By KIMBERLEE KRUESI
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — After more than 150 shows across five continents
over nearly two years, the global phenomenon that is Taylor Swift’s Eras
Tour is coming to an end.
There is no simple way to encapsulate the effects of Swift’s decision to
put on a 3 ½-hour concert, showcasing 44 songs representing 10 different
“eras” of her career — a feat she kicked off in March 2023 and will end
Sunday in Vancouver, Canada. The tour shattered sales and attendance
records and created such an economic boom that even the Federal Reserve
took note.
But for many who attended the concerts, and the millions more who
eagerly watched fan-broadcasted livestreams on their screens, the tour
also became a beacon of joy — a chance not only to appreciate Swift’s
expansive music career, but also celebrate the yearslong journey fans
have taken with her.
“Right now we have this special designated time to be together, talk
about the show and hang out,” said Tess Bohne, a stay-at-home mom of
three turned content creator dedicated to livestreaming Swift’s concerts
— by attending herself or coordinating with others to highlight their
streams. “For some, it’s their therapy.”
Bohne, who has earned the title among the Swiftie community as the
“livestream queen,” says she often interacts with fans hosting parties
to watch an Eras concert live at home with their closest friends. People
have also made lasting friendships as they geek out together watching
the show from afar.
Swift has long been known for leaving Easter eggs for her fans to
pinpoint and decipher, a quirk that quickly took on a life of its own
during the tour as eagle-eyed devotees began analyzing the possible
meaning of her outfits, surprise songs and subtle lyric swaps. The buzz
has been so large that multiple mobile apps were launched so fans could
guess and track all the various changes. There’s even a game that gives
out prizes for correctly predicting various particulars of a show,
including what color guitar Swift uses while playing “Lover.”
“Imagine your favorite sports team,” Bohne said. “They’re still a team,
but they’re not going to play any games for the foreseeable future.
That’s going to leave a hole for some folks.”
Swift herself appeared to struggle that the end was near while
performing at her 100th Eras show in June at Liverpool.
“This is the very first time I’ve ever acknowledged to myself and
admitted that this tour is gonna end in December,” she said, stressing
that “this tour has really become my entire life.” Late last month, in
Toronto, she briefly broke down at the thought of the tour’s impending
end.
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Swift kicked off the Eras tour in Glendale, Arizona, the first of many
sold-out stadiums as the tour progressed first in the U.S. and later
into South America, Asia, the United Kingdom and Canada.
By the end of 2023, it had become the first tour to ever gross over $1
billion and saw hundreds of millions of dollars spent on merchandise.
She is likely to bring in over $2 billion by the time the tour wraps on
Dec. 8, according to concert trade publication Pollstar.
Throughout the tour, Swift was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.
Apple Music named her its artist of the year and Spotify revealed she
was 2023’s most streamed artist globally. She dropped a box
office-topping concert film and helped send NFL viewership skyrocketing
when she began dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Toward
the end of the tour, she released a coffee table book.
And if that wasn’t enough, she released re-recordings of her
Nashville-era 2010 record, “Speak Now ” and 2014’s record “1989,” as
well as released her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”
“I think it’s perfect in these times to have somebody like Taylor to
kind of give us distraction, give us inspiration, give us hope,” said
Ralph Jaccodine, an assistant professor at Berklee College of Music and
a former concert promoter who has worked with Bruce Springsteen and
others. “And this is a woman that owning it, she’s come a long way. And
now she can talk about artist rights and women’s rights and equality.
And really, just her work ethic is relentless.”
Even the word “era” has become ubiquitous, with fans and casual
observers using the term to explain both frivolous and transformative
phases — are you in your “villain era” or a “healing era”?
“I think this tour really solidified her position as a legend,” said
Kayla Wong, an influencer who runs the popular Swift-focused Instagram
account @headfirstfearless. “Whether or not you like her music, whether
or not you think she’s talented, the numbers really speak for
themselves. The tour broke so many records and was such a global
phenomenon for so long that I think she’s achieved a level where it’s
undeniable as to how everlasting her impact is.”
Yet the tour did experience its own dark moments. In Brazil last year,
one concertgoer — 23-year-old Ana Clara Benevides — passed out and later
died of heat exhaustion. In July, British police charged a 17-year-old
with murder over a stabbing attack during a Taylor Swift-themed summer
holiday dance and yoga class that left three little girls dead. News
outlets reported that Swift met with some of the survivors backstage in
London.
And in August, all three of Swift’s concerts in Vienna were called off
after officials announced arrests over an apparent plot to launch an
attack on an event in the city. Tens of thousands of Swifties from
around the world had traveled to Vienna for the shows.
“Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating,” Swift later wrote
in a statement. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new
sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people
had planned on coming to those shows.”
Through the hardships and celebrations, Swift’s connections to her fans
has only ballooned and deepened throughout the tour. After the Vienna
cancellations, many fans flocked to the streets to sing Swift’s songs
and placed friendship bracelets — which also became an iconic feature of
the shows — on a nearby tree.
Over the past two years, the fandom has welcomed new audiences — both
old and new.
“I feel like years ago, we were kind of all the same age and fans for
the same reason,” Wong said of Swifties. “Now the fandom has people from
all kinds of backgrounds, all ages, all different reasons for following
her in the first place.”
