It’s the end of an Eras Tour.
Taylor Swift was introducing “All Too Well” on stage in Liverpool on Thursday, June 13, with a speech about it being the 100th show on a tour she said, “has definitely been the most exhausting, all-encompassing but most joyful, most rewarding, most wonderful thing that has ever happened in my life” when she acknowledged that the tour would not go on forever.
“This is the very first time I’ve ever acknowledged to myself and admitted that this tour is gonna end in December,” she said.
“Like, that’s it. And that feels like so far away from now. But then again, it feels like we just played our first show on this tour ’cause you have made it so much fun for us that we wanted to do 100 shows, 150-some shows that we have on the whole tour.”
Swift launched the record-breaking Eras Tour with a sold-out two-night stand at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Friday and Saturday, March 17-18, 2023, unveiling a staggering 44-song setlist in the course of a marathon set that ran more than three hours and still left fans wanting more.
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Even Glendale emerged as a media darling, thanks to a symbolic rebrand as Swift City in the singer’s honor, a storyline played out on digital billboards along freeways and in Glendale’s Westgate Entertainment District, where State Farm Stadium is located, welcoming fans to Swift City (where Swift launched the Reputation Tour in that same stadium five years earlier).
For what it’s worth, we would’ve gone with Glendale (Taylor’s Version).
Taylor Swift Eras Tour:5 magic moments at State Farm Stadium that Arizonans saw first
The Eras Tour has become the highest-grossing tour of all time and the first tour in history to generate more than $1 billion in revenue.
There’s a concert film, naturally. Released in theaters worldwide on Oct. 13, 2023, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” quickly overtook a Justin Bieber movie to become the highest-grossing concert film in history.
Following The Eras Tour launch, Swift immediately shot to No. 1 on Pollstar’s Artist Power Index chart, ending 2023 as Time magazine’s perfectly obvious choice for Person of the Year.
“Swift’s accomplishments as an artist — culturally, critically and commercially — are so legion that to recount them seems almost beside the point,” Time wrote.
Then, after running down a laundry list of those accomplishments while placing her alongside Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Madonna as a pop star, Time explained why she deserved the honor this year more than any other year.
“As a celebrity — who by dint of being a woman is scrutinized for everything from whom she dates to what she wears — she has long commanded constant attention and knows how to use it,” Time wrote.
“But this year, something shifted. To discuss her movements felt like discussing politics or the weather — a language spoken so widely it needed no context. She became the main character of the world.”
By that point, USA TODAY had hired its own Taylor Swift reporter and Swift had grabbed another first — first billionaire in history with music as the main source of income.
She added an era (and new costumes) to the Eras Tour in Paris, working songs from “The Tortured Poets Department,” a new album she somehow found time to record in the midst of the tour, into the setlist on opening night of another European leg in May 2024, removing “The Archer,” “Long Live,” “The 1,” “The Last Great American Dynasty,” “‘Tis the Damn Season” and “Tolerate It” to make room.
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Swift was feeling reflective in Liverpool as she talked about the record-breaking tour, which did 66 shows in 2023 and will hit 86 shows this year by the time it concludes with three shows in Vancouver, British Columbia.
“I think this tour has really become my entire life,” she said.
“It’s taken over everything. Like, I think I once had hobbies. But I don’t know what they were anymore. ‘Cause all I do when I’m not on stage is sit at home and try to think of clever acoustic song mashups and think about what you might want to hear. When I’m not on the stage, I’m dreaming about being back on the stage with you guys.”
Then she thanked the fans for all they’ve done to make the tour a worldwide phenomenon.
“You have done so much to be with us, right?” she said.
“You’ve made plans so far in advance. You planned what you were going to wear. You memorized lyrics. You got yourselves here. You figured out parking. You figured out transportation, and I want to spend my hundredth show just thinking about that and living in this moment with you and being here with you.
“And just know that I appreciate every single ounce of effort that you’ve put into being with us when this show reaches triple digits in shows. So thank you!”
“Lover” album:
“Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” album:
“Evermore” album:
“Reputation” album:
“Speak Now” album:
“Red (Taylor’s Version)” album:
“Folklore” album:
“1989” album:
Surprise songs:
“Midnights” album:
Reach the reporter at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.
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