Review of Taylor Swift's concert

by Ellie F.

Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” has caused her to gain many more fans, since it started. She has fans of all ages that call themselves Swifties, most being teenagers and young adults, including many superfans at Airport High School, such as Alyssa R., Lauren C., and Belle O. The Eras Tour is a concert over three hours long and it is a journey through her musical eras. This concert is projected to make $5 billion in the U.S. alone. Having attended the show in April, in my opinion The Eras Tour is an amazing concert and experience all together. Between the electric environment and amazing music one can easily say that The Era’s Tour is the experience of a lifetime.

The first reason her concert was so amazing was due to the breadth of music from her career she played. While many artists will limit the songs they play at concerts to their most recent, usually in order to promote their most recent album, Swift played numerous songs from her entire career. Swift has released 10 Studio Albums over her career. Her first album was a self-titled album she released when she was just 16. After this album debuted she grew a quick following and started opening for some pretty big artists such as Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, and Faith Hill. She headlined her first tour in 2009 for her second studio album, Fearless. She has done tours for all of her other albums including Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation. Lover Fest, which was the tour for her 6th studio album, got canceled because of covid-19. Over the two year quarantine period she released two more albums named Folklore and Evermore. She released her 10th studio album in October of 2022. The Eras Tour showcases songs from every album except her debut album Taylor Swift, but sometimes she does perform songs from that album during the surprise song section of her concert. Having this many albums causes the concert to be over three hours long, because she performs multiple songs from each album. All together she sings 44 of her songs at the live show. This made the concert amazing because you got to experience many different styles of her music and also feel like you are traveling back in time with her.

There were many great production aspects to the concert including costume changes, set changes, and changes to the stage throughout the concert. Swift has a different costume for each of her albums she showcases, some even have multiple costume changes during that part of the show. She has 16 costume changes throughout the concert, including different variations of the costumes depending on the show. For example there are three variations of the Lover bodysuit she wears, four colors of the 1989 skirt and top set with its corresponding surprise song dress, and three different versions of the Evermore dress. Along with the costume changes the set also changes. She brings out a structure for her song “The Man” and has many different office tools on it including desks and chairs. During her evermore set there are some props like trees and a table that comes out of the stage and a table for the song “Tolerate it” with plates, glasses, and flowers on the table. There are many other props and set changes that occur throughout the concert. Another thing that happens is the stage changing. Taylors stage is made out of a bunch of screens that change to correspond to the songs. Like during her song “The Archer” Arrows go across the stage, during her song “My Tear Ricochet” there is a graphic of an eye with a tear falling out of it, and after her surprise song section the stage shows water as she dives into the stage for her next set. As you walk into the venue where she will be playing they give you a bracelet and they tell you to put it on before the show starts. After the show starts she begins to light up and continues lighting up throughout the entirety of the show. There are also corresponding shapes that the bracelets make, like during Lover the bracelets make heart shapes in the crowd and during the Reputation there is a snake going through the crowd.

Another fun aspect of The Eras Tour is the fans. The Swifties are a very loving fan base and they love interacting with each other. The Swifties also have many things that are unique to Taylor and her shows. Including making friendship bracelets that have to do with Taylor and her songs and trading them at the shows. They also have made chants that go with certain songs, like during the song “Bad Blood” they sing Kendrick Lamar's line that says, “You forgive, you forget, but you never let it go.” Swifties will have conversations with each other even though they may not know each other and sometimes make lifelong friends at the concerts.

Several students besides me had the privilege of seeing the concert in person as well, such as Megan S. A Swifty who described the experience as, “Amazing! I loved the atmosphere there and how unapologetic people were about how excited they were to be there! I also loved reliving my middle school and high school years with the Fearless, Speak Now, and Red eras.”

Lauren C, another Swiftie who got to attend the concert said, “It was so well structured and fun! Taylor Swift definitely put her heart into it to make her fans have the time of their lives.”

Critics tend to praise the epicness of the concert as well .Kat Sophia, a critic from independent.com said that the concert is better than you think. She said she got off of social media before the concert to avoid spoilers and she said that decision was worth it. She also mentioned that she has been a swiftie for over a decade and feels like her music soundtracks different phases of her life. Chris Willman, a critic from variety.com said, “Swift is paying her good fortune forward with an exhaustive, exhilarating show that is making millions of international fans justifiably joyful.” He also mentions that she does her best to make sure the crowd feels like they are a part of the show.

In my opinion, the Eras Tour is 10 stars out of 10. I highly recommend going if you have the chance. However, given that tickets sell between $49 and $499 at face value, a more affordable option to experience the live show has recently hit theaters. She recently released the concert film in theaters, which is also really good. It does not nearly live up to the actual concert, but it is a more affordable option to experience some of the show.

If you want to learn more you can go to Taylor Swift’s website TaylorSwift.com. You can find tickets on Ticketmaster or on resale sights.