Taylor Swift kicks off ‘Eras Tour’

Taylor Swift is famous for not only her music, but also for putting on extravagant shows. The ‘Eras tour’ is no exception. With the kickoff of the highly anticipated tour, many fan questions about the concert have finally been answered. With the set list, sparkly outfits, and rave reviews from critics, the ‘Eras tour’ is definitely getting its hype. 

Swift announced the tour on November 1st, 2022, and tickets went on sale November 15th, 2022. With a whooping 52 shows, the Eras tour quickly sold out, becoming the most tickets ever sold for an artist in a single day with over two million tickets sold. Every date that Swift plans to play, will be held in a stadium. The first show took place on March 17th, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona. With the kickoff of the ‘Eras tour’, the city of Glendale wanted to do something extra special in honor of Swift starting her show and decided to rename the city “Swift City” for the two days that she played in State Farm Stadium. With about 70,000 people in attendance on the first night, the ‘Eras tour’ broke the record for the most attended female concert in US history, previously held by Madonna. It is predicted that the ‘Eras tour’ will become the highest grossing tour in the US, making it one of the most successful tours ever.  

Swift’s set list contained 42 songs and two surprise songs, for a total of 44 songs and a set of over 3 hours. She divided the show into 9 eras, singing many different songs from that era. She opened the show with the Lover era and sang ‘Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince,’ while wearing a sparkly bodysuit. She later put a sparkly blazer over the top to perform ‘The Man,’ and ‘You Need To Calm Down.’ After singing many fan favorites off the album, she transitioned into the Fearless era. While wearing a gold fringe dress she played three songs off the album and recreated some of her most famous hand motions, including the heart hands above the head. She then transitioned into Evermore, an album she put out during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Trees grew out of the stage as she appeared wearing a long mustard yellow dress and sang ‘Tis the Damn Season.’ While many fans speculated that Swift did not like this album, she shut down the rumors and said, “an album I absolutely love despite what some of you say on Tik Tok,” before playing a fan favorite on the piano, ‘Champagne Problems.’ After she left the stage, the infamous Reputation era had begun. With graphics of snakes all around the stage, Swift opened this era with ‘Ready for It,’ while wearing a bodysuit with a sparkly snake that wrapped around her body. After she closed the era with ‘Look What You Made Me Do,’ she came out wearing a sparkly ball gown to sing ‘Enchanted’ off of the Speak Now album. After one song off of Speak Now, she transitioned into the Red era. With the whole stage red, Swift came out singing the famous ‘22.’ While singing, Swift took her black hat that she was wearing and gave it to one of her fans in the audience that was hand picked by Taylor’s team. After singing a few songs off the album, Swift grabbed her guitar, put on a sparkly jacket and sang the ten minute version of ‘All Too Well.’ She then left the stage, but soon reapered in a long, flowy purple dress, on top of a cabin covered in moss. During the Folklore session of the concert she sang seven songs off of the album. Opening with ‘Invisible String’, and closing with ‘Cardigan’ this set quickly became a fan favorite. After she finished the Folklore set, she reappeared singing ‘Style’ off of the pop album 1989. Finishing with ‘Bad Blood,’ Swift played many popular favorites during this set including, ‘Blank Space,’ ‘Shake it Off,’ and ‘Wildest Dreams.’ 

After she finished the 1989 set, she put a dress on top of her two piece set, and announced she would play a surprise song every night, unless she messed up. In her words she said, “So far on this tour, I’ve been playing different songs every night. The goal is to not repeat one, so that every time I play a song in the acoustic set, it’s the one time I’ll play it.” Fans were very excited to hear this, but also feared that their favorite song might be played at a show they are not attending. The first night of the tour, Swift played ‘Mirrorball,’ on the guitar and ‘Tim McGraw,’ the first song she ever released, on the piano. 

She then dove into the stage and transitioned into her most recent era, Midnights. She sang seven songs off this album including ‘Lavender Haze,’ ‘Anti-Hero,’ and ‘Bejeweled.’ After singing two songs in a sparkly t-shirt dress, Swift fell into the arms of her backup dancers, and revealed a sparkly midnight blue fringed leotard while singing ‘Midnight Rain’. After singing a few more songs, she put on a sparkly fringe jacket and closed with ‘Karma.’ With fireworks, fun lighting, and a high energy song, fans loved this as a closer and so did critics. 

One critic from The Telegraph said, “One of the most ambitious, spectacular and charming stadium pop shows ever seen.” Another critic from UPROXX said, “Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ is the most impressive stadium show ever conceived.” Without a doubt critics loved the tour and can only applaud Swift for her hard work and dedication to her craft. 

From 2006 to 2023, Swift has had an incredible career that only continues to flourish and grow as she celebrates her past and current accomplishments and eras with the ‘Eras Tour.’