Global sensation and pop star, Taylor Swift began her Eras Tour on Mar. 18, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona. She performed to a sold out audience that battled for tickets on ticketmaster. Fans flew in from all over the country, in decked out outfits representing Swift’s looks in her music videos, red carpets, instagrams and even private jokes with her fans to see the artists perform.
Swift is performing 52 concerts in total of her Eras Tour, each show averaging five hours long with her opening act and Swift’s three hour long, no break performance of 44 different songs from her discography.
On Apr. 14 at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, Swift performed her first show of three in the Sunshine State. On the 14, Swift sang to nearly 70,000 swifties, each night with openers GAYLE, beabadoobee, and Gracie Abrams.
As titled her, Eras Tour was organized by sections going through each of her eras one by one, playing fan favorites from each album. Swift started off the show with a countdown clock starting two minutes before she appeared on stage with “You Don’t Own Me” by Lesley Gore playing in the background before a transition of her song mixes started. The first Era was Lover in which Swift gave us the Lover Fest that was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Swift surprised fans by singing Cruel Summer, a fan favorite and a track that Swift had never sung live before this tour.
Swift’s next era was Fearless, which had fans transported back to their high school years with You Belong With Me and Love Story. Swift then transitioned to Evermore, which she gave a beautiful piano ballad of “Campagne Problems” and a theatrical performance of “Tolerate It.” Her Evermore era, had fans in the stadium screaming, crying, and throwing up for the beautiful and meaningful lyrics that many fans personally relate too.
She then sang “Enchanted,” her only song from the Speak Now album. However, she debuted an amazing new dress for her Enchanted segment at her Tampa shows, which many fans speculated to be modeled after a wedding dress. She transitions from the mellow “Enchanted” melodies into her touched-up version of her Reputation hits. In this era, dancers dressed as old Taylor era outfits were dancing trapped in glass boxes to highlight the album’s theme of Swift’s need to break free from the media’s criticism.
Swift transported us back to the Red era by performing “22,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “All Too Well (10 Minute Version).” Then, came Folklore, the sister album to Evermore, in which Swift also debuted a new dress and sung nearly half of the songs of her nine studio album. During this segment she explained to fans how the pandemic gave her an outlet to write about fictional characters with hidden themes in her lyrics that intertwined with her personal life. Finally, Swift look us back to 1989 and sung “Style,” “Wildest Dreams” and “Shake It Off,” which had the crowd screaming at the top of their lungs.
As a routine at each show, Swift surprised the crowd with two songs not off the set list: “Speak Now,” leading fans to believe that Speak Now will be the next re-recording and “Treacherous” off of the Red album. Taylor then dove (literally) in the last Era of the night, Midnights. To close off the night she performed “Anti-Hero,” “Lavender Haze,” “Midnight Rain,” “Bejeweled,” “Mastermind,” “Karma” and a sultry version of “Vigilante Shit” that had the audience going crazy.
Swift’s full set list was 44 songs and over three hours long, with no intermission. For each song, Swift prepared some special for fans to enjoy, whether that was a costume change, set design, new choreography, or a light show their was always something new to enjoy! On the Eras Tour, Swift proved that she is not only one of the most highly regarded song writers of her generation but also the performer of her generation.