Spanning 100+ shows and five continents, the global phenomenon that was The Eras Tour has ended.
On March 17 2023, Taylor Swift would kick off her record-breaking, economy shaking tour. The Eras Tour started in Glendale, Arizona and concluded in Vancouver, Canada.
Swift sings around 44 songs in total, split between 10 eras lasting nearly two hours. The show begins with her ‘Lover’ album where she sings five songs from the album. Her performance of ‘The Man” truly stands out, dazzling in a sparkly blazer with her matching custom rhinestone Louboutins.
After Lover, the show transitions into Fearless and then Red. During the ‘Red’ segment she sings four songs: 22, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, I Knew You Were Trouble and All Too Well (10 minute version).
At every show, Swift sends a representative into the crowd to find a devoted fan, mainly a young child, to wait at the end of the stage during her song 22. Taylor will then dance towards the fan, hug, talk with and hand the fan the hat off her head.
The one thing that stands above every song sung is the atmosphere of the concert. Reagan Davis, Class of 2026, says “the people in the environment were really nice, they would start conversations and give out free bracelets to the kids that didn’t have any to trade.”
Overall, she has released three new albums since beginning the tour: Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and The Tortured Poets Department.
When an album has “(Taylor’s Version)” after the title this means that Swift owns it. After her breakaway from Scooter Braun and her record deal with him, he sold her old albums without her permission. So, she’s been re-recording said albums with songs she previously wrote but never released. The Eras tour includes the new songs added to the “Taylor’s Version” albums.
The Eras Tour is the highest grossing tour of all time, gaining world-wide attention, The Eras Tour is unparalleled in it’s achievements. Celebrities like Tom Brady, Blake Lively, Paul McCartney and even Prince William have attended.
The tour even began the relationship between Travis Kelce and Swift and managed to merge the worlds of football and the music industry.
Nathan Reel, Urbana dad and NFL Instant Replay Field Technician, says “Whether in commercials where [Kelce] is featured or an in-store display for consumer products, their likeness is ubiquitous. Additionally, Taylor is often on camera during games he plays in and I don’t remember one celebrity being highlighted that often.”
The inclusion has not only brought viewers to the NFL but had quite literally altered women’s opinion on football. In 2023, the same year Swift and Kelce started dating, there was about a 63% increase of girls aged 6-17 playing flag football.
Not only did the tour change the sports world, it also changed the economy. In total, the tour made more than 2 billon dollars from ticket sales alone. The tour brought in 152 million dollars to Toronto, Canada in just six shows.
The Eras not only helped the economy but other business, from airlines to lyft rides. The US Travel Assosication estimated Los Angeles would make $320 million in total, 9 million being in hotel room taxes.
So the question remains: what’s the future going to look like for these cities and businesses that just made hundreds of millions of dollars in a couple days? Taylor herself has been giving her dancers and crew million dollar bonuses throughout the two years the tour has been on.
While most people are super upset about the end of the tour; Brooke Voyles, Urbana (Class of 2021), says “Girl [Swift] deserves a break and it was such a record breaking tour, I feel like her continuing it would have been a disservice to her.”
As openers go, Taylor has quite a star-studded line up. Artists like Gracie Abrams, Pheobe Bridgers and Sabrina Carpenter have all opened the tour. Some of Abram’s blow up can be attributed to the tour. Taylor even helped write Abram’s sophomore album, The Secret of Us.
The Eras Tour was truly one for the books, breaking world record after world record, merging the worlds of pop music and football, even changing the economy of cities around the world.
