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There’s no easy way to sum up the impact of Swift’s decision to perform a 3 1/2-hour concert, showcasing 44 songs representing 10 different “eras” of her career — a feat she began in March 2023 and will end soon in Vancouver, Canada.
The tour broke sales and attendance records and created such an economic boom that even the Federal Reserve took notice.
But for the many who attended the concerts and the millions more who eagerly watched fans’ live streams on their screens, the tour also became a beacon of joy — a chance not only to appreciate Swift’s expansive music career, but also to celebrate the fans the long journey has brought with her.
Enjoying the remaining time
“Right now, we have this special time to be together and talk about the show and hang out,” said Tess Bohne, a stay-at-home mom of three who has become a content creator dedicated to livestreaming Swift’s concerts — either attending herself or coordinating with others. to highlight their streams.
“For some, it’s their therapy.”
Swift flies to Singapore, marking the end of her Australian era
Bohne, who has earned the title of “livestream queen” among the Swiftie community, says she often interacts with fans who throw parties to watch Eras live at home with their closest friends.
People also formed long-lasting friendships while geeking out over the show together from afar.
Swift has long been known to leave Easter eggs for her fans to identify and decipher, a fad that soon took on a life of its own during the tour when eagle-eyed fans began to analyze the possible meaning of her outfits, surprise songs and subtle replacement lyrics.
The buzz was so great that multiple mobile apps were launched so fans could guess and track all the different changes.
There’s even a game that awards prizes for correctly predicting various details of the show, including the color of the guitar Swift uses while playing Lover.
“Think of your favorite sports team,” Bohne said.
“They’re still a team, but they won’t be playing any games for the foreseeable future. It will leave a hole for some people.”
Swift herself seemed to be fighting that the end was near as she performed at her 100th Eras show in Liverpool in June.
“This is the first time I’ve admitted to myself that this tour will end in December,” she said, emphasizing that “this tour has really become my whole life.”
At the end of last month, in Toronto, she briefly broke down at the thought of the imminent end of the tour.
A record-breaking tour in retrospect
Swift kicked off the Eras Tour in Glendale, Arizona, the first of many sold-out stadiums as the tour progressed first to the US and later to South America, Asia, the UK and Canada.
By the end of 2023, it had become the first tour ever to gross more than $1 billion and have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on merchandise.
He is likely to earn more than $US2 billion ($3.1 billion) by the time the tour ends on December 8, according to concert publication Pollstar.
Throughout the tour, Swift was named Person of the Year by Time Magazine.
Apple Music named her its Artist of the Year, and Spotify revealed that she was the most listened to artist globally in 2023.
She released a blockbuster concert film at the box office and helped skyrocket NFL viewership when she began dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Towards the end of the tour, she published a coffee table book.
And if that wasn’t enough, she released re-recordings of her 2010 Nashville record. Speak now and the record from 2014 in 1989as well as released her 11th studio album, Department for tortured poets.
“I think it’s perfect in these times to have someone like Taylor to distract us, to give us inspiration, to give us hope,” said Ralph Jaccodine, an assistant professor at Berklee College of Music and a former concert promoter who worked with Bruce Springsteen and other.
“And this is a woman who, owning it, has come a long way. And now he can talk about artists’ rights and women’s rights and equality. And really, her work ethic alone is unrelenting.”
Even the word “era” has become ubiquitous, with fans and casual observers alike using the term to describe both frivolous and transformative phases—are you in your “villain era” or your “healing era”?
“I think this tour really cemented her status as a legend,” said Kayla Wong, an influencer who runs the popular Swift-focused Instagram account @headfirstfearless. “Whether you like her music or not, whether you think she’s talented or not, the numbers really speak for themselves. The tour has broken so many records and been a global phenomenon for so long that I think it’s reached a level where it’s undeniable how eternal its impact is.”
However, the tour had its dark moments. In Brazil last year, a concertgoer – 23-year-old Ana Clara Benevides – fainted and later died of heat exhaustion.
In July, British police charged a 17-year-old man with murder over a summer vacation knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga class that killed three girls. News outlets reported that Swift met with some of the survivors backstage in London.
And in August, all three of Swift’s concerts in Vienna were canceled after officials announced arrests in an apparent plot to launch an attack on an event in the city. Tens of thousands of Swifties from all over the world traveled to Vienna for the shows.
“The cancellation of our shows in Vienna was devastating,” Swift later wrote in a statement. “The reason for the cancellation filled me with a new sense of dread and an enormous amount of guilt because so many people had planned to come to those concerts.”
Swifties stronger than ever
Through hardships and celebrations, Swift’s connection with her fans only grew and deepened throughout the tour.
After the cancellation in Vienna, many fans took to the streets to sing Swift’s songs and place friendship bracelets – which have also become iconic for the shows – on a nearby tree.
Over the past two years, fandom has embraced a new audience – both old and new.
“Now the fandom has people from all kinds of backgrounds, all ages, for all different reasons why they follow it in the first place.”
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