The Tortured Poets Takeover
As Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’ reaches the final stages of its European journey, the sheer size and scale of the spectacle has not yet diminished. With only Warsaw and Vienna to go before a return leg in London, the record-breaking magnitude of each and every concert continues to astound ‘Swifties’ and non-Swifties alike.
Javier Vicencio / Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images / Getty Images
United Kingdom
First reaching Britain in Edinburgh back in the middle of June, Swift’s sixteen days in the UK saw over 500,000 spectators gather for the mammoth three-hour set list. The show involves a staggering amount of choreography and preparation, with costume, guitar, and microphone changes for all of the eleven eras. The tour has single-handedly contributed to the growth of the UK economy, with millions of pounds coming in the form of increased public transport fares and hotel visits. Railway companies even extended their train schedules to accommodate the thousands of fans arriving in their sparkly outfits and cowboy boots.
The Eras Tour, Wembley Stadium: Sam Milligan
The cultural impact is truly quite astounding. Forget your typical merchandise stand. Whole warehouses have been cleared out and converted into organized mazes to accommodate the average $2 million merch sales per show. Even museums have taken up the mantle. The Victoria and Albert Museum, located in West London, has created the ‘Songbook Trail,’ showcasing Taylor’s iconic looks throughout her albums. This, too, ends with another large merchandise stall. But it’s not only local fans being drawn into the pandemonium. The tour certainly boosted tourism within the UK, with hundreds of Americans crossing the pond to get a ticket which was like gold dust for the early North American leg.
The ‘Songbook Trail’ at the V&A: Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington
Germany
The story is the same across the rest of Europe. Gelsenkirchen, Taylor’s first stop-off in Germany, saw the arena lit up with balloons. A tribute to her performance of ‘Willow’, orange and yellow balloons could be seen all over the stadium, mimicking those used by the dance crew on stage. Swift’s marketing team described it as ‘one of the best fan projects’ to emerge from the Eras Tour. It appears as if fans are desperate for the concert they are attending to be the biggest and best one yet. And they will seemingly stop at nothing to achieve this.
Taylor Swift in her ‘Evermore’ dress in Gelsenkirchen: Francesco Marchese / Getty Images
As the German leg of the tour reached its final destination, fans in Munich went the extra mile to showcase their dedication to the artist. The hill in Olympiapark, pictured below, was quite literally swarmed by spectators as soon as word got around of the convenient listening position. There aren’t many artists who could bring 74,000 people together inside the stadium, as well as another 40,000 gathered outside. It is a testament to Taylor Swift’s relatable lyricism and dedication to creating a forty-four song masterpiece of style and performance, spanning from years of songwriting.
‘Swifties’ swarm Olympiapark in Munich to hear the concert at the Olympic Stadium: Reuters
Why has the almost-year long tour attracted such unprecedented attention all around the globe? Maybe, it is just a global trend, with TikTok influencers heightening its reputation to an event many are simply too afraid to miss. But there is so much more depth to the shows which has made The Eras Tour into the most profitable tour ever, totaling over $1 billion dollars in revenue. Anticipation for the concert certainly reached a climax in recent years after the pandemic. Having already been canceled due to Covid, Taylor needed something bigger and better than her last tour, which was ‘reputation’ in 2018. Something outstanding and extraordinary was needed. And this was certainly delivered.
Courtesy of All On The Board
The set list for the US was released a whole year before those for Europe were, creating even more excitement and attention. Forty-four songs appeared to be a staggering amount, especially combined with the multitude of dance routines. This had Taylor running for three hours on the treadmill every day, all the while singing the entire set list out loud. She told Women’s Health Magazine how this would alternate: ‘Fast for fast songs, and a jog or a fast walk for slow songs.’ This unwavering diligence to her physical conditioning has clearly paid off. Covering eleven eras has allowed for the broadest possible range of her lyrical repertoire to be performed. There is no audience member Swift hasn’t appealed to. From the 2014 classic ‘Blank Space’ which EVERYONE knows, to songs from ‘THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT’, released in the midst of the tour. From ‘Love Story’ which has every starstruck boyfriend down on one knee, to ‘Lover’, which has a similar effect. As she comes closer to the closing night on December 8th, the question remains just how many more records will be broken by the Eras Tour?
