Concert Review: Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour - The show of your wildest dreams
By: Leianna M.
Three hours. Ten albums & two re-records. Forty-four songs. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour truly captured the epic expanse of Taylor Swift’s career, complete with theatrics, dancing, lights — of course, singing — creating a groundbreaking spectacle worth seeing.
That said, this recap & review contains spoilers including the set list.
I met up with my best friends in Arlington, TX for the Eras Tour. We had fought tooth-and-nail for these tickets. It was an event like an old school homecoming — curled hair, fluffy dress, and stomach flipping. We had been preparing for months now. We avoided as many spoilers as possible. We crafted our outfits to match each Era. I made the flower dress from the start of the “ME!” music video. With my friends dressed as Reputation and Red, we were hyped to see Miss Swift.
Prior to entering the venue, we saw tons of cosplays of each era and fans that gave out friendship bracelets (as a reference to the song “You’re On Your Own, Kid”). As tradition for Taylor Swift concerts, each person received light-up bracelets that would glow different colors and add to the aesthetics of the show.
The openers, Gracie Abrams (“I miss you, I’m sorry”) & beabadoobee (“the glue song”, “coffee”) created energy and excitement for Taylor’s sets. Abrams showed off more melancholy singer-songwriter prowess as beabadoobee contrasted with electric guitars and more upbeat rock sounds.
A countdown clock flashed on the screen at about 7:49pm. Once the clock hit ‘midnight,’ a violin instrumental began. The lights glowed pink and dancers slowly pulled giant fans that looked like flower petals, billowing behind them. “It’s been a long time coming” echoed through the stadium over sound bites from various eras. Once the giant fans entered the center stage, they pulled up to reveal Taylor Swift in a sparkly bodysuit singing the chorus of “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince.”
Photo: Leianna M.
Immediately after the chorus, she rolled right into “Cruel Summer” (my favorite Taylor Swift song!). This tour was her first time performing the fan-favorite live. You could barely hear Taylor herself since the scream-singing was so loud. The bridge hit so hard. The stadium was bursting with sheer joy at “Cruel Summer.”
Taylor then revealed that the set list would be grouped by album era. This was a brilliant setup as fans would have time markers for the three hour set. Each era differed in aesthetic, costume, sound, choreography, and staging.
Lover as the first era felt like a tribute to her canceled tour. And as it was my favorite album, I was thrilled to finally hear these songs live. Taylor performed “The Man” and “You Need to Calm Down” with playful outfit changes to a rhinestone-clad suit and multi-level staging. Taylor encouraged audience members to sway with their friends and sing along to the title track “Lover” as she played guitar. I think this track sounded prettiest stripped down to its acoustics. Finally, she finished with the emotionally vulnerable track, “The Archer.” Golden arrows projected on the stage’s screen. After this song, she was lowered into the stage. Anticipation filled the room as we didn’t know what era would come next.
Then, she ran on stage with curly hair, a sparkly dress, and a guitar singing the title track “Fearless” first, highlighting her country roots. Admittedly, I began sobbing as this was one of the first albums I owned back in 2008. She went into the classic “You Belong With Me,” which added even more energy to our crowd. Finally, she topped off the era with “Love Story,” which also made me sob, as these songs so clearly spark nostalgia as stories from my past. She shows her evolution in her vocals as these songs were written fifteen years ago, but hold up to today’s pop standards.
For the start of the next era, pine trees began to grow from the stage. Don’t ask me how, but it looked so genuinely magical. The melancholy instrumental of “tis the damn season” began, showing off her low range. It immediately subverted any expectations that she’d exclusively do singles or upbeat songs.
After “tis the damn season,” she emphasized that we were in the evermore era. As the sister album to the Grammy-winning folklore, I was pleasantly surprised that evermore was given its own time to shine. Fans joke that evermore is the forgotten child and that Taylor clearly favors folklore, and this was a direct response to it.
“Willow” was one of my favorite performances as she came out in a black cape surrounded by fog and her dancers carried round orange lanterns behind her. They danced in a circle and appeared to conduct a witchy seance. She transitioned into the ballad “marjorie,” which was a tribute to her grandmother.
Taylor sat at a moss-covered piano and played the much-anticipated “champagne problems.” She had previously said that she was looking forward to playing this song live and hearing the bridge sung back at her. In the audience, we happily obliged, screaming back “what a shame she’s fucked in the head!” “Champagne problems” was another one of my favorite performances since she was openly excited to play the song and we were all anticipating it in the setlist.
Afterwards, there was a dining table with a white tablecloth brought out. Taylor sang “tolerate it” while setting the table and acting out the song as an internal monologue with a male dance partner. I loved that the evermore performances leaned into the theatricality of the album’s fictional stories. The evermore era appeared more like a play than a concert.
The stage faded to black and a soft interlude started playing. A huge gray snake slithered on the screen and we cheered knowing Reputation was next. The bass pumped for “Ready For It?” The shift in tone was impressive as it went from an intimate performance to Taylor dancing wildly across the stage. It was like entering a club after leaving a coffee shop. She sang her track five, “Delicate” and showed off her vocal range in “Don’t Blame Me.” A whole line of dancers dressed as each era (Lover in a pink fluffy bathrobe and Fearless in a cheerleader outfit, to name a few) banged on the inside of cages. Taylor walked down the stage singing “Look What You Made Me Do” to close the era.
The stage cut the lights as Taylor went off stage. Flower fields glowed on the stage with purple tones and she came out in a white ball gown to start the Speak Now era.
Since the album hasn’t been re-recorded yet, we were hoping to hear a preview of its songs. However, the only song she performed from the album was “Enchanted,” which left me disappointed. I thought we’d hear so much more from Speak Now as Taylor has hinted at its release throughout her recent music videos. But in all fairness, “Enchanted” alone does capture the hopeless romantic, fairy tale-inspired aesthetics, and screaming “please don’t be in love with someone else” was cathartic for my younger self.
Photo: Leianna M.
A dancer rolled a red music box on stage that played different tracks from Red to open the era. Taylor strolled out in a shirt that said “Not a lot going on at the moment” as she sang “22,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” and “I Knew You Were Trouble”–– the most popular singles for the album. The highlight of this era was absolutely when she played guitar for the ten minute version of “All Too Well.” “All Too Well” is often lauded as her best song with the lyrics clearly capturing the pain of a breakup. She talked about how the song’s meaning changed for her ten years ago after performing it on the “Red” tour. The fans made her realize that she wasn’t the only one that felt heartbreak and it became a song for the fans more than for herself.
The stage went completely dark as Taylor read the lyrics to “seven” as a poem with the stage completely dark. Taylor said she fell in love with folklore’s characters: Betty, James, Rebekah, Augustine, and Inez. She was wearing another flowy light dress juxtaposed against the forest background, capturing the cottagecore aesthetic paired with this album. At the Arlington show, she performed “the 1.” This song was unexpected as she had been playing “invisible string” at previous shows… indicating that her set list is prone to change during the tour.
A full band sat on wooden stairs, accompanying the song “betty.” The song has tributes to the folk genre itself and the lyrics are a tale all their own. “The last great american dynasty” was another surprise to hear since it wasn’t in the core stories of the album. She then sang one of my favorite songs, “august,” capturing the drama of the love triangle between Betty, James, and Augustine. During “illicit affairs,” she laid on the floor singing and acted out the pain of the lyrics as she did in the evermore era. She stayed laying down as her dancers mimicked a funeral procession during “my tears ricochet,” tying into the lyrics. Finally, she ended with “cardigan” as she did graceful dances and fluttered her arms as though she was telling the story.
At this point, there were three eras left: her self-titled first album (called Debut by fans), 1989, and Midnights. The stadium buzzed with anticipation for the next era as the stage lit with glittering city lights, appearing like a catwalk, and Taylor strutted on the stage to “Style.” During “Blank Space,” she swung around golf clubs to smash an animated car. This was a tribute to her performance on the 2015 film The 1989 World Tour, where she used golf clubs and a loop pedal to create harmonies during the song. “Shake It Off” dominated the stadium with dancers all along the stage. Then, the stadium glowed pink and purple during “Wildest Dreams.” Finally, she sang “Bad Blood” complete with flames bursting from the stage during the chorus.
Taylor then transitioned into surprise songs, which vary in each city. During my show, she talked about how she fell in love with some of her old songs during the re-recording process, and performed “Jump Then Fall,” which is a deluxe track from Fearless. I grew up listening to this song on my iPod and never expected to hear it live! She sat down and said simply that this next song was about how awful it is to be famous, then played “The Lucky One” from Red on a piano covered in embroidered flowers. I love hearing her acoustic and piano versions because it’s like hearing a completely different song.
Afterwards, Taylor appeared to dive into the stage and swim across, just for her to actually rise from the other side. It was a playful optical illusion that was best seen from upper sections. Dancers rolled in fluffy purple clouds attached to ladders. Visually, this was my favorite part of the concert. Finally, we entered the Midnights era as the instrumental to “Lavender Haze” pumped through the stadium. Taylor climbed up the ladders to emerge from the clouds in a fluffy purple fur coat. She then performed her most recent single, “Anti-Hero,” which was the lead single on Midnights. Dancers used umbrellas for their choreography during “Midnight Rain,” another song that I didn’t expect to hear live as it is a slow breakup song contrasting to the rest of the set. While singing, she fell back from the upper stage into the dancers, who covered her with the umbrellas. She popped out in a black bodysuit then performed a jaw-dropping chair dance while singing “Vigilante Shit.” During “Bejeweled,” she did a strut that has been viral on Tiktok since Eras Tour was announced. A black-and-white optical illusion swirled below the stage as she sang “Mastermind.” She closed the show with “Karma,” dancing with her entire crew in a fluffy fur coat as cannons fired confetti and fireworks.
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Taylor Swift’s Eras show was delightfully overwhelming with seamless transitions between each era. The set list was crafted to accommodate for her energy, alternating between light choreography and heavy dancing. During folklore and evermore acts, she demonstrated that she has the ability to make a stadium feel intimate by mimicking a stage play. In contrast, her pop-heavy eras were marked with choreography, flashing lights, and even pyrotechnics. The entire show felt like both a dance party and a Broadway production at the same time.
I loved that she gave songs her full attention instead of throwing together mashups to fit more content. Compared to her other shows, Taylor didn’t do monologues explaining stories behind her songs. She spoke for probably less than five minutes out of the entire show. The focus of Eras was dedicating the most time possible to her music. I was impressed that Taylor was able to dance and sing her way through three hours. I was expecting only scream-singing, but Eras Tour showed the diversity of her discography with its sheer length, covering ground in folk, country, and pop.
However, I was disappointed that she didn’t perform a single song from her first album. I was mostly looking forward to hearing the first songs she had ever released, as her vocals have greatly matured, but she didn’t play any at the Arlington show. I was desperately wanting to sing “Our Song” with everyone in the room! I had the same frustration with the Speak Now era since she only did one song. There is a fan theory that she didn’t want to cause significant spikes in streams of Big Machine Records’ versions during her tour. The songs she’s performed that were not re-recorded from 1989 or Reputation have steady streams as singles, OR they have been popular on Tiktok (namely “Enchanted,” “Wildest Dreams,” and “Don’t Blame Me”). While it does make sense to limit what she performs live, I was still waiting for “Teardrops on My Guitar” or “Tim McGraw” the entire show. Fortunately, the tour has just begun, and the set list can change to include different songs at each show. I’m holding onto hope that she adds some more songs from Speak Now and Taylor Swift for future shows.
I have been a Taylor Swift fan for fifteen years. She was my first concert. That being said, I loved every second. Taylor showed her diversity in talents from dancing, to singing, to pure stamina. Somehow, she gave us ten concerts rolled into one.