“It’s been a long time coming…” This is one of the many phrases that Taylor Swift uses to open her show. After being on a tour hiatus for five years, Swift has been touring the “Eras” Tour since March of 2023. As one of the highest-grossing tours of all time, millions of people across the globe have been “Fearless” in their attempt to acquire tickets to this “Gorgeous” show.
However, many people did not survive “The Great War” when trying to get these precious tickets. But “Don’t Blame Me,” my childhood best friend, and I were able to get tickets for April 1 in Arlington, Texas. It has been incredibly hard for fans to acquire tickets because of the reselling industry. But nevertheless, we were fortunate enough to get tickets only a week before the show.
The concept of this tour was to be able to debut many of her newer albums, that she had released since the start of the pandemic, along with diving into many of the “Eras” that she hasn’t sung since she toured for those albums, such as Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation. With this way of doing the show, fans could experience all of her albums in one show, especially those who had never been to a Taylor Swift concert before.
With Swift including various smaller artists to open up her shows, we went the night that Gracie Abrams and Bebadoobee opened the show. We arrived at AT&T Stadium at around 5 p.m., with the show starting at 6:30 p.m. The lines for merchandise were incredibly long, and it already felt like a “Cruel Summer” outside, so we opted to go inside the stadium to wait for the show to start. We received a light-up bracelet upon entering the stadium, which the employee said was “a gift from Taylor.” After waiting for about an hour and a half, Abrams hit the stage with a beautiful set, lasting about 30 minutes. After Abrams, Bebadoobee took the stage, performing a set that was so loud it had my ears ringing afterward.
Then, it was time to wait for Swift to come on. Many people took the lyrics from “You’re On Your Own Kid” seriously and “made the friendship bracelets” to trade. We, unfortunately, did not have enough time beforehand to make bracelets, but it was fun watching other people trade bracelets with each other. Even in the most recent show, people still make hundreds of bracelets to trade with other fans. The anticipation of waiting for such a show was insane, I could hardly “Tolerate It.”
Swift made her appearance at 8 p.m. and began the show, which lasted nearly three and a half hours. An anticipation from every show is figuring out what outfits she will wear for each era. In every single show, she wears a different outfit for each era every night, except “Reputation,” which has had the same outfit the whole tour.
She started the show with the Lover Era and made her way through her works throughout the years. The Lover Era has six songs included in the set, they felt like they went by so fast. From large stage props to just singing “Lover” with her guitar, the Lover set was colorful and fun.
Swift then made her way into the Fearless Era, from dancing with her band during “Fearless” to singing “Love Story.” Many people end up getting engaged during “Love Story” during the line, “He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring, and said, ‘Marry me, Juliet.’”
After “Fearless,” Swift made her way into the Evermore Era, which was one of the albums that she has never toured for. This set was so lyrical, including the song “Marjorie,” which was written for her grandma, who had passed away. Swift created this moving song for her grandma, who was a former opera singer, and who always had dreams of making it to the big stage. Swift incorporates Marjorie’s voice from her opera recording in the song so that she could make it to be big stage. During this song, all of the light-up bracelets were off, but over the time of the tour, people have begun to use their phone flashlights to honor Marjorie. This gesture from the crowd has always really touched Swift, making it one of the most memorable songs of the show.
Swift then made her way into the Reputation Era, which was the era that she toured most recently before the “Eras” Tour. This set was fun and exciting. Having been the most recently toured album, Swift mainly sang the most known songs and then proceeded to the next era. These songs included: “…Ready For It?”, “Delicate”, “Don’t Blame Me”, and “Look What You Made Me Do.” While the songs in this era were limited, Swift included one of her best songs transitions between “Don’t Blame Me” and “Look What You Made Me Do.”
After the iconic Reputation Era, Swift put on her ball gown and performed one song from the Speak Now Era. This elegant song was “Enchanted,” which was supposed to be the original album name for Speak Now. Swift added “Long Live” to the set list later in the tour, on the release date for Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).
The Red Era is one of the most special parts of the show. During the first song “22,” Swift’s team picks one lucky person to receive the hat that she wears during the song. Most of the time, Swift’s team picks little kids to receive the hat, but every once and a while they will choose someone older. At Arlington Night 2, Selena Gomez and her sister, Gracie were there, and Gracie received the hat. The rest of the Red Era featured staple songs, including “All Too Well (10 Minute Version).”
Having not been able to tour the next era yet, Swift selected seven songs to sing for the Folklore Era. Most of the songs in this album are incredibly personal for some, and hold a lot of many for those in the audience. Swift included many props to this set, including a big house that most of the set revolved around. She started Folklore on the roof of the house, singing “The 1,” and ended the era of one of the most popular fan favorites, “Cardigan.”
The 1989 Era is arguably one of Swift’s most well-known albums. While she could have sung some different songs in this set, Swift chose to sing her most popular 1989 songs, starting with “Style” and ending with “Bad Blood.” During “Bad Blood,” the stage lights up with real fire coming out of the top of the stage. Having been decently close to where the fire was, we could really feel the heat. After finishing this era, Swift made her way into the most anticipated part of the evening: Surprise Songs.
For the past couple of tours, Swift has incorporated two surprise songs as part of the show. Swift stated that this is in attempt to make every show different and special for those in attendance. Being on the first stops of the “Eras” Tour, the options that Swift could choose from were extensive. For the “Eras” Tour, Swift chose to do these songs acoustically, one on the guitar and the other on the piano. For the first song on the guitar, we got to hear a song from Lover, “Death By A Thousand Cuts.” As one of biggest fan favorites from the Lover album, fans were incredibly excited to hear this song live, and so were we. After “Death By A Thousand Cuts,” she put her guitar down and sat down to the piano. Swift stated that she had a request from Abrams, and proceeded to play Abrams’s favorite song, “Clean.” Swift then completed this portion of the evening by diving into the stage, transitioning into the Midnights Era.
Swift finished her show by highlighting songs from her most recent album: “Midnights.” She started with “Lavender Haze” and ended the show with “Karma.” She took a bow with her dancers and band members and confetti came down over the people in the floor section. She exited under the stage.
The “Eras” Tour has been and will continue to be one of the most popular and best concerts that has ever been done. My best friend and I had one of the best nights of our lives, and we will never forget the experience we had being in the presence of Taylor Swift. While it is an expensive concert to attend, it was worth every penny, and I hope that anyone who wants to attend future Taylor Swift concerts is able to attend.
Elyanne Kenney is a second-year psychology major at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.
