Our Eras Tour #13: THE Eras Tour

Taylor Swift sings Enchanted; Photo: Caty Stevens

After Cardiff Castle, all our attention shifted the reason we were visiting Wales: the Taylor Swift Eras Tour. And, to discuss it, I will have to rewind a little bit. 

The sixth concert tour by Singer-Songwriter Taylor Swift, The Eras Tour started on March 17, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona, and will conclude on December 8, 2024, in Vancouver, Canada. It will, ultimately, include 152 shows spanning five continents. It became the highest-grossing tour in history as the first to surpass $1 billion in revenue, and has had a documented cultural impact across the globe. Almost every show sets some kind of attendance record.

Swift announced The Eras Tour in November 2022, following the release of her tenth studio album Midnights, as her second all-stadium tour after the 2018 Reputation Tour. The 3.5-hour show was revamped in May 2024 to incorporate Swift's new 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department.

I love TTPD and am so glad we didn’t nab pre-TTPD tickets; Photo: Caty Stevens

The show is fantastic, in terms of concept, production, aesthetics and immersive ambience, as well as Swift's musicianship, vocals, stage presence and versatility. 

Taylor Swift in Cardiff

Eras created such unprecedented public demand that it has been responsible for introduction of anti-scalping laws and price regulation policies. Ticketmaster, one of the tour's official ticketing partners, was politically scrutinized for its ineffective sales of the tour's tickets and an alleged monopoly in the concert industry. 

The tour has bolstered economies, businesses and tourism worldwide; dominated social media and news cycles; and garnered tributes and accolades from multiple governments and organizations. Some governments even requested that the tour visit their countries. 

I just wish I had invested in friendship bracelet-making supplies pre-tour!

Friendship bracelets

The friendship bracelet thing – a big part of the Swiftie experience – comes from a line in You're on You Own, Kid, where Swift sings So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it. On the shopping platform Mercari, searches for friendship bracelets and Taylor Swift friendship bracelets increased by more than 96 percent in 2023. 

Michaels, the crafts chain store, also saw a 40 percent increase in jewelry-making kits, while stores in cities in which The Eras Tour stopped saw an increase of 300 percent in bead and jewelry tool sales.

An accompanying concert film, documenting the Los Angeles shows, was released in October 2023, in an uncommon distribution deal circumventing major film studios. Met with critical acclaim, the film became the highest-grossing concert film in history. Caty and I saw it last year in Albuquerque.

We had the theater to ourselves! It was a matinee

The tour came about mainly because, after her successful Reputation Tour, the pandemic shut down the ability to tour with subsequent albums. She first announced 27 shows across 20 U.S. cities, beginning in Glendale and ending in August 2023 in Inglewood, California.

Popular demand led Swift to add eight more U.S. shows in November, bringing the total to 52 shows, surpassing Reputation’s 38 performances. In the summer of 2023, Swift announced more U.S. shows and engagements in Latin America, Asia, Australia and Europe. Over the next few months, more dates were added to accommodate demand.

Indianapolis tickets online

Getting tickets quickly became a nightmare. Ticket prices ranged from $49 to $449, with VIP packages ranging from $199 to $899. Resales can top $5,000 per ticket. 

Initially, a record 3.5 million fans (and scalpers) registered to buy Eras tickets. Ahead of the tour's second leg presale, Ticketmaster estimated that 14 million users were vying for roughly 625,000 tickets. 

An estimated 31 million people registered for the Toronto presale alone, equal to over 77 percent of Canada's entire population (of course, many, maybe most, were from the U.S.). Swift's tour promotion partner in Argentina said that Swift could fill the stadium 36 times if she wanted to. There are a million more examples, but you get it.

Pre-show sign; Photo: Caty Stevens

Dubbed “one of the most expensive and technically ambitious productions of the 21st century," The Eras Tour was produced by Swift's in-house tour production company, Taylor Swift Touring. 

It requires 90 trucks to haul staging, costumes and equipment, including smoke machines, light beams, confetti guns, coordinated serial lights, pyrotechnics and hydraulic platforms. 

The Cardiff stage; Photo: Chloe Jade

It consists of three separate stages connected by a broad ramp: a main stage with a giant, curved widescreen; a rhombic middle stage; and a rectangular stage that along with the ramp forms a T-shape at the middle of the floor. 

The middle stage has mobile blocks that form different shapes of elevated platforms. The stages feature various visuals and effects throughout the show.

The platforms were right in front of us; Photos: Caty stevens

The Eras Tour features music from Swift's 10 studio albums, released across 17 years, ranging from country and pop to folk and alternative rock genres.

Caty took a selfie during Reputation

The set list places a greater focus on albums Swift had not previously toured, including first-ever live performances of several songs.

Each Eras Tour show is over three hours and 15 minutes long, by far the longest of Swift's career. The show includes between 44 and 46 songs, grouped into 10 acts, representing each "musical era" of her discography. 

Each act has a color scheme and transitions between acts are facilitated by visuals and marked by lightning-speed costume changes. 

It's like it's her birthday; Photo: Caty Stevens

Swift addresses the crowd throughout the show, with lots of eye contact. She points out medical or emergency needs to stadium staff (often in between lines of the song she is singing). 

Her patter with the crowd, which is obviously scripted because it is almost the same at every show, still comes across as warm and personal. To quote I Can Do It with a Broken Heart, she appears to be ”having the time of her life.”

The concert ensemble includes 15 backup dancers, Swift's live band of six instrumentalists who have been touring with her since 2007 and four female backing vocalists. 

Great on-stage support; Video pulls and photos: Caty Stevens

Choreographer Mandy Moore was recommended by Swift's friend, actress Emma Stone, who had worked with Moore on La La Land. To prepare for the tour, Swift sang the entire set list daily while running on a treadmill, trained in dance for three months and gave up alcohol (based on her songs, that may have been difficult for her).

She was really on her game; Photo: Caty Stevens

Depending on whether you count jackets, Swift wears 12-16 different outfits in the show, changing between eras faster than seems possible. 

I love the TTPD dress; Photo: Caty Stevens

The costumes are from a variety of designers, including Versace, Alberta Ferretti, Roberto Cavalli, Zuhair Murad, Ashish, Vivienne Westwood, Nicole + Felicia and Oscar de la Renta. 

They are usually paired with red-bottomed Christian Louboutin shoes. 

Swarovski crystals, sparkles and fringe abound, although my favorite is the non-sparkly Vivienne Westwood TTPD  ballgown, featuring a corseted bodice and structural asymmetrical skirt decorated with the cursive lyrics I love you, it's ruining my life from the song Fortnight. The dress, appropriately, resembles scrunched paper used for scribbling lines of poetry and then tossed aside. After our show, she introduced a new dress with different lyrics: Who's afraid of little old me? You should be.

There are multiple options for each costume with the exception of the Reputation catsuit, which is the same every show. Caty participates in a contest held before each show to guess what Swift will wear.

This was what she wore at our show (more later); Art: MelLeighStationery

So, let’s talk about our show and our experience.

The 1989 era; Photo: Caty Stevens

As I mentioned at the beginning of this series, Caty wanted to see The Eras Tour, but jumped on the bandwagon too late to get affordable tickets in the U.S. 

So, she started looking for options elsewhere. 

We tried Vancouver (the end of the tour), but that failed. We rejected South America and were glad we did because the weather was deadly there. We looked at Australia, which would have been great, but that's a big time commitment.

Then, Caty found standing room tickets in Cardiff for about $500 each. Pretty good. We think there were several reasons for lower cost: Cardiff is less appealing (and a bit more difficult to get to) than London, Paris, Amsterdam and so forth; The Cardiff stadium is a bit smaller than some (but still large with about 67,000 capacity); Cardiff was the only place in Europe where Swift was doing just one night. Or, maybe we were just lucky.

Principality Stadium in Cardiff

The tickets were re-sale through a (relatively) reliable vendor, but we were not supposed to actually get the digital tickets until two days before the show. And, to make it a little more scary, the guarantee was tickets OR your money back. We didn’t want money back! We traveled to attend. We wanted tickets! The whole beginning of the trip we were worried that we would not get in.

But, tickets actually arrived four days in advance.

Talk about a major sigh of relief!

The day before the concert, we scoped out our gate. It was on the opposite side of the arena from our hotel; maybe just an extra quarter mile of walking to get there. 

Then, we found a sporting goods store (downtown!) and bought a camp chair on sale. Our plan was to trade off sitting while we waited in line. Because we didn’t have assigned seats, we knew we’d have to arrive early and wait. And, that meant we would be standing all day.

We had heard that Liverpool and London had massive pre-concert events and activities; Cardiff did not. 

We did see a few decorated storefronts

Another cash cow

The merch stand, which opened the day before the show, seemed subpar.

They had teeshirts, bags and other swag featuring the tour designs from before The Tortured Poets Department was added to the line-up. 

Caty had already purchased the most recent teeshirt online, so it was no great loss. Lines for merch varied – sometimes surprisingly short and sometimes stretching across the river.

We did go and she bought a Cardiff-specific poster. While in line, we talked with several people, including a couple of mother/daughter pairs (that is a common Eras theme). As with most European dates, many attendees were American and Canadian.

Caty at the merch truck

We discovered that the road in front of our hotel was going to be partially shut down to accommodate buses and we heard that lots of people would be arriving via train. The train station was just a few blocks from the Principality Stadium. Cardiff’s smaller size and our great hotel find really worked for us.

The road in front of our hotel with the stadium behind

As we walked around, we could hear the opening act, Paramore, doing a sound check. Later, in our room, we could hear Swift's soundcheck. 

The morning of the concert, we frequently checked out our window to see how early we needed to arrive. When we started to see lines form, we dressed in our clothes for the evening, grabbed our chair and walked over. 

And, it wasn't too hot or raining!

It was a little after 9 a.m., so we would be waiting seven hours to get in; eight before the show would begin. And, then stand three or more hours. Had we had assigned seats, early line-up wouldn’t have been necessary, but we needed to get in early enough to be able to see from the floor. Caty had watched lots of streaming broadcasts of shows and picked our ideal slot to stand.

Midnights

The trick would be to get there.

Since VIPs had a 3:00 p.m. entry and ours was 4:00 p.m., we were not sure about how close we would be able to get.

People dress for Eras concerts, selecting an album (an era) or a favorite song to represent. 

Caty’s very pretty navy dress studded with gold stars was representative of Midnights. 

She had ordered several other dresses months before, but they didn't arrive in time. I liked this one so much, I can't imagine what would be better. 

Plus, it looked (and she said it was) comfortable. 

I could have put in more effort

I bought a sort of Folklore gauzy blue dress (not really an identifiable style for the concert), but I changed out the plain white buttons (which I didn’t like) for alphabet buttons that spelled out Taylor Swift Eras Tour! 

At the last minute, as a nod to All Too Well and in case it got cool, I added a red scarf and added buttons spelling out but you keep my scarf from the very first week … All Too Well. No one saw or noticed, but I was satisfied that I tried.

We saw such a variety of outfits: more tiny sequined miniskirts than I had ever seen; two girls dressed in shorts, athletic shirts, headbands and painted-on beards to represent the final scene in the music video for The Man; sequined mini-dresses; a pair of girls in stunning recreations of the Reputation bodysuit and The Tortured Poets Department white dress; gay guys in sequined suits; and so forth. 

Many came in casual clothes and either changed in line or left in the afternoon and came back all dressed up. We saw lots of high-heeled boots, including a pair left behind at the end of the show. When you stand for so many hours, wearing stilettos is not a good idea.

Well, Swift does, but she's a trained professional; Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Everyone had arms full of friendship bracelets and lots of fans were making more as they waited. Caty had made some for both of us and we traded a few here and there.

Left, girls making bracelets; Right, Caty showing hers off

Waiting wasn't too bad. The sky was partly cloudy, so the temperatures remained fairly cool and we didn't get sunburned. Even better, it didn't rain. 

A comfy way to wait

We were so glad we brought a chair, which we were able to use until about 2:30, when the line was moved up to begin queueing for entry.

Many of our line-mates were sitting on the concrete ground. I am too old for that! I would probably never get up!

I have stood in lots of lines and been to lots of shows. I have never seen a better-behaved, nicer or more sober group. 

Patiently waiting

Once in line, we could leave and return to our spot. We both left a few times for restroom breaks and once I walked a few blocks to buy us lunch and drinks. The security people were kind and helpful. 

These guys were even trading bracelets

It was lovely. There were no children in our line because floor tickets are for 16+. But, the girls we spoke with most as we waited were just barely eligible at 16. They were actually from Cardiff.

When I was searching the Internet looking for a crowd photo, I found a video clip where Caty appears briefly. I don't see me; it may have been when I was gone buying lunch. See the clip here.

She is barely in the frame

At about 2:30, we gave up our chair, which was later donated to homeless people. The line was moved forward and then we waited some more. We were a bit annoyed when they split the queue, sending us farther away from our section than other people behind us in line. But, I don’t think that hurt us too much.

Inside, at last

Once in, we were given section-indicating wristbands and separate light-up wristbands that play a part in the show. We walked briskly to a chorus of “do not run, be careful, slow down” from the Principality security guards. 

We were careful, but I did hear someone fall as we were walking down the terraced entrance to the floor. We made it to Caty’s selected spot and we surprised to be not too, too far from the stage. I was also surprised that the stage wasn’t as tall as I had thought it would be. 

Pretty close; Photo: Caty Stevens

When we arrived, we found that lots of people were sitting on the floor, waiting. That seemed scary in such a crush of people.

I took a gamble and went to the concession stand to get us a hot dog and some water. We thought that hydrating might be a good idea (it was!). Caty left to go to the restroom. Both times, people let us back up to our slot. Nice! 

We are here; Photo: a view from my seat

We had one scary moment when, apparently, a lot of seated people stood up and the crowd surged, pushing us closer to the stage. For awhile, I was behind a very tall man in a pink sequined jacket and I had visions of not being able to see anything. But, that sorted out later. 

Pink sequin man is to the left next to tall sequin guy

I never got even with Caty; she was always slightly in front of me. But, since she is adept at cell phone photography and videography and I am not, that worked out. 

Throughout the show, it was tight, but never oppressive and, for reasons we didn’t understand, we seemed to get slightly closer as the night progressed.

The opening act was Paramore, a Tennessee-based rock band headed up by vocalist Hayley Williams, a tiny dynamo of a performer who was wearing gym shorts, a crop top and strangely clownish make-up. 

Paramore

Definitely edgier and less “produced” than Swift, they were a good start, getting the crowd pumped up. Watch here. 

And, then, we just waited for the show to begin. 

Just minutes to go!

As I mentioned, Caty took photos and video. I attempted, but was struggling with focus, so I left it to her. All in all, she got about 50 minutes out of three hours! Good stuff! 

Of course, all that cell phone recording makes it harder to see

I am including YouTube links to individual videos as I describe the eras. Or, you can watch all 50 minutes here.

While there were parts of the show that were difficult or impossible to see, we could see much of the giant video screens and, often, Swift was mere feet from us. Even though standing for so long did become uncomfortable (aggravated by the weird dimpled floor covering), I am so glad we were so close. Assigned seats would have been more comfortable, but they were quite far from the stage.

The show started with a clock on-screen counting down to show time. 

It was a long time coming; Photo: Caty Stevens

Surrounded by pastel-colored, fan-like tapestry, Swift emerged from the platform at mid-stage in her blue/gold crystal-adorned bodysuit and matching boots. 

She appeared right beside us; Video pull: Caty Stevens

She opened the show with the chorus of Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince (watch the opening here), leading into Cruel Summer. 

The beginning of the show

After donning a black pin-striped sequined blazer, she sang The Man and You Need to Calm Down ...

The Man from the main stage; right photo: Caty Stevens

... followed by a lovely welcome monologue (sans blazer) and an acoustic version of Lover on the guitar.

Opening and Lover; Video pull and photo: Caty Stevens

In the second act, Fearless, Swift wore a black/gold/silver metallic fringed dress and black boots. She sang Fearless on the main stage, You Belong with Me at mid-stage and Love Story on the T-stage, all alongside her band. 

She was quite close in this part; Photo: Caty Stevens

The color scheme changed to match the next act, Red, in which Swift started out singing 22, wearing a version of the white teeshirt and black hat from the song's music video. The words on the teeshirt vary from night-to-night and ours was A Lot Going On at the Moment.

Every show, near the end of 22, Swift struts down to the end of the stage and greets a fan (usually a child) pre-selected from the audience, giving the lucky fan the hat. In Cardiff, the selected little girl was also wearing an A Lot Going On at the Moment teeshirt, which seemed to delight Swift.

Caty had just said matching teeshirts would be cool; Left: BBC; Right video pull; Caty Stevens

After ditching the teeshirt to reveal the red/black romper she wears at every show, Swift sang We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. Every night, dancer Kam Saunders utters a phrase that is themed to the location, culture or language of the venue. This night he said, ych a fi!, which means disgusting in Welsh. See it here.

An enthusiastic set; Photos; Caty Stevens

This was followed by I Knew You Were Trouble. 

Then, in a favorite part of the show, she put on a red-black ombre floor-length coat and sang the ten-minute version of All Too Well before sinking below the stage. Caty got it all (too well) on video.

A marvelous performance – all ten minutes; Photo: Caty Stevens

Eras has only one song from Speak Now, but it is a beauty. She sang this one – Enchanted – right in front of us, too, wearing the “champagne” sparkled evening gown.

It is often called the “everything bagel dress” because of the black and gold crystals

The dancers’ dresses matched hers, something we had not noticed watching the movie or the streaming concerts. 

Such a beautiful moment

The Reputation act gets feisty. Snake visuals and dimming lights set the stage as Swift emerged in her iconic snake catsuit. She sang ...Ready for It?, Delicate, Don't Blame Me and Look What You Made Me Do.

All high-energy, this set really showed off Swift's vocal range; Photos: Caty Stevens 

The next act was a combination of two from the original line-up, changed when The Tortured Poets Department was added. Featuring songs from both Evermore and Folklore, it is often called the Folk-more set. It started with Swift sitting atop the Folklore cabin in a flowing red vine-motif gown (which photographed marvelously), where she sang Cardigan. 

Beautiful staging; Photo: Caty Stevens

She walked down the steps and talked about her writing inspiration, after which she sang Betty, Champagne Problems, August, Illicit Affairs, My Tears Ricochet and Marjorie. She was very close to us for August and Illicit Affairs. 

I love this dress; Photos: Caty Stevens

She then donned her flowing green cape for a "witchy" séance segue into Willow. 

This was hard to see from the floor, but we could feel the heat; Photo: X.com

The mood changed dramatically for the next set: 1989, perhaps the poppiest of the bunch (what Swift has described as songs written with a glitter gel pen). 

On screen, cell phones and in person

The 1989 segment has the most possible costume variations because she wears separates: a sparkly bralette and swirly skirt with lots of possible color combinations. The outfit is paired with short boots in colors to match the separates. 

In Cardiff, she wore a green top and orange skirt with one green and one orange boot (most likely as a nod to the colors of the Welsh flag). 

The set included some of my favorites: Style, Blank Space, Shake It Off and Wildest Dreams, plus Bad Blood, which isn’t really a favorite. It was fun and quite close, too. 

Lots of Style; Video pull: Caty Stevens

Next, Swift blew us away with her The Tortured Poets Department set, much of which was very, very close. She started with But Daddy I Love Him followed by So High School and my very favorite (performed stunningly), Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? 

This performance was amazing

Caty took a video break for Down Bad and Fortnight, but got great photos.

The emotion in the segment was palpable 

Sorry for so many photos, but ...

... they are soooooo good; All photos: Caty Stevens

Caty captured part of The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived and the really great, really close I Can Do It With A Broken Heart on video. See it here.

The best picture of the night; Photo: Caty Stevens

For her Cardiff TTPD set, she wore the white dress with sparkly black gloves (gloves in black or white were added after the cold cramped her hand in Liverpool). She added a soiled-looking military jacket for The Smallest Man ... and, then, stripped down to a white bra and panties plus a silver and black ringmaster-style jacket for the end of that era.  

Although we were glad not to have to deal with the larger size, transportation issues and higher costs of attending in London (there were three shows there the next week), we were sorry to find out that Swift’s boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce, took part in this segment in one of the shows, carrying her to the red couch and helping her get ready to sing I Can Do It With A Broken Heart. 

Wembley Stadium, London; Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

The next set was the acoustic/surprise song segment where Swift sings different songs every night, often doing mash-ups. In Cardiff, she mashed I Forgot That You Existed with This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, presumably a nod to the announcement earlier that day that nemesis Scooter Braun had announced his retirement. 

The big screen in the back of the stadium; Video pull: Caty Stevens

Swift followed with I Hate It Here (I assume she didn’t mean she hated Cardiff) and The Lakes, which is about the Lake District, which we had just visited. Caty had thought she might do The Lakes in Liverpool because of its proximity to the area. I had hoped she would do the song, The Tortured Poet’s Department, because of its reference to Welsh writer Dylan Thomas. 

The Tortured Poet's Department official lyrics

Swift's dress for the acoustic segment was an orange/red high/low flowy gown. At the end of the set, she "dove" into the stage and "swam" across the set.

Off she goes; Left video pulls: Caty Stevens; Right video pull: Chloe Jade

The last era covered was Midnights, which Swift started in a purple sequined dress, lavender jacket and blue boots for Lavender Haze and Anti-Hero. 

Lavender clouds help her get it off her desk; Video pull: Caty Stevens

Then, she emerged from the cover of multiple blue umbrellas in her midnight-blue cut-out bodysuit and boots to sing Midnight Rain. 

A diamond's gotta shine; Photo and video pull: Caty Stevens

She and her singers and dancers did Vigilante Shit from high above us. 

Dressing for revenge; Video pull: Caty Stevens

Then, she came back down for Bejeweled and Mastermind. The show closed with Swift donning a fuchsia fringed jacket and singing Karma, followed by a big bow from the cast. 

What a show!!!

As I said, I was glad we had the close-up standing tickets, but, I won’t lie, it did get uncomfortable. I wore support hose and my orthotic inserts in my shoes, but by the time the show ended at 10:23 p.m., I was ready to sit. 

It was crowded

I did fairly well, but had a moment or two around 9:30-10:00 p.m. where I was a little light-headed and wasn’t sure I was going to make it. Then, almost on cue, the stadium staff appeared with free cups of water. A couple of sips and I was fine for the rest of the show. Caty had a similar experience.

After the show, we were able to exit stadium doors closer to our hotel and, even though we were walking opposite most of the crowd, we made it “home” in minutes, thankful that we didn’t have to catch a bus, train or Uber. We heard later that there had been some serious travel delays with trains and cars.

We saw these warnings as we drove in two days before

On the way to our hotel, we encountered the only rude behavior of the evening as two women shoved past us. Then, we came across a vendor selling water – and the water bottles were frozen!! In a country where ice is scare, this was like a gift from the angels. It cost £6; I would have paid £20! 

Hell, yes! Photo: Caty Stevens

Back at the hotel, we crashed, knowing that our adventures were over, but so happy that we got to see this marvelous show.

It is like attending the Woodstock of this generation (without the mud or LSD). A million thanks to Caty for letting me do this!

Would I like to see The Eras Tour again as many have? 

Yes.  Hell, yes!!!!!

It would be a different experience from seats, so that might be fun. But, we’ve looked and tickets are crazy expensive. Maybe something will pop up. 

Now, I just have to be content to have all those songs running through my head.

Well, she does put narcotics in her songs; Video pull: Caty Stevens

A final note about Swift: She donates to food bank units at every stop of The Eras Tour (reportedly often fulfilling a year’s worth of cash needs) and exclusively employs local businesses to fulfill her crew's daily requirements, such as meals. 

That's Swift's reputation; Photo: Caty Stevens

Taylor Swift; Photo: Caty Stevens

At the conclusion of the first U.S. leg, Swift gave "unprecedented" bonus payments totaling over $55 million to her entire touring crew, including $100,000 to each of the 50 truck drivers involved in transporting the stage setup and production equipment. She also reportedly purchased more than double the carbon credits needed to offset emissions generated by her travel throughout the tour. 

In April 2024, four Eras Tour tickets raised $80,000 at auction in a gala benefiting the 15 and The Mahomes Foundation, a charity by Patrick Mahomes, teammate of Travis Kelce.

This was a magnificent night that I will long remember.

Concert date: June 18, 2024