sweat sticking to her bangs during ‘Champagne Problems’ and her meticulous table setting at the start of ‘Tolerate It.’” – Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today

“You can see literally every sequin and bead. One of several reasons to see Eras in a theater, to take in the detail of the massive undertaking that is Swift’s tour.” – Kristen Lopez, The Wrap

“The big-screen treatment allows fans who have seen the live show a chance to take in details of the performances and production that get easily obscured by the overwhelming nature of live music.” – Philip Cosores, Uproxx

“In IMAX, the film makes excellent use of large-format screens, especially when Wrench shows Swift as a rather small speck in a sea of fans, their cellphone lights illuminating the darkness.” – Tim Grierson, Screen International

Is it possible the film is actually better than the live experience?

“ The Eras Tour has enough confidence to let the hard work that went into the tour’s design speak for itself, although Wrench’s camera puts the viewer much closer to the action that most ticket holders would have enjoyed at the actual show.” – Tim Grierson, Screen International

“Obviously, fans get a lot more really, really close face-time with Swift, to the point where they might ask questions like: How is it possible that her hair gets a little moist, but we never see her actually break a sweat?” – Chris Willman, Variety

Is the film missing anything that might disappoint fans?

“The concert film is not a completely unexpurgated version of the show; the first viewers to see the movie quickly realized, to the chagrin of many, that a few numbers were cut, including ‘Cardigan’ and, as seen in the final stretch of the tour, the Haim collaboration ‘No Body, No Crime.’” – Chris Willman, Variety

“It’s sure to come as a disappointment to many, as it did for me, that about one or two songs from each era were sacrificed, likely for the sake of time… The decision is understandable, given the constraints of theatrical releases, but some of the choices felt a bit odd.” – Katie Campione, Deadline Hollywood Daily

“It skips a handful of songs, including ‘The Archer’ and ‘Cardigan.’ But what remains is more than enough to leave the most hardcore Swiftie spent with delight.” – Angie Han, Hollywood Reporter

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Taylor Swift review – pop’s hardest-working star gives Eras tour her all

State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona

The electrifying start of the singer-songwriter’s first tour in five years saw a mammoth, fan-pleasing 44-song set and extravagant staging

B y Friday afternoon, there was a new destination in Arizona: Swift City, population 70,000 fans in town for the first stop on Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, and designated by some of them on Google Maps as a place of worship. “Welcome to ERAzona,” the 33-year-old pop star’s publicist emailed me hours before the show, referring to one of the hashtags Swifties developed to tag their arrival for what was billed – and delivered – as an expansive celebration of her undeniably prolific catalog. Team Swift is, as ever, attuned to the online conversation around her; you cannot consume Taylor Swift music without dipping (or diving) into Taylor Swift content. This is an artist who, as some have argued, has come closer than Mark Zuckerberg to building a true metaverse and cultivated a famously chatty, close virtual relationship with her fans.

Those fans turned out in force on Friday night in Glendale – fittingly for the base of her popularity, a suburb, roughly the same distance from Phoenix as Hendersonville, the town in Tennessee where Swift attended her one year of high school, is from Nashville, home of the country music industry that shaped her early career. Mostly women and gay men (along with a few good sport boyfriends/husbands) dressed in the instantly recognizable iconography of her 10 albums – Reputation-era black leotards, Lover-era pastels, mock-ups of her 2021 Folklore Grammy dress, rhinestone-adorned bodysuits a la Bejeweled music video, and at least two men in “sexy baby” T-shirts (see: Anti-Hero ).

From the outside, such intensity, courted by Swift with notorious Easter egging and rewarding, can be eye roll-inducing. But when viewed from inside the Swiftieverse, in a deafening stadium she comfortably commanded for over three hours, it is rapturous, especially for those who have grown up with her 17 years of diaristic music, and particularly for white suburban women for whom Swift is the most famous avatar.

The Eras tour, as a show, is possibly the best-case scenario for fan service. Those who battled Ticketmaster and won were rewarded with a staggering 44-song setlist (about twice the number in her previous shows), some cut second verses but no mash-ups, that lasted the length of the movie Titanic (three hours and 12 minutes). It was a flex of unmatched productivity – since her last tour in 2018, Swift has released four original albums (or, as she put it, “we added four new members to the family” with Lover , Folklore , Evermore and Midnights ) on top of two album re-recordings. And she dipped substantially into all of them. Going album by album (or, era by era) in color-blocked, outfit-delineated segments (including two sparkling bodysuits, a ballgown, two ethereal dresses, a one-legged snake suit, and the outfit from the 22 music video), Swift packed more than many TikTok speculators thought possible into one show, with almost no breaks and seemingly endless stamina.

The production was more Broadway extravaganza than singular concert – multiple set changes, from mossy Folklore cabin to high-rise office for The Man; a phalanx of backup dancers and four backup singers; color-synced bracelets for every audience member timed with the full array of stadium lights. The T-shaped stage with rising platforms provided each area of the floor with ample chances to ogle and photograph her; visuals (not subtle, as is her style) and staging drawn from her music videos blared on a giant curved screen behind her. Save for a few numbers, it was a less heavily choreographed routine than the Reputation tour (a good thing), more an enthusiastic acting out by Swift of each of her songs, as if engaging in a dead-serious karaoke battle with each of her screaming fans for 44 straight songs. (I mean this in the best way – her commitment to each bit did not waver.)

There wasn’t time for much banter in between all this, though she made sure to cover the bases: gratitude for the crowd (“I don’t know how to process all of this and how it’s making me feel”), cheeky crowd-pleaser lines (“I love to explain to men how to apologize”), a nod at criticism of the woodsy Evermore (“an album that I absolutely love despite what some of y’all say on TikTok”). On that note, the scale of the production did make the earthy, whispery numbers on Folklore and Evermore (five and seven songs live, respectively), somehow work for a stadium (it helped that people sang along, as with almost every number, almost as loud as her vocals).

There were some sound issues, which seems less like a tour or performance problem than the challenge of projecting sound to a stadium full of 70,000 people screaming at the top of their lungs. When dialed up for the heavier, harder, synthier numbers (ie, anything not on Folklore or Evermore but especially Reputation, 1989 and Red), it could be difficult to hear her enunciate, or just grasp texture within the wall of cathartic sound. At one point, the volume on her mic seemed to go wildly up and down.

The best showcases for her vocal abilities, then, were when she returned to her roots: one woman and an instrument, as on the acoustic versions of Mirrorball and her first-ever single, Tim McGraw. And, most effectively, on the 10-minute version of All Too Well – the crown jewel in her songwriting catalog and the emotional highpoint of the evening, a number she commanded from silence to goosebump-inducing crescendo and back with guitar pick in hand.

Or, at least, my emotional highpoint. Pick any fan in the stadium, and they will probably name another song, maybe one not even sung (sorry to Speak Now fans, which got one track), as their favorite. In sheer scope of songs and devotion to lyrics, no artist can match her – a point she stomped home, from Miss Americana through the aptly titled Mastermind (with a dose of Karma at the end), in an indisputably epic start to the Eras era.

This article was amended on 18 March, 2023 to remove a reference to a backing track. Swift and four backing vocalists all sang live.

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Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour review - "A dazzling look at an artist at the height of her powers"

GamesRadar+ Verdict

A dazzling look at a musical artist at the height of her powers.

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“Seventeen years of music, one era at a time.” That’s how pop superstar Taylor Swift pitches The Eras Tour, her biggest project to date. While that simple description acts as a neat summary, it doesn’t come close to capturing the sheer scale and ambition involved here. A triumphant homage to all of Swift’s albums, from her 2006 self-titled debut to her most recent effort Midnights, The Eras Tour tells the story of one of the most influential figures of the 21st century. 

Tickets for the actual gigs were like gold dust, so Swift and co. decided to do something special for the fans. Filmed over three nights during the tour’s US leg, this concert movie brings the experience to millions via the big screen. That alone is something to be celebrated, making a once-in-a-lifetime moment accessible for those unable to attend IRL, whether for financial, health or other reasons. Swift thanks her fans, saying: “This is all because of you and for you.” It’s a statement we’ve heard countless times from other stars, but here rings true. 

As Swift takes us through nearly two decades’ worth of music, her incredible range is highlighted like never before. From the country-pop sounds of Fearless to the edgy Reputation to the indie-folk tones of Folklore, the set-list is impressively varied, fully justifying the nearly three-hour runtime. In fact, it could’ve been longer; though we get banger after banger, a few favourites are missing like Exile, State of Grace, New Romantics… (some tracks from the tour are also MIA, such as Cardigan). 

Still, every era is vividly brought to life, with dazzling staging that reflects the mood of each album. While the folky Evermore section takes us to the woodlands (cue a piano covered in leaves), the more upbeat 1989 segment sees Swift and her superb dancers smash up a digital car. 

The attention to detail is remarkable; even the microphones are changed to suit each era. The performers go all out for energetic songs such as Shake If Off, which will have viewers desperate to jump up and boogie, while quieter ballads are more stripped-back affairs. Seeing Swift alone on the stage for a 10-minute take on All Too Well - often hailed as her best work - is especially powerful, hitting you right in the tear ducts. 

It’s an emotional film full stop, giving us an intimate look at Swift and her experience of these massive gigs. Though we don’t go behind the scenes - this is very much a concert movie rather than a documentary - director Sam Wrench doesn’t skimp on close-ups of the star, who’s clearly blown away by the crowd’s response. Swift takes it all in, eyes often filling with tears, face dripping with beads of sweat (that iconic red lipstick stays intact throughout, though). The result is an honest portrait of an artist who, despite being captured at the height of her powers, still has significant vulnerabilities. 

But what if you’re not a Taylor Swift fan? Naturally, the less familiar you are with her music, the less you’ll likely get out of this movie. All the same, you don’t need to be a Swiftie to admire the astonishing staging, endless creativity, and the spectacle of an artist giving her all. 

And despite this being The Eras Tour, running through Swift’s greatest hits, you can’t help feeling at the end that the surface has only been scratched; that this is an ever-evolving musician who still has quite the journey ahead of her. Here’s to the next era…

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is in cinemas now. 

As Entertainment Editor at GamesRadar, I oversee all the online content for Total Film and SFX magazine. Previously I've worked for the BBC, Zavvi, UNILAD, Yahoo, Digital Spy and more.

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Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Movie Review: Long Live the Eras Tour

In a new concert film recapping the singer’s career-defining tour, the pop star and her fans are stronger—and more sincere—than ever

Before she rises out of the center of the stage and begins to sing through her 10-era career, director Sam Wrench shows us the outside of SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, where Swift is performing for the movie. It’s the final stop on the first U.S. leg of her tour—a tour projected to generate over $1 billion in ticket sales by the time it ends in 2024—and it’s packed with around 70,000 Swifties for one of six consecutive sold-out nights. Swift had worried she was nearing the end of her pop music career in the 2020 documentary Miss Americana . Four years later, we’re reminded who wouldn’t let that happen on their watch.

Then, she emerges. Just like when I saw her on a warm evening in Tampa this spring, and then in a four-hour torrential downpour in Boston weeks later, Swift performs as if she’s grateful for every millisecond she spends onstage. In high-definition, she is radiant, confident, and—as she says in a speech midshow—having the time of her life with us.

Much like Swift’s catalog, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour has the same expert balance of glittery, bombastic pop production and deeply felt, stripped-down moments. Even if you watched the entire tour on TikTok and have the set list memorized, the concert film will feel brand new. Wrench’s direction allows the transitions from era to era and song to song to pop onscreen, contrasting intimate close-ups of Swift and her instruments with overhead shots of the packed stadium. (The swirling camera movements for the transition from the soaring harmonies of “Don’t Blame Me” to the campy revenge chant of “Look What You Made Me Do” were a personal highlight.)

Swift’s voice has never sounded stronger. The moments she picks up her guitar or sits down at the piano are the emotional peaks. She casts a spell that turns a cavernous stadium into a closely intimate performance with “Champagne Problems” and the 10-minute rendition of “All Too Well.” No, none of the expletives were censored out.

It was inevitable the live show would be cut down for the film, though, given the colossal length of the original set list. Fan-favorite tracks were wiped from nearly every section (including “The Archer,” “Long Live,” “Cardigan,” and “Wildest Dreams”). Swift’s monologues about her songwriting process were also edited down. With the remaining songs, Wrench offers viewers a chance to see details up close that they may have overlooked, or underappreciated, if they saw the show live. Shots of Swift show off the intricate beadwork and embroidery on costumes by Versace, Alberta Ferretti, Oscar de la Renta, Zuhair Murad, and other designers, coordinated by Swift’s longtime stylist Joseph Cassell Falconer. Swift’s four backing vocalists, band, and dancers—who turned each song into a living and breathing story—are also given ample screen time.

Back to the other 70,000 main characters: the fans. As in most concert movies, there are shots of audience members singing along (and sometimes crying). Thanks to the wristband lights every member of the audience wears, they’re also twinkling in the background for a significant part of the film. You can see the crowd jumping up and down for “Love Story,” can see fans all the way up in the nosebleeds waving their hands in unison for “You Need to Calm Down.” Swift brings the energy, and the Swifties match it. “Look at you!” she exclaims.

And: listen. You can hear fans singing along through every segment of the show, with swells of screaming and applause that go from loud at the opening to ear-shattering when the “surprise songs” arrive. Swift performs a two-song acoustic set toward the end of each show, one piece on her guitar and one at the piano, and the selections have changed every night. The two tracks she and Wrench chose for the film are bookends to her career at this moment in time. First there’s “Our Song,” a twangy bop about a high school romance from her 2006 self-titled debut album. Then comes “You’re on Your Own, Kid,” from 2022’s Midnights , on the piano.

“You’re on Your Own, Kid” needs only three minutes and 14 seconds to cover the same 17-year musical period as the entire Eras Tour. It’s a profoundly lonely song that surveys the heartbreaks, sacrifices, and realizations comprising Swift’s rise from teenager writing songs in her bedroom to global phenomenon.

The camera cuts in close on Swift’s face as she reaches the emotional crest of the song. The chorus builds by tallying up moments that have wounded her, but she then makes a lyrically sharp turn toward a sense of purpose and self-actualization: “I looked around in a blood-soaked gown / And I saw something they can’t take away,” she sings. As she plays for tens of thousands of human beings hanging on her every syllable, I can imagine she saw that irreplaceable something again.

Maybe that something is the fans who find themselves in her music, who are compelled to make friendship bracelets in the style of that song’s final lines and trade them at arenas and theaters and airports—who, like me, will dance with her even through storms. Swift shares a dedication written in friendship bracelet beads after the credits roll: “Thank you to the most generous, thoughtful, loving fans on the planet. This is all because of you and for you.”

I wished I could respond with a question Swift herself asks in the title track of 2019’s Lover : “Can we always be this close?”

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is now playing in theaters.

Halie LeSavage is the fashion commerce editor at Harper's BAZAAR . Her style reporting covers everything from reviewing the best designer products to profiling emerging brands and designers. Previously, she was the founding retail writer at Morning Brew and a fashion associate at Glamour .

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Simply as a technical spectacle, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” is a dazzling achievement, capturing the sensation of seeing the pop goddess’ sold-out concerts in all their enormity and intimacy.

Director Sam Wrench ’s cameras are everywhere at once as Swift sings, stomps, and smiles through a nearly three-hour cross-section of her discography. They surround her as she and her dancers cover the mammoth square footage of her SoFi Stadium stage, which lights up imaginatively to correspond with each time frame. They swarm the skies to take in the entirety of the crowd, alight with their cell phones like 70,000 giddy fireflies. But they also get up close and personal for the slightest flicker of a facial expression, which is particularly effective during poignant sections like Swift’s 10-minute rendition of the rueful and rageful “All Too Well.” Wrench’s editing team seamlessly combines performances over three nights this summer in Inglewood, California, placing us firmly within the frenzy while also pulling back to marvel at the big picture.

But regardless of the era Swift’s revisiting, her singular ability to connect emotionally with both the songs and her audience is what shines through. Her showmanship is astonishing—her hustle, her joy—but there’s an abiding authenticity at the core even as we see her evolve from one album to the next right before our eyes. The awesome amazon of “Anti-Hero” (from her latest, “Midnights”) is also the plucky up-and-comer of “ Our Song ” from the early days. She’s both the delightful dork and the vengeful vixen, but she finds a way to make every person in that crowd feel like they’re her BFF and soulmate. Maintaining relatability within stratospheric superstardom has been Swift’s impressive balancing act, and that’s always on display here, no matter what song she’s singing.

And you get all the biggies, from ubiquitous earworms like “Shake It Off” and “Bad Blood” from “1989” (which I could never hear again and be totally fine, but they were probably a blast in this live setting) to playful anthems like “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble” from “ Red .” But “The Eras Tour” movie also gives us plenty of time to luxuriate in her achingly vivid songwriting during the “folklore” and “evermore” eras. The performance of “champagne problems” at a moss-covered piano—which she wrote with ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn —is an emotional highlight, as is “betty” on the acoustic guitar from within the rustic “folklore” cabin. Although she’s long been a fashion icon for women and an aspirational idol for little girls everywhere, her evocative storytelling is her deepest and most transcendent strength, and this film wisely allows us to appreciate that ability anew. (From these early pandemic-era albums, it would have been nice to hear “cardigan” and “no body, no crime” with HAIM, who joined her on stage throughout the Los Angeles run, but you can’t have everything.)

One of the coolest parts of having so many cameras at play here—and you never see a single one of them, it’s a miracle—is that it gives us the opportunity to notice the little things, like the fact that Swift’s microphones change in color and detail to match each era. We can also ooh and ahh at the painstaking detail on her exquisite costume design, including sparkly Versace bodysuits, Christian Louboutin boots and the flowy Alberta Ferretti gown she dons for “folklore.” Even if you were lucky enough and could afford tickets to attend one of these concerts, you couldn’t achieve this level of intimacy.

Every tiny bit signifies how seriously she has taken this massive endeavor, and it all pops brightly on the big screen. Taking it all in over 165 minutes may sound like a lot if you’re not a hardcore Swiftie—and truly, it is exhausting by the end—but purely as a cinematic experience, “The Eras Tour” is enormously entertaining. Pull on a couple of friendship bracelets and surrender to the phenomenon.

In theaters now.

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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TAYLOR SWIFT | THE ERAS TOUR

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TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR delivers exactly what it promises: A smoothly directed, impeccably performed documentary capturing the concert event of the year.

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Review: The Secondhand Thrills of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Concert Movie

By Amy Phillips

“I LOVE YOU, TAYLOR!!!”

It was the kind of shout you hear at concerts, emanating from a fan looking for a brief moment of acknowledgement from the artist on stage. But Taylor Swift , in her corporeal form at least, was not actually there to receive it on Friday night. The fan lobbed their love at a movie screen at a sold-out showing of Swift’s new concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, in downtown Manhattan.

Such is the nature of being a Swiftie in 2023: We feel like she’s talking directly to us through our screens, and we feel like we can talk to her right back. And we feel like she’s actually listening .

For the large swath of Swift’s vast fandom that didn’t win the Ticketmaster lottery , or wasn’t interested in remortgaging their house to pay for a seat on the secondary market , the very existence of this movie is a small miracle or a consolation prize, depending on whom you ask. (Swift has made concert films chronicling almost all of her previous tours, but none of them were widely released in theaters.) It offers a reasonable facsimile of the live experience—that is, two hours and 45 minutes of Taylor Swift immersion therapy—at the affordable price of $19.89 (lol) per ticket.

The Eras Tour is a straightforward concert doc, filmed over the course of multiple nights at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles in August. It follows the setlist of the live show with a few songs from the three-and-a-half-hour runtime removed, possibly because adding another 45 minutes felt like a bit much (or there’s plans for a “Director’s Cut” in the future). “The Archer,” “Long Live,” the Haim collaboration “No Body, No Crime,” the “Seven” interlude, “Cardigan,” and “Wildest Dreams” didn’t make it into the film. Nor did two of my favorite moments from the live show: Swift’s moving words following “Marjorie” about her late grandmother, the song’s titular character , and her preamble to “Betty” about how much she loves it when men apologize .

I saw the Eras tour live twice—once in the nosebleeds after waiting five-and-a-half hours in the Ticketmaster online queue, and once close to the stage thanks to a friend who had an extra seat. They were among the best concerts I’ve ever seen: an artist at the absolute peak of her powers, surveying a 17-year ascent from country girlhood to world-conquering superstardom via jaw-dropping stage design and visual effects, boundless amounts of energy, and banger after banger after banger. The crowd’s enthusiasm was at a level that quite literally could be measured on the Richter scale . I left those stadiums in a lavender haze of warm fuzzies, my throat sore from screaming, my feet blistered from jumping, my arms festooned with friendship bracelets gifted by strangers.

Seeing The Eras Tour film in a theater was an attempt to recreate that bliss. Its release comes at a time when the yearning for Taylor Swift-induced escapism is at an all-time high. In the two months since the first leg of the tour finished, Swift has often commandeered the news cycle by, among other things, detailing the imminent 1989 (Taylor’s Version) , stepping out with a football player , getting Beyoncé to show up to her premiere , and selling a record-breaking amount of movie tickets. All of which served as excellent distractions from the dumpster fire that is life on Earth in 2023.

Outside the movie theater on Friday, Manhattan was on edge, reeling from a week of unspeakable violence in Israel and Gaza, bracing for the potential fallout from protests planned across the city. Inside, gaggles of mostly white, mostly female Swifties dressed in folklore cardigans and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” tees posed for selfies with their Eras-branded popcorn buckets. It was unlikely that any of us in that theater had ever felt threatened by close-range rocket fire. Switching my phone off after hours of obsessively monitoring the news to envelop myself in the pillowy synths of the opening “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince” was a level of cognitive dissonance up there with when my college boyfriend and I inexplicably decided to watch Pootie Tang on 9/11.

But we all do what we can to cope. Over the past few years of pandemic, social unrest, climate catastrophe, and general societal collapse, there have been countless times when the brightest part of my day was spent mindlessly scrolling SwiftTok. Taylor is my Roman Empire , as the kids these days would say. But the mighty can stumble, or at least make us tired, and I can understand why. The Taylor News Cycle can be endlessly frustrating: The Matty Healy association , the private jet emissions , the allegations of performative allyship , the revisionist history . The fact that no institution— the FBI , the NFL , the Fed , Congress , Dunkin’ —is immune to her charms. That there has been so much written about her, including in this publication, with most media outlets having very little opportunity to actually talk to her at all.

And yet. I also completely understand what would compel someone to scream “I LOVE YOU, TAYLOR!” at a flickering image upon a screen.

By Anna Gaca

By Matthew Strauss

That scream came during the standing ovation after “Cruel Summer,” the setlist’s second song. Up until that point, the vibe in the theater had been fairly subdued. But when Swift paused to survey her queendom, hamming it up in the lead-up to “The Man,” something shifted. By the time the chorus of that song kicked in, a small group of dancers had gathered in the space between the screen and the front row. The crowd steadily grew as the movie progressed; roughly half of the theater was on their feet when Red rolled around. I tried my best to stay focused on the task at hand (taking notes for this piece), but halfway through “All Too Well,” I couldn’t take it anymore: I, too, was up and dancing.

There are of course many advantages that a concert has over a movie: the allure of the unexpected (will she suffer a wardrobe malfunction or swallow a bug ?!), the privilege of breathing the same air as Taylor Swift, the luxury of not having your experience mediated by a screen. But movie magic shouldn’t be discounted, either. The cameras offer angles no spectator could ever experience from a seat, zeroing in on movements and facial expressions even the most eagle-eyed would miss. I was mesmerized by Swift’s left arm, how it never stopped moving, containing entire worlds, like a one-handed puppet show. (The right arm remained mostly static, imprisoned by its subservience to the microphone.) I was struck by moments of goofiness I had never noticed before, like the way she rolls her eyes while singing “I’ll be the princess” during “Love Story,” or how comically large and pastry-like the Speak Now dress is. The quick cuts during the showstopping Reputation segment brought the drama of “Look What You Made Me Do” and “…Ready for It?” to dizzying heights. (Yes: The Reputation era is, in fact, the best era of the Eras tour.) And the mind-boggling stage, which transforms during almost every song, proved itself worthy of its own behind-the-scenes documentary. (Seriously: How do they make those trees sprout out of the ground during “Willow”? What is Swift landing on when she swan-dives into a hole after the acoustic set?)

Is The Eras Tour a great film? If you’re a huge Taylor Swift fan, it’s a masterpiece. If you aren’t, it’s unlikely to convert you. (I attended my screening with five other Pitchfork staffers of varying ages and levels of Swift fandom. Their reactions ranged from delight and amusement to exasperation at the quick-cut editing to straight-up leaving the theater after an hour and a half.) The entire Eras phenomenon is the crown jewel of an already diamond-encrusted career, the kind of achievement one can only wonder how she could ever follow up, short of retirement or a retreat into the kind of full-bore cabin-in-the-woods singer/songwriter material hinted at by folklore and evermore . We know that the tour will continue at least through 2024 . We know that she has two more re-recorded albums to release after 1989 (Taylor’s Version) comes out in two weeks. But staring deep into those close-up blue eyes as she basked in the crowd’s adoration before “Champagne Problems,” I couldn’t stop thinking about a Swift quote from the 2020 documentary Miss Americana : “You get to the mountaintop and you look around and you’re like, ‘Oh god, what now?’”

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Taylor Swift’s Six L.A. Eras Tour Stops Proved Why She’ll Never Go Out of Style

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I’ve been a Taylor Swift fan since her first self-titled album, back when I was a certified angsty preteen singing my heart out to “Teardrops on My Guitar” before I even had a boyfriend to cry about. She released “Fifteen” from her sophomore record, Fearless, when I was coincidentally 15 as well, and through her 17 years in music, I’ve followed her through the eras from country, pop, indie-folk and back. However, I’ve never seen her live, so imagine my giddiness when my friend scored face-value tickets for the Eras Tour .

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour started its run in Glendale, Arizona on March 17, and she just wrapped this year’s U.S. shows with a six-night run at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on August 9. As her devotees have seen on social media, each city and performance has their own distinct flavor, generating anticipation for everyone who is seeing Taylor live. The tour’s signature moves include two surprise songs that aren’t on the official set list per show, and Taylor sharing the limelight with musical guest stars such as Phoebe Bridgers in Nashville to Ice Spice in New Jersey. Outside of official stage moments, multiple nameworthy celebrities have been spotted in the bleachers, singing their hearts out and jingling their wrists full of beaded friendship bracelets. 

Below, the top six surprising moments from Taylor Swift’s six nights in Los Angeles.

August 3: The Giveaway “22” Hat

For every performance of “22”, the singer gifted the black hat she wears on stage to one lucky fan. On August 3, she gave the accessory to Kobe Bryant’s daughter, Bianka. They shared a sweet embrace while her mother, Vanessa, looked on. The poignant hand-off quickly went viral, warming the hearts of Angelenos and Swifties alike.

August 4: More Surprise Songs

Showcasing some love to her debut album along with the extra tracks on the deluxe edition of 1989 , Taylor performed “Our Song” and “You Are In Love” for the first time since 2015 as her two surprise songs of the night. Fans danced and swayed along to both nostalgic tunes, reliving their own romantic love stories.

August 5: Wrapping Up a Secret Film Project

The first three shows in SoFi had camera crews spotted on stage, as fans speculated Taylor was working on a behind-the-scenes concert project to be released on a streaming platform in the near future. August 5 was the final evening being filmed, so Taylor made sure to add some extra oomph and dazzle to her three-hour-plus set list for the documentary.

August 7 : A Hometown Show for HAIM

Gracie Abrams kicked off the night with her pop hit, “Where do we go now?” and set the mood with her crooning. HAIM played shortly after, with an explanation about their San Fernando Valley roots and a shoutout to all the Valley girls in the crowd for their hometown show, before bursting into song for “Want You Back”. Later that evening, Taylor re-iterated how she was so lucky to have her favorite band and best friends, HAIM, join her on stage for a dynamic duet of “no body, no crime” off her album Evermore.

August 8: The Royal Swifties Came

Royalty was in the house that night. Meghan Markle was spotted in the stadium for an evening of Taylor. She was with a close friend, Lucy Fraser, but Prince Harry was nowhere in sight as he was gone for a business trip in Asia. However, that didn’t stop Meghan from letting loose and singing her heart out with the rest of the cheering crowd.

August 9th: The Eighth Month of the Ninth Day for 1989

Taylor is known for being extremely detail-oriented and intentional with the Easter eggs she sends out to her fans. Throughout the whole show, she was seen with new costumes in multiple tones of blue , different from outfits she wore in prior performances. Towards the end during her acoustic surprise songs set, she drops an announcement.

“And so now here we are, on the last night of the U.S. leg of the Eras Tour , in the eighth month of the year on the ninth day of the month,” she said, referencing the date as 8/9. “But I think instead of telling you about it, I think I’ll just sort of show you something.” The screen behind her flashed to an announcement of the re-release of her album, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), set for October 27th, 2023, as the crowd screamed in excitement for what’s next.

After concluding the August 9th show and the U.S. stretch of her tour this year, Taylor was seen strolling backstage in a sparkly purple dress and holding a glass of white wine, blowing kisses to her crew members and fans. Until the next one.

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The 13 Best Moments From Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Kickoff

From TikTok jokes to fan-favorite deep cuts to powerhouse vocals, these were the most memorable moments from an unforgettable tour opener.

By Jason Lipshutz

Jason Lipshutz

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At one point during the first show of her long-awaited, highly anticipated Eras tour on Friday night (Mar. 17), Taylor Swift described herself as “really overwhelmed, and trying to keep it together all night.” It’s easy to understand: this enormous stadium trek, one of pop’s hottest tickets in years, also happens to be Swift’s first proper tour in five years, thanks primarily to the pandemic. The pop superstar has released a whopping four original albums (plus two re-recorded ones) since last hitting the road, and on Friday night at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., she told the crowd that she had been dreaming about this day — the day that she could finally perform this wealth of new material — for a long time.

“Overwhelming” would also be an apt way to describe the sheer tonnage of the Eras tour: with segments dedicated to all 10 of Swift’s studio albums, the show entertained a sold-out, frequently screaming stadium audience for 3 hours and 15 minutes, as Swift tirelessly showcased her skill set and various artistic personas across a whopping 44 songs. The most dominant artist in popular music has used this live run to reflect on the various iterations of her career to date, and the achievement is often staggering, with costume changes, set-piece upheaval, vulnerable moments in a crowd of thousands and sing-alongs that will rival the scope of any tour this year.

The Eras tour is going to satisfy a lot of Swift diehards in the coming months, who will surely find their own favorite pockets of the set list. And while Swift fans should embrace the entire experience, the opening night provided some clear-cut highlights. Here are the 13 best moments from the Eras tour kickoff in Glendale on Friday night:

The Cathartic Opening of “Cruel Summer”

Although Swift technically opened the show with part of a different Lover track, “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince,” the brilliant synth-pop single “Cruel Summer” was the first to get the full, stadium-show treatment, complete with a raised platform, backup dancers and Swift unveiling a diamond-encrusted one-piece with matching tall boots. For both the fans in attendance and Swift herself, the song seemed to represent an exhalation — this tour was finally happening, and this immaculate song, three-and-a-half years old at this point, was finally being performed.

The First Era-Hop, Into ‘Fearless’

“Tonight, we’re going to be going on an adventure, one era at a time!” Swift declared a few songs into the show — a concept that truly sunk in a few minutes later, when the first era of the evening, Lover , gave way to Fearless both in the set list and stylistically. Gone was the glitter getup and deep pop rhythms, replaced with a fringe dress and sunny country licks from Swift’s acoustic guitar, as she jumped into the Fearless title track, “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story.” The “Fearless” change-up marked the moment that the idea of the Eras tour fully snapped into place, and the crowd was enthralled with the approach.

Taylor’s ‘Evermore’ Theory Defense

In the middle of the Evermore mini-set, Swift sat down at a moss-covered piano and talked to the audience about how gratifying it was that she was finally getting to perform her “four new members of the family” — Lover, Folklore, Evermore and Midnights , the four albums she’s released since her last tour. She added that Evermore “is an album I absolutely love — despite what some of you say on TikTok!” She paused for comic effect, then deadpanned, “I’ve seen it. I’ve seen all of it!” Even if some TikTok users claim that Swift hasn’t personally warmed as much to Folklore ’s counterpart as her other projects, Swift refuted those theories and gave Evermore prime placement in her set list, with a total of five songs performed from the album, including “’Tis The Damn Season,” “Willow” and “Tolerate It.”

The Unexpected “Don’t Blame Me” Showcase

When the Evermore part of the set ended and snake scales appeared on screen, everyone in attendance knew that Reputation was next up — and while singles like “…Ready For It?,” “Delicate” and “Look What You Made Me Do” were all delivered with high energy, “Don’t Blame Me” was bestowed with a fiery passion that, even compared to how its swooping harmonies were presented on the Reputation tour, elevated the album cut. Quite literally: Swift sprung skyward on a platform while attacking a big, showy note during the song’s climax, making for one of the more memorable technical performances of the evening.

“Enchanted” as the Dramatic 'Speak Now' Representative

It’s hard to quibble with set list exclusions when the set list in question contains 44 songs… but still, Speak Now fans are not going to be thrilled that the Eras tour contains only one song from that particular era. At least that song stood out as a highlight: “Enchanted” found Swift in a flowing ball gown maximizing the emotional stakes, with acoustic strums laying the groundwork for a full-band crescendo. If “Mine,” “Back to December,” “Mean” and “Dear John” aren’t getting any burn on this tour, “Enchanted” will have to be a powerhouse for the third-album diehards… and on opening night, it was just that.

The Extended Version of “All Too Well”…

After rolling through Red highlights like “22,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble,” Swift spoke to the audience about how meaningful the success of both the original Red in 2012 and the re-recorded version in 2021 had been for her. Then, Swift asked if the crowd had an extra 10 minutes to spare. The chart-topping 10-minute version of “All Too Well” followed the roars in response, and naturally functioned as a centerpiece for the entire set, arriving roughly at the halfway point and becoming an emotional anchor for the evening. By the time that paper snowflakes fell across the stadium during the final minute, the magic of the moment was widely accepted.

…And the Three-Word Shout-Along Within “All Too Well”

When you attend a Taylor Swift show in 2023 (and beyond), you simply will not experience a bigger sing-along moment than the phrase “F–k the patriarchy!” In the 10-minute “All Too Well.” Not only does everyone in attendance sing along, they scream along, and wind up to it in the preceding lyrics! Talk about magic! Count on Swifties loudly flipping off men in power, in unison, for years to come.

'Folklore' Deep Cut-Turned-Viral Smash “August”

Taylor Swift pays attention to her fans — when she says she’s seen the Evermore hate on TikTok, she’s kidding around, but rest assured she’s actually seen it. So when deciding which tracks from the sprawling Folklore to play, there’s no doubt that Swift noticed the fan adoption to “August,” which wasn’t a focus track upon the album’s release but has since become a fan favorite that’s often bubbling up on social media (especially during the titular month each year). The mass sing-along of “August” may have caught some offline attendees as a surprise, but Swift’s fans fiercely love the wistful folk-pop track, and demonstrated their appreciation at the opener.

The Neon Golf Clubs of “Blank Space”

Swift’s backup dancers rode out on neon-lit bicycles during her performance of the 1989 smash, but that was only prelude to one of the night’s better visuals: Swift and her cohorts brandishing blue-lit golf clubs during the bridge, and then smashing an animated car (a la Swift’s crazed attack in the “Blank Space” video) on a mid-stage screen, each new dent in time with the song’s beat. It was difficult to look away from the spectacle, and became the sort of sight gag that sticks with you long after the show has wrapped.

The Surprise Acoustic Track

Deep into the evening, Swift grabbed her guitar and announced that she planned to perform an acoustic song that wasn’t included in the Eras set list during the tour, with the hope of never duplicating the song she selected for each performance. It’s a strong move in theory — even after the Eras set list gets mulled over endlessly, there will still be a new surprise each night — and was even better in practice, as the achingly beautiful “Mirrorball” was selected for the first performance. The acoustic tracks probably won’t be as strong as the Folklore standout on a nightly basis, but for the Glendale audience, the choice made opening night even more special.

The “Anti-Hero” Metaphor Comes to Life

Earlier in the evening, Taylor Swift gave a begrudging shout-out to everyone in the audience who was dressed like a “sexy baby” in tribute to the “Anti-Hero” lyric; later, when her latest No. 1 smash was performed, Swift embodied the “monster on the hill” line that follows it. On the video screen behind her performance, Swift turned herself into a Godzilla-esque creature terrorizing a city before glumly sitting on (and destroying) an office building. On a night with a lot of impressive choreography and stage setups, that straightforward visual — Swift as the problem, it’s her — became one of the more interesting spectacles of the show, and added to the performance of the hit single.

The “Vigilante Shit” Dance Routine

Speaking of spectacle: Swift goes full-on burlesque alongside her dancers for the Midnights standout, dancing on and around a chair and having an absolute blast while doing it. The song comes about three hours into the performance, but Swift conjures every ounce of energy to turn one of the more sparsely produced songs in her catalog into an enthralling jam.

Ending With a Fan Favorite

The final era presented during the Eras tour is Midnights , and Swift could have capped it with a hit — “Anti-Hero,” of course, or maybe fast-rising follow-up “Lavender Haze.” Instead, she concludes the evening with a trio of non-hits that fans truly adore: “Bejeweled,” “Mastermind” and “Karma.” The logic behind that decision is simple: the Eras tour is less about hits than it is about fan service, and ending on a song like “Karma” nods to those who inhale every song on a Swift track list instead of just paying attention to the singles. This run of shows is for the fully committed Swift listeners, and an album cut like “Karma” is the perfect way to bid them adieu for now.

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Can ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ Turn a Non-Swiftie? We Put It to the Test

By Elisabeth Garber-Paul

Elisabeth Garber-Paul

There’s a moment early on in Taylor Swift Era’s Tour concert film before she launches into her nearly dozen studio albums, but after she points to parts of the crowd to see how loud they’ll scream, when she looks into the audience. “This is getting dangerous, it’s about to start going to my head,” she says, absorbing the energy around her. “It makes me feel so powerful.”

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She starts with Lover , and from the jump, I think I get it. Pop hooks, catchy lyrics, over-the-top spectacle — what’s not to like? This year, I’ve seen Bruce Springsteen, Depeche Mode, and the Cure, twice. I appreciate a carefully crafted stadium show and try to turn my brain off as much as I can. I let the goosebumps take my arms and the tears well up, giving myself into the experience. 

But soon enough, there are moments pulling me out. As she launches into “The Man,” I’m struck by the bluntness of the premise. Dressed in a sequined suit jacket and platform boots, she walks through a multi-story office of dancers typing away at late-century desks, singing about how she’d act if she could get away with all the things men can, like anger, sleeping around, and unapologetically taking what they want. I recognize the satire (and later, when I watched the video , the Leo-worshipping finance-bro type it was sending up), but in the moment, it feels reductive, almost discounting the fact that she is a powerful young woman ending a billion-dollar run of shows. But I dig a sequined suit, so I watch on. 

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It’s shortly after that when I begin to understand Taylor Swift, the overdramatic storyteller. A long table appears, with two plates and a half-drank bottle of wine. A man takes the stage, sits down, and she starts to sing “Tolerate It.” Creeping along the table, she slowly comes to terms with the fact that she’s overperforming for a distant partner. “If it’s all in my head, tell me now” is too real. I feel grateful for my margarita. 

It’s around this time I start to think about a beat-up VHS copy of Paul Simon’s Concert in the Park , a 1991 concert film that I watched so many times at my parent’s friend’s house that he finally just told me to take it home. I loved the songs, Simon’s showmanship, and the way he paraded his band around the stage, but I always wanted there to be more of a theatrical quality to it. And here was Taylor, making that dream come true. 

But then it’s back to that ultra-girly fantasy premise. For Speak Now , she comes out in a full-on Disney princess gown (sequined, of course), and for Red, she dons black sequined hot pants and a top hat. “Feeling 22,” she sings. I have never felt older. Her spell is wearing off, so I distract myself by exchanging some flirty texts with a long-distance crush. “Is this it?” I wonder. “Do I give up and leave?” 

And truly, I almost did. I found myself coming to terms with the idea that maybe it was OK if I didn’t get Taylor Swift. But something about her ten-minute acoustic rendition of “All Too Well” keeps me in my seat. Suddenly, that Honda zooming around Williamsburg seems like a million years ago. She’s standing in the middle of the stadium, in little more than a sequined minidress and platform boots, playing guitar, overthinking flashbacks of a relationship. A few minutes ago, she was singing about how she didn’t give a fuck about what anyone thought — the public, her exes — and here she is airing her heartbreak. It’s probably a metaphor, I realize, but lines like “you call me up again, just to break me like a promise / so casually cruel in the name of being honest” strips back the veneer a little. If the Man is allowed to be angry, Taylor is out here making it OK to be losing your shit a little. 

As she goes into Folklore , her theater-kid sensibility is once again on full display. She speaks to the crowd about where she was when she wrote it, in the depths of the pandemic, and how she created this fantasy of being a Victorian woman in the woods to escape being a “lonely millennial woman covered in cat hair,” watching hours upon hours of television a day. She’s back in a fairytale forest fit, singing songs about teenage love triangles. It’s disjointed but appealing. I look around the theater, the (mostly) young crowd still singing along without missing a beat. High school must still be a vivid memory for them. And here is the most popular girl, singing about their heartache. 

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She closes out the show, and as the theater lights come back on, I’m proud of myself for making it through until the very end, even if I’m still not sure I needed two hours and 45 minutes of Taylor Swift in my weekend. Over the credits, there are clips of gaffes from her concert run — getting a microphone stuck on a gown, getting drenched during her set in Massachusetts — that further strip away the sheen. I look around the theater, and most people are staying put, watching till the bitter end. That’s the thing about Taylor Swift: her fans don’t want to miss a thing, and with that, she’s created one of the most loyal followings in pop history. 

On my way out, I think about the other pop stars who command devoted fandoms — Madonna, Britney, Lady Gaga. Swift is not the first to give women permission to be unapologetically themselves or to let her suggestive sexuality dominate album cycles. But as I watched her go through her many eras — not exactly in order, but expertly paced — I respect how she’s able to seamlessly weave between fantasy and reality, between the personas she puts on as a front and the ones that allow her to feel seen. It looks, to me, authentically like being a woman — coming of age, going through phases, pushing boundaries in life and relationships, having to toggle between facades to survive. Maybe her music’s not for me, and maybe it’s not meant to be. But I appreciate a mini skirt and platform boots, so I venture out into Midtown in search of some of my own.

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The Eras Tour Hits Different on TV — What the Taylor Swift Concert Loses (and Gains) on Disney+

Claire franken, weekend editor.

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Taylor Swift : The Eras Tour  makes its streaming debut on Disney+ Thursday, and, at first, it won’t quite measure up to the stadium experience.

In May 2023, my five closest friends and I attended Swift’s show at MetLife Stadium — and it wasn’t just a concert. For a group of single twenty-something women, it was, in many ways, our wedding, our bachelorette party and maybe even our own funeral! What I mean is, it was a ritualistic occasion — a holy sacrament.

We took several high-speed and low-speed trains to get there — “there” being a New Jersey football arena that had metamorphosed into a mecca of girlhood. Despite MetLife Stadium being packed with thousands and thousands of individual fans, we all vaguely resembled the same person and our particulars washed away, for better or for worse. That night, we were Swifties.

When Swift finally emerged from the dramatic water-colored fans and took the stage, our brain chemistries were altered — whether by the sheer force of the vibration in the stands or the simple coming of Mother remains unclear.

Despite our position in $140 seats in the fourth-to-last row, we could feel her power and her control over the crowd. She commanded the massive stage and surrounding stadium, even while playing the notably low-key acoustic surprise songs (which were, that night, the glorious “False God” and the dubious “Holy Ground”).

But on Thursday, Disney+ subscribers will face the same hard truth as I did when I rented the concert movie on Prime Video in December: Swift’s magic was not what I thought. I felt duped! Where in concert she was huge, on TV she is small. Where on tour she spoke to hundreds of thousands, on screen she’s just talking to little old me. In all honesty, though it pains me as a Swiftie to admit, I found myself cringing at the pop icon’s just average ability to move about the stage.  

In case you haven’t heard of the totally made-up art of hand-dancing, it’s the most common form of artistic expression among rhythmically averse young girls — it sometimes even follows us into young adulthood at school dances, weddings and holiday soirées. It’s the flip of the hair in “Shake It Off,” it’s the hand-on-the-wheel motion in “You Belong With Me,” it’s the tossing of the car keys in “All Too Well” and the finger phone in “We Are Never Getting Back Together.”

Even when Swift’s actions aren’t obviously interpretative, her upper limbs are always grooving, like in “Illicit Affairs,” when she flips her flowy, chiffon sleeves in the wind like her hands are ribbon-dancing machines. And before I knew it, I was singing along and slamming my own hands onto my coffee table, demanding some man of my yesteryear to quit calling me kid, stop calling me baby. And my red palms and stretched vocal cords were proof: I was captivated.

Swift’s moves are comprised of the kind of gestures that, for most girls, aren’t typically performed outside of the gaze of our mascara-stained mirrors. And this is no flaw — nor an accident. Swift’s stratospheric power is fueled by these pantomimes of girlhood because they express a certain girlish, interior grandiosity that, under Swift’s direction, can miraculously birth football-stadium sovereignty and on-screen intimacy.

In person, these performances work because Swift feels otherworldly when surrounded by a swarm of ritualistic fans egging each other on and gassing each other up. On TV, with no one else is around, the knee-jerk response to the Eras Tour is embarrassment. She’s a little too much like us and we can’t help but think, Girl, stop playing with your hair! Quit crying over that boy! Get over it, already! But Swift’s relentless hand-dancing and straightforward lyrics ultimately invite us into a more intimate mode of introspection — something that can’t be done amid the pomp and circumstance of an in-person concert. On screen, her performances conjure images of real heartbreak and real vulnerability, and for a few hours, we get to feel cathartically small — we don’t need to arm ourselves with lipstick, glitter and cupcake-shaped dresses to prove our interior lives are worth something.

It becomes validating to watch the biggest pop star of all time prance around an enormous stage, in front of a gigantic crowd, to the beat of the loudest rhythms using the most rudimentary expressions of adolescence to actually entertain . She’s actually doing the thing we all pretended to do after school when no one was home, singing into a hairbrush or the handle of a Swiffer WetJet, lamenting about all the ways we’ve been wronged by boys and our various arch nemeses — and it’s celebrated. It’s not pathetic, or secret, or embarrassing.

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38 comments.

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Totally agree. She’s overrated!

You’re so off point here. Who.even published this nonsense.

My SO and I watched this on a Tuesday night in a theater. It will never live up to the electric atmosphere of a live venue when more people than the population of my hometown are collectively psyched, but in a crowd of twenty-five in a theater meant for maybe ten times that, the four friends just marking out as if they were at the stadium were the highlight of the evening, and I mean that in the best way.

We never got to see her in concert, but had great fun seeing this in the theater where everyone was up on their feet, singing and dancing along.

Now my daughter is having a bunch of friends over this weekend to watch it on a 60 inch TV. I’m sure it won’t be quite the same, but I have no doubt that there will be singing and dancing in the living room.

Agreed. I was grateful for the chance to see this in the theater and it honestly was the last push I needed to unapologetically embrace how much I enjoy her music and how she performs it live.

You are not a Swiftie. A Swiftie would never write anything like this. I attend the Eras Tour twice and I rented the movie in December. Watching the movie should take one back to their experience and relive every awesome moment!!!

You mean the author is not a Swiftie because Swifties only say positive things and would not dare to be critical of a single thing TS does? OK, got it. Just wanted to be sure.

Anything–be it a concert, a ball game, a play or even an epic movie–will lose considerable impact at home. Fun test: Next time someone tells you they didn’t like “Oppenheimer,” ask them where they saw it. I can guarantee that at least 90% of the time the answer will be Peacock or the Blu-Ray.

BTW, hand-dancing goes at least as far back as the Nicholas Brothers, and is a staple in other cultures (e.g., the Hula). Swift isn’t doing anything new here.

I guess I’m that 10%, I honestly did not enjoy Oppenheimer when I watched it in the theater. Well, I did like the first half.

So you’re straddling the line. :-)

We gave Oppenheimer an hour of our time but just couldn’t watch it anymore. I doubt we would’ve liked it any better in a theater.

I would say I’m 95% out of the door with this website and this may have pushed me a little further…

Why? Is it because someone has a different opinion than your own? People can have differing honest opinions about all issues. Those differing opinions shouldn’t be triggering anyone. Things don’t get better if people don’t talk. Things don’t get better if people can’t have honest discussions without being offended.

The world was a much better place before anti-bullying campaigns were taken to an extreme, and I say that as a person who was bullied all through my grade school/ high school years. It was horrible experience after horrible experience that went on for 12 years. The one thing it did do is give me a thicker skin so that I didn’t get triggered by comments from people with whom I disagree. It also helped me deal with difficult people and learn how to deescalate situations involving volatile people.

People growing up in a bubble where they don’t have to deal with difficult situations and differing opinions leads to nothing but intolerant adults who can’t deal with anyone who doesn’t have the same belief system as their own.

I have never understood the popularity of Swift. Anyone can be popular. Popularity and pure talent aren’t the same thing. Some people thing she is talented, I don’t have a problem with that.

At the concert, you can only see her through the screens, anyway, and you can only hear screaming fans. They could have a double lip-syncing. No one would know. At home, it does feel small and unimportant, though. I felt the in-cinema experience a happy medium. Other people sang and cheered, but did not overpower her. It was big and enveloping, and, yet, I could see her.

OMG watching that concert on TV was JUST LIKE BEING THERE

– said no one ever. It’s why we pay gobs of money for a live show and a couple bucks to stream. For the unduplicatable live experience.

Taylor Swift is the best dancer on the planet! – said no one ever

She’s a highly successful songwriter and singer who knows how BRILLIANTLY market herself. (those are compliments).

Perhaps on just not in the demo that would find an article like this on TVline interesting. Fair enough. :)

Dude stop, you’re killing me…. Every time I’m about to say really?!?, here you come with said no one ever. LMAO I needed this laugh thank you.

I find this to be so off. I went to this in the theater and I rented it when it came out, I didn’t find it cringy or embarrassing and not a single person I’ve spoken to (or experienced it with) have felt that either – several of whom went to the concert as well. Yes, the experience is different live and in person, but no one has expressed the opinion that watching it on a screen is ‘cringy’. In fact, If you were near the very last row in $140 seats, you likely watched a good portion of this concert on a screen as well.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone describe themselves as a ‘swiftie’ in one breath and in the next say that watching her perform on a screen made them want to tell her to ‘stop playing with your hair, quit crying over that boy’. What an inanely reductive way to look at something that brings a concert that, you were so lucky to have attended but, so many of us fell victim to the ticketmaster debacle and were unable to.

The first half of this article feels braggy in the fact that you were lucky enough to go – which is your right, you were lucky enough to go and I would have bragged about it too – and then condescending that “I went to this live and I just can’t enjoy it as much on a screen”. Check your priveledge here.

The statements of “girlhood practiced collectively is so big but at home alone is so small” is the silliest thing I’ve read, and so limiting and – again – so reductive in this. Girlhood is something that is practiced in all spheres, big and small.

This is a hard disagree on this one. It was not meant for a small screen and the viewers know this. To go on so harshly it seems like you were going a bit too far with your criticisms and making personal jabs. Audio will not be the same, the music will not hit the same way. I am a 25-year experienced musician who was trained classically, and you cannot compare the two. Acoustics are accounted for in each venue, multiple tests are run, and I doubt they were considering when mixing the audio how it could adapt to each individual make and model of television screens that would be used to stream this concert at the highest quality.

This is the most stupid review I’ve ever read…

She’s the biggest pop star of this generation for sure. Of all time? No way.

And of course seeing a show live is 1 million times better than seeing it on TV.

She sings for 3 hours and you are complaining she is only hand dancing? You have seen her music video, you would have know she never pretends to be a good dancer. Did you even see the video for Shake it off where she made fun of herself for her lack of dancing abilities? Being uncool is kinda her thing?! The whole performance is designed for stadium size of audience, so watching it on TV screen up close is always going to be a very different experience. You were lucky enough to see her life in concert and then rented a similar TV version on Prime and now complaining those who had missed out watching on Disney+? Your privilege is showing.

I LOVE TAYLOR SWIFT SO MUCH. I WENT TO SEE THE CONCERT MOVIE IN SAULT STE MARIE ONTARIO CANADA AND OMG IT WAS SO AMAZING!!!😃😃😃😃😃😃LOVE YOU TAYLOR SWIFT!!!I WAS DANCING AND SCREAMING AT THE CONCERT MOVIE!!!😃😃😃

“The Biggest Pop Star of All Time?” I know MJ is dead, but you don’t have to lie.

I agree with the other comments you can’t possibly be a Swiftie. I say that because anybody can see the talent here and why just about everyone agree she’s the greatest performer of all time and the most talented! This movie got us to see her brilliant work..all of it. And yes it’s up close what’s wrong with that? We know we’re watching TV. Not everyone could get to the concert, but we can see and feel even through the TV the vibrations, the energy!! . I believe your article was too critical, trying to find something wrong with someone who has nothing but great intentions to connect with her audience. And we all think she does a phenomenal job on TV or in concert!!

Just about everyone agrees? No, they don’t. The title belongs to Michael Jackson. Very few heterosexual men and black people listen to Taylor Swift. There will never be another MJ, and that’s a hard core fact not an opinion.

Did you write TVLine’s infamous Galentine’s Day article?

Well, lucky yo, that you live in the States and got to see her. For the rest of us, who couldn’t and won’t be able to have the amazingly experience you described, heaving the opposite to watch her, do a party inviting people over for the experience, being able to see on repeat some of the songs, it’s all we got.

Please don’t talk down about us as a viewers and about the only chance to experience it.

And I do live in a first world country, think about the second or third ones… You are saying this from a very entitled position. And we don’t need that.

Yes….it is smaller in your own living room. This isn’t ground breaking information. The commentary on cringing at her moving around the stage is beyond bizarre. Most of us don’t feel this way AT ALL. We don’t watch Taylor and expect some kind of peak Britney spears vma performance. Also referring to holy ground as dubious….such a bizarre article overall.

Taylor’s great but her fans are truly scary sometimes. This is a 95% positive review that just happens to have a tiny bit of objectivity to it, and the pitchforks are out.

It goes without saying that the experience of watching it on even the best billionaire home theater can’t match that of being in the stadium… but that’s an unfair comparison. For those that weren’t able to see it in person, this is still an incredible show. Also, anyone commenting on dance can feel free to dance and sing for 3 and a half hours, with the same energy level in the first and last songs. We’ll wait.

This was a fantastic show. It’s not the same as in person – expecting that is silly. If you went to the show this is at best a great souvenir. But 99.999999% of the population didn’t go to the show.

This is less review and more, “I am very immature and even more vacuous. That is, my head is a vacuum — there’s nothing there.”

As someone who will most likely never see Taylor Swift at an actual concert, I waited patiently for the Era’s tour to come around to streaming (and yay it did). And its good, I can see what all the swiftie hype is about! It would be sooo much better to see her live, but I will take the streaming tour. Along with my hair brush, and one of my dogs to dance with, I will watch it as many times as I can. Yep she pretty much represents all of us “girls” and its awesome to see.

3 granddaughters, and 3 adult daughters and I loved it. Even my hubby liked it. Imma 57 and was a swiftie since her first song Tim Mcgraw. She is real and genuine. It was a very good show. We danced, we cried, we lived the crowd shots. The diversity in her dancers were great. She was fantastic. We weren’t expecting j lo or Beyonce dancing. She represented a lot of us who sway and move our arms around. She has a great voice, great music, self written lyrics. She is beautiful and talented and an inspiration to millions of people of all ages. As a concert goer of the 70, 80 and 90’s I didn’t expect it to be the same as an in person concert experience, as there is nothing like it. It was non the less awesome for us

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All the proof Taylor Swift is making first major change to Eras Tour

Welcome to "The Tortured Poets Department" (Eras Tour Version).

It looks like Taylor Swift 's Eras Tour is getting a brand new era, straight from the Tortured Poets Department .

Since the announcement of her new 11th studio album ( which dropped April 19 ), fans have been anxiously waiting to see if her worldwide, career-spanning tour would get a shakeup to accommodate the new music. While Swift is remaining mum, and a rep for the singer didn't respond to an EW request for comment, a new YouTube Short posted to Swift's account seems to provide all the clarity Swifties needed that a change is imminent.

In the video, which is part of Swift's #ForAFortnightChallenge tied to the album's first single, "Fortnight," the 14-time Grammy winner can be seen rehearsing for tour with her backup dancers. While some shots are obviously from the Folklore , Lover , and other existing "eras" of the show, several blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments have never been seen before.

In one, Swift, clad in workout gear, appears to be wearing the same boots seen in her "Fortnight" video . She's holding on to a banister that looks like it has the Tortured Poets Department emblem on it — the "P" and the "D" can just be made out.

taylor swift/youtube

Although the video is in grayscale, and therefore exact colors are impossible to identify for sure, several shots feature what looks like a new white-ish mic, which has never been seen before. The new era's color, of course, is also an off-white hue.

Perhaps the most interesting moment of the new clip, though, is one that features what looks like new choreography and costumes. Swift's backup dancers can be seen in top hats and dancing with canes, while she sings in the front middle of the group — choreography and props which have so far not been featured in the concert.

This is all speculative until the tour resumes in Paris, France, on May 9, of course, but if Swift is adding a whole new era, it would mark the first major change to the setlist since Swift began performing it last March.

Throughout the tour, she's made little swaps here or there: She added performances with some of the artists who opened for her like HAIM or Phoebe Bridgers, and she added "Long Live" to the Speak Now section when that re-recorded album released during tour. She also swapped out "Invisible String" for the "The 1" in the Folklore section after news of her split with Joe Alwyn broke.

But, nothing has majorly been added or subtracted from the show, which is already a whopping three-and-a-half hours long. Now, if anyone could pull off adding more runtime to Eras, it's the "Mastermind" herself, but it's more likely that some songs will be getting cut to make room for new material. Fans have theorized that the tracks that didn't make it into the VOD rental of the Eras Tour concert film — "The Archer," "Wildest Dreams," "Cardigan," and "Long Live" — could be first on the chopping block, but we'll just have to wait and see what Ms. Swift has up her cryptic and Machiavellian sleeve.

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‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ concert film review: this is cinema (Taylor’s version)

Three hours of career-spanning hits from a pop star operating at peak performance

I t took a lot to get tickets for Taylor Swift ’s record-breaking The Eras Tour this summer. Not only did massive demand rapidly wipe out Ticketmaster’s rickety servers , but even if you did get through to buy a pair you’d likely have to sell a kidney to pay for them. If you missed out, fear not. If you were lucky enough to go, rejoice and reminisce. Coming right now to a cinema near you: three hours of slick, lovingly shot footage of a modern pop star operating at the very peak of her powers.

• Read more: Taylor Swift live in New Jersey: a glittering celebration of every era

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is a concert movie in the true sense. There’s no behind-the-scenes extras, or footage of Swift knocking pool balls around and looking seedy à la The Band in The Last Waltz . We open with a bird’s eye swoop into Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium and close on Swift descending into its stage with a bow, and for the 168 minutes in-between our hero is rarely out of frame. To be fair, there’s a lot to get through. As Swift explains at one point, sat at a moss-covered grand piano that fits the spooky woods aesthetic of her ‘ Evermore’ period, the tour was conceived as Swift’s solution to having released multiple albums since she last toured. “What are you gonna do, play for three hours?” she says, mimicking the incredulous questions she’d get asked. This performance is her emphatic response.

As the title suggests, the show is a genre-hopping, time-travelling jaunt through nine of Swift’s studio albums as far back as 2008’s ‘Fearless’. It opens with the pop bombast of 2019’s ‘ Lover’ , for which a standalone tour was planned, rescheduled and eventually cancelled due to the pandemic. Next comes the rhinestone and expertly-choreographed country twang of the aforementioned ‘Fearless’. Then she’s in a witch’s cloak for the best bits from 2020’s Evermore (Although there’s no room for Haim collab ‘ no body, no crime ’).

The production design is as phenomenal as you’d expect given the scale of the tour. Haunted trees appear for a few songs then disappear, to be replaced (briefly) by a terrifying stadium-sized VFX snake (ushering in 2017’s ‘ Reputation’ ) and later a wood cabin appears for ‘ Folklore’ , the first album she wrote after the cancellation of the ‘Lover’ tour. She closes with the big hitters of 2014’s 1989 , a couple of acoustic songs and then more than half of the dreamy pop of her most recent work, 2022’s ‘ Midnights’ .

It’s a staggering feat. In the space of one seamless performance, Swift is at turns a playfully eccentric artist, a country star and a genuine pop icon. Yet for all the spectacle, it might be those acoustic songs that linger longest in the memory. Her performance alone at the piano of choice ‘Midnights’ cut ‘You’re On Your Own, Kid’, and the 10-minute version of ‘All Too Well’ that closes the ‘Red’ era, are spectacular reminders of what Taylor Swift can do with just an instrument and the power of her voice. Of course, as The Eras Tour proves time and again, Taylor Swift can do pretty much whatever she wants.

• Director: Sam Wrench
• Release date: October 12 (varies between countries)
• Related Topics
• Taylor Swift

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An Honest Review of Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’

Kerry Cullen , Driftstone Editor-In-Chief | June 12, 2023

Alyssa Inserra

Taylor Swift: Whatever one’s opinion is of her, there is no doubt she is one of the most popular and influential music artists of this generation. Someone described by many as “the music industry,” Swift has been in the game for a while – 17 years, to be exact. Throughout her years, she has put out ten albums, two “Taylor’s Version” re-recorded albums (and counting), and performed five concert tours. Her most recent, The Eras Tour, has been rumored to be her most exciting and extravagant tour yet. As its name implies, The Eras Tour takes audience members through [almost] every “era” Taylor Swift has gone through since the beginning of her music career. There are around four to six songs per era, with Speak Now and her debut album, Taylor Swift , being outliers with only one song and having no songs at all, respectively. Her newer albums have slightly more songs on the set list as well, simply because Swift has not had a chance to sing these songs on tour yet. The true standout songs of this tour are Swift’s “surprise songs,” in which every show she plays two completely different songs, both acoustic: one on guitar and one on the piano. This keeps fans anxiously awaiting the songs they will hear that night. From the opening acts to the extreme details, The Eras Tour was worth “The Great War” to get seats!

A full concert experience starts with the atmosphere. For these shows, “Swifties” go all out. At MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Saturday, May 27, there were lots of hidden Taylor Swift references, bright colors, and glitter. The positivity radiating off the crowds made the atmosphere of the concert exponentially more welcoming and fun. Fans were also trading bracelets on every line, in the parking lot, and in the stadium. It was heartwarming to see fans bond over them.

After the opening acts of Gracie Abrams and Phoebe Bridgers, the show started with a clock ticking down. When it got to 0:00, performers walked out onto stage waving giant pastel fans while Swift’s introduction played. The excited suspense in the stadium was palpable. Finally, like magic, Swift appeared out from under the fans and started her Lover set, the first era of the night.

Lover kicked off the tour with six songs: “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince,” “Cruel Summer,” “The Man,” “You Need to Calm Down,” “Lover,” and “The Archer.” Lover was a perfect start to the tour. The songs are upbeat and fun, and they further excite fans who are ready to scream Swift’s lyrics all night. The colors were bright and primarily pink, and the stage displayed different backgrounds and colors to match what song she was singing (this is a constant throughout the show). She had one large set piece that she used multiple times for different uses in the show. For Lover, it took the form of different floors to a corporate building because she was “The Man” – a song that explores sexism in the workplace and in broader society. For her Saturday, May 27 show, Swift’s outfits for Lover consisted of a “bejeweled” rainbow pastel one-piece and a silver, sparkly blazer for her performance of  “The Man.” This was a high-energy and fantastic way to open her set, and it was a joy to witness. To signify eras changing throughout the tour, the stage lights flash and the screen on the main stage displays the next era’s signature color. Gold colors were displayed for my show, so Fearless was up next.

Fearless was one of her shorter eras on the tour, with only three songs: “Fearless,” “You Belong with Me,” and “Love Story.” Despite its length, Fearless did not disappoint. She wore a gold flapper-like dress with rhinestones and sparkles. The timeless songs chosen and the stage lit with the image of a sparkly silver guitar, an iconic image from the era, made Fearless a memorable and fun section of the show. 

Suddenly, images of nature were shown on the screen, and larger-than-life tree structures arose from the stage. It was truly an extraordinary sight to witness. This was the start to the Evermore set, which contained five songs: “Tis’ the Damn Season,” “Willow,” “Marjorie,” “Champagne Problems,” and “Tolerate It.” These songs are slower and slightly more solemn than the songs from the other sets, and it was a nice change of pace to quietly sing along and bask in the moment. Swift wore an amber-colored floor-length dress. The visuals in this era were very interesting, having an almost Salem witch trial-looking ensemble of dancers behind her complete with fire for “Willow,” a beautiful moss-covered piano for “Champagne Problems,” and a fully set table for “Tolerate It.” Arguably one of the best moments in this era was when she sang “Marjorie,” resulting in fans collectively turning on their phone flashlights, which made for a heartwarming and emotional moment. Evermore was a beautiful collection of songs that truly connected the stadium. 

Taking a complete one-eighty turn from Evermore, the next era was Reputation. Immediately recognized with a snake slithering across the stage, this era is defined by personal growth, and living for one’s self. This set had four songs: “…Ready for It?,” “Delicate,” “Don’t Blame Me,” and “Look What You Made Me Do.” This era, having arguably some of the most quotable songs, was immensely fun and empowering to listen and sing to. Swift wore a black bodysuit with snake detailing, an ode to the era’s most standout symbol. This section’s most notable detail was the “different eras of Taylor” set displayed behind her during the “Look What You Made Me Do” performance, referencing the music video of the same name. Screaming along to the powerful lyrics of Reputation was a liberating experience. Eventually, the snake shed its skin, and it was time for the shortest era of the bunch.

Speak Now only had one song (“Enchanted”), but it still delivered in performance. The stage was lit with purple sparkles, and Swift wore a gorgeous purple ball gown-style dress. The absence of other tracks from this album might be explained by the anticipated release of Speak Now: Taylor’s Version on Friday, July 7, and for that reason, it is worth the wait. “Enchanted” was whimsical, magical, and yes, enchanting. 

The next era is Red, with five songs, not including Swift’s introduction: “22,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “I Knew You Were Trouble,” “Nothing New (ft. Phoebe Bridgers),” and “All Too Well (10 Minute Version).” The era started with one of the dancers rolling a sparkly red cart out onto the stage. Upon its opening, the audience heard recorded snippets of “State of Grace,” “Holy Ground,” and “Red.” Suddenly, Swift popped out in her “A Lot Going On At The Moment” shirt and fedora-like hat, referencing her “22” music video. She ended the song’s performance on a heartwarming note, giving the hat to a younger child on the floor. After that, she switched into a red sequined dress fading into black sequins at the bottom. Red had two very distinct vibes: fun and emotional. The more fun songs were danced around to, and featured flashy red lighting. After those songs, Bridgers joined Swift to sing “Nothing New” with her, to my absolute delight. Hearing the two performers sing together was a definite highlight of the night. Then, it was time for the ultimate “Swiftie” song: “All Too Well (10 Minute Version).” Hearing other fans sing along to its iconic verses, as well as hearing Swift perform it live, was a truly special experience.

Folklore started with a spoken word poem of her song “Seven,” which was a calming way to begin. The stage displayed forest imagery, and Swift brought out her large set piece to make a cabin for performances of  “The Last Great American Dynasty” and “Betty.” The era’s seven songs (“The 1,” “Betty,” “The Last Great American Dynasty,” “August,” “Illicit Affairs,” “My Tears Ricochet,” and “Cardigan”) created somewhat of a soft, calm vibe for the set. Swift wore a green, flowy dress. Highlights from this set include hearing the iconic bridge to “Illicit Affairs” following the beautiful “August” (with one of the prettiest screen displays out of the whole show). Much like Evermore, Folklore was a calming, gentle set compared to Swift’s other albums, but was still entertaining.

Now, into arguably one of Swift’s most forgotten albums, 1989. This set had five songs: “Style,” “Blank Space,” “Shake It Off,” “Wildest Dreams,” and “Bad Blood.” Through and through, this set was a fun group of songs to dance around and scream along to, which is really the whole point of a concert. Swift was rocking another green outfit, this time light green and a two-piece set. It was incredibly fun to scream all the lyrics, but at this point in the concert, the crowd was only focused on one thing.

Now, for the main event…kind of. The audience had been waiting almost three hours to hear songs that would not be played again at following shows. “When she does her surprise songs…it is honestly amazing,” said sophomore Lucas McNally. At the Saturday, May 27 show, the surprise songs were “Holy Ground” (from Red ) and “False God” (from Lover ), which  many feel are some of Swift’s best works. Hearing this pair was EXTREMELY exciting, and made the concert even better.

Finally, after Swift dove under the stage into a “pool,” her Midnights set started. Midnights , her most-recent album, featured seven songs: “Lavender Haze,” “Anti-Hero,” “Midnight Rain,” “Vigilante S**t,” “Bejeweled,” “Mastermind,” and “Karma.” There is nothing more to say about this set that has not been said about the others. It was extremely fun to jump around singing the lyrics fans have been listening to since the album’s October release. She had multiple outfit changes to match each song, and the lights were different for each song as well, signifying that Midnights is her most musically diverse album yet. A significant note is that for “Karma,” Ice Spice, an artist who Swift collaborated with on a new version of the song mere days before, came out and sang her verse, shocking fans. The song was a perfect finale to a perfect concert.

“Just the fact that she can perform for over three hours and keep the audience engaged throughout is incredible. I still can’t believe I actually experienced The Eras Tour, and I think it lived up to the hype,” said junior Alexis Raynor. Senior Alyssa Inserra added, “ The Eras Tour was unforgettable. Once I was in the thick of it, the crowd and music enveloped me, and I never looked back…She checked all the boxes, and delivered a show that was deserving of so much praise, and was worth any hassle in getting a ticket to see her.” Every detail, down to the outfits and lighting, formed an incredible show. 

I am a member of the Class of 2024 as well as a managing editor for Horizon. I like to write, read, sing, and act. One fun fact about me is that I love...

I am a member of the Class of 2023 and the Driftstone editor-in-chief. Along with creative writing, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, getting...

Hi! My name is Alexis Raynor, and I am a member of the Class of 2024 and a managing editor for Horizon. I love to dance and hang out with my friends. I...

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Taylor swift: the eras tour, common sense media reviewers.

Swift's unparalleled tour slays on screen; some swearing.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Promotes hard work, perseverance, resilience, and

Swift is an advocate, which shows not only through

Swift is a strong, independent woman with tons of

Some suggestive/provocative dance moves and costum

Occasional profanity in song lyrics includes "f--k

Swift herself is a major brand at this point, and

Swift pours from a wine bottle into glasses on a t

Parents need to know that Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour brings Taylor Swift's hugely popular concert to millions more fans, offering almost three hours' worth of footage from the sold-out tour. Swift lets the songs from each of the 10 distinct eras of her career (to date) take viewers on a unifying, joyous, and…

Positive Messages

Promotes hard work, perseverance, resilience, and unabashed self-expression. Emphasizes the value of friendship and the importance of celebrating love in all forms, cherishing memories along the way. Honors different life stages and the choice to both identify with and grow from them. Recognizes that good things are worth the wait, even if they're a long time coming.

Positive Role Models

Swift is an advocate, which shows not only through some of her music and lyrics but through the company she keeps. Along with her diverse group of backup singers and dancers, she's a memorable stage presence. All indications are that she remains humble and proudly dedicated to her fans, both newcomers and those who've grown with her.

Diverse Representations

Swift is a strong, independent woman with tons of agency. Her band is made up of White musicians, but her dancers and backup singers are a diverse group of women and men, with Black, Asian, and Pacific Islander representation. One Black male dancer who does a solo during the song "Bejeweled" has a larger body size. Queerness is celebrated through the anthem "You Need to Calm Down" and further expressed through the dancers' flamboyant costumes.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Some suggestive/provocative dance moves and costumes, especially in "Vigilante S--t." The performance for "Tolerate It" shows Swift touching a male dancer's face intimately while singing to him. Shirtless male dancer. Lots of references to love/romance in songs.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Occasional profanity in song lyrics includes "f--k," "s--t," "goddamn," and "bitch." Audience chant during "Delicate" includes the word "bitch." Also "stupid."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Swift herself is a major brand at this point, and the film is a big promotional vehicle for her and her music. One song mentions Dom Perignon.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Swift pours from a wine bottle into glasses on a table during the performance of "Tolerate It." Some lyrics reference drinking, specifically wine and champagne. One lyric references "doing lines"; another says "some guy said my aura's moonstone just cause he was high."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour brings Taylor Swift 's hugely popular concert to millions more fans, offering almost three hours' worth of footage from the sold-out tour. Swift lets the songs from each of the 10 distinct eras of her career (to date) take viewers on a unifying, joyous, and somehow delicately intimate musical journey. Iffy content is minimal: Expect occasional suggestive dance moves (and slightly revealing costumes) and lyrics/performances that include swear words ("f--k," "s--t," "goddamn," and "bitch") and reference drinking and implied drug use ("doing lines"). To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (24)
• Kids say (57)

Based on 24 parent reviews

Great for adults. Would not recommend for children.

Great movie, what's the story.

Like the epic tour that spawned it, TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR showcases much of what fans have come to expect from Taylor Swift : a focused, detailed performance that feels intimate while commanding worldwide attention. The premise of the tour stemmed partially from a COVID-canceled 2020 festival that had been planned for her seventh studio album -- and partially out of her eighth, ninth, and 10th studio albums, which were released during the pandemic. As Swift says during the show: "People would come up to me and say, oh, what are you gonna do now? Are you gonna do a tour that's, like, all of the albums? That's what, a three-and-a-half-hour-long show? And I was like yes, that is exactly what we're doing. I'm going to call it the Eras Tour. See you there." Most of the songs from the standard tour setlist are included, with a few cut for time.

Is It Any Good?

This electric concert film is several things at once: a celebration, a love letter, and a precedent. During Swift's 17-years-and-counting musical career, many of her fans have grown up with her. During that time, she's fallen into and out of public grace (and love), experimented with several musical genres, and -- through it all -- managed to remain relatable and musically relevant. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour acknowledges all of those phases by celebrating the evolved relationship between Swift and her fans with each era she performs songs from. In other words, the film dedicates itself to that very dedication. And it begs the question: How will Swift possibly top a tour of this caliber? But as every Swiftie knows all too well, this concert movie is likely but one era of many more to come.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the value of concert movies for audiences that don't get a chance to see the show live. How is the experience of watching Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour in theaters different from seeing a live show? Is it better in some ways and worse in others?

Which of Swift's eras do you connect with the most, and why? Did you gain more appreciation for a certain era after watching this movie?

What character strengths does Swift exhibit on stage? Does this movie inspire you in any way?

If you could ask Swift any question about this movie, what would it be?

Movie Details

• In theaters : October 13, 2023
• On DVD or streaming : December 13, 2023
• Cast : Taylor Swift
• Director : Sam Wrench
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : AMC Theatres
• Genre : Documentary
• Topics : Great Girl Role Models , Music and Sing-Along
• Character Strengths : Perseverance
• Run time : 160 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : some strong language and suggestive material
• Award : Common Sense Selection
• Last updated : April 22, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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