The opening words ran chills down fans’ spines as they sat eagerly in the stadium for opening night of the The Eras Tour.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Taylor to a deafeningly loud crowd of “Swifties,” the name for her fanbase.
With four new albums and two new re-recorded albums, the concept of Taylor’s return to stadiums was highly anticipated and conceptually overwhelming, but when tickets were released and instantly sold out, success had already been present.
Opening night took place at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., renamed Swift City for the weekend, on March 17, and fans ran to their seats when the legendary song “You Don’t Own Me” by Lesly Gore hit the speakers and an intimidating countdown appeared on the stage’s massive screens. Choosing the song “You Don’t Own Me” was a very specific choice, considering the recent project that entailed Taylor Swift re-recording and owning her previous music masters that were deceitfully re-sold behind her back by Scooter Braun.
Minutes prior to her first live show in years and the ones following, a wardrobe-dressed Swift arrived backstage in a janitor’s cart so she could avoid ruining the aspect of surprise.
As soon as the prologue audio compilation that included clips from each of Taylor’s legendary eras, the opening song ‘Miss America and the Heartbreak Prince’ from the album “Lover” was sung for the first time and you could feel the intensity of every fan’s mind being blown.
It is nearly impossible to capture and explain all of the emotions that can be felt during Taylor’s three hour and fifteen minute performance that consists of 44 songs, and it’s an experience that you need to have in person to truly appreciate.
What I can say is that Taylor’s work ethic and admiration to her fans is not only present but also proven by how much exertion she executes.
The show has no breaks. The breaks that are supplied are used by Taylor to do costume changes and despite that, however she still does sometimes do magical costume transformations on stage.
The majority of the wardrobe she has on tour are a mixture of expensive custom designer outfits that express the visual elements of the musical era of the show they are present in. From shoes to dresses to body suits, Taylor’s thought process in making sure to make every era seem represented is clear.
The biggest con in Taylor’s set list is the fact that her debut, self-titled album gets no room in the Eras Tour. The only times that a song from every era of her career has been played was on opening night and the first night in Vegas, when she selected debut songs to be the surprise songs.
The surprise song is a section toward the end of the show where Taylor picks one song to play on guitar and one to play on piano. The song is different every night and it is impossible to predict what will be played. Taylor makes it clear that once a song is played, it will not be a surprise song again unless she messes it up or it is a part of the Midnights album.
Fans love the surprise songs, but also hate them. Having surprise songs makes every show unique but it also means some fan favorite songs have to be sacrificed. Every show, Taylor Swift fans take to social media to express their emotional pain that one of their favorite songs of hers was played when they weren’t present. Jokes or not, Taylor has too many amazing songs to please everyone, but it’s fair to say that most shows have two surprise songs that will excite the entire stadium.
It’s important to consider, recognize and praise Taylor for her amazing conditioning. She does these 3-hour long shows twice or three times every weekend. So far, her emotions haven’t changed and she is still giving it her all. Taylor has even attended award shows and visited other cities and countries in between shows.
With the amount of massive demand, Taylor truly never fails to disappoint. After going to two shows, just even being in the stadium is exhausting in itself. Each show is emotionally draining and takes time to recover from. However, getting to sing songs that are a mixture of nostalgic hits to alternative melancholy in a stadium of like minded people is an experience you can only have so often.
Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour is one of the most successful tours to happen since the pandemic. Bringing fans, friends and families together to experience a moment that is legendary with the most infamous artist of all time is an episode of anticipated and thrilling emotions, something you definitely do not want to miss.
Opinions expressed in The Nevada Sagebrush are solely those of the author and do not necessarily express the views of The Sagebrush or its staff. Gabriel Kanae is a student at the University of Nevada studying journalism. They can be reached at gkanae@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @NevadaSagebrush.
