Swift announced the tour in November 2022, after the release of her tenth studio album Midnights. Running over 3.5 hours, the set list of the Eras Tour comprises over 40 songs grouped into 10 distinct acts that portray Swift’s studio albums conceptually; the show was revamped in May 2024 to incorporate her then-new eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department.
Critics praised the Eras Tour for its concept, production, aesthetics and immersive ambience, as well as Swift’s vocals, stage presence, and versatile showmanship. The tour recorded unprecedented public demand, ticket sales and attendances, bolstering economies, businesses, and tourism worldwide, dominating social media and news cycles, and garnering tributes and accolades from governments and organizations. This also gave rise to multifarious issues: ticketing crashes that inspired a string of anti-scalping laws and price regulation policies; scrutiny of Ticketmaster for monopoly by US authorities; diplomatic tensions in Southeast Asia due to Singapore’s exclusivity grant, poor venue management in Rio de Janeiro resulting in a death; a failed ISIS plot to attack the tour in Vienna; and a political scandal in the UK.
Swift disclosed and released various works throughout the tour: the re-recorded albums Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version); editions of Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department; the music videos of “Karma”, “I Can See You”, and “I Can Do It with a Broken Heart”; and “Cruel Summer” as a single. An accompanying concert film, documenting the Los Angeles shows, was released to theaters worldwide on October 13, 2023, in an uncommon distribution deal circumventing major film studios. Met with critical acclaim, the film became the highest-grossing concert film in history.
Background
Taylor Swift wearing a black dress singing on a mic
Taylor Swift on the Reputation Stadium Tour (2018), the highest-grossing North American concert tour before the Eras Tour
Taylor Swift embarked on the Reputation Stadium Tour, her fifth concert tour, in 2018, in support of her sixth studio album, Reputation (2017). It broke the record for the highest-grossing US tour in history. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 forced Swift to cancel what would have been her sixth tour, Lover Fest, in support of her seventh studio album, Lover (2019). In the time since, she released three studio albums, Folklore (2020), Evermore (2020), and Midnights (2022); and two re-recorded albums, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) in 2021.
US dates
During her promotion of Midnights on talk shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and The Graham Norton Show in October 2022, Swift hinted at an upcoming tour. On November 1, she announced on Good Morning America and through her social media accounts her sixth concert tour, the Eras Tour,[9] describing it as “a journey through the musical eras of [her] career”. She first announced 27 shows across 20 US cities, beginning in March 2023 in Glendale, Arizona, and ending in August 2023 in Inglewood, California. The opening acts were Paramore, Haim, Phoebe Bridgers, Beabadoobee, Girl in Red, Muna, Gayle, Gracie Abrams, and Owenn, each two of whom shared a tour date.Messina Touring Group, an Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) partner, served as the tour’s promoter.
Popular demand led Swift to add eight shows at some US cities on November 4,and 17 more the following week, making the Eras Tour the most extensive US tour of Swift’s career (52 shows), surpassing the Reputation Stadium Tour (38).Billboard described the tour’s announcement as “the most chaos-inducing tour announcement of the decade.”[14] Among the tour’s prospective partners were the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange company FTX; a US$100 million sponsorship deal with Swift was in talks but did not materialize.On January 31, tour merchandise inspired by all of Swift’s ten album “eras” were made available for purchase on her website.On August 3, 2023, Swift announced a second US leg, featuring three more cities in October and November 2024, with Abrams as the opener.[1
On June 2, 2023, Swift announced the Latin American shows of the Eras Tour, with Sabrina Carpenter as opening act.[20] A third show in Buenos Aires was announced on June 6, hours after the public sale commenced, due to high demand.[21] Argentine singer Louta was announced as an additional opening act.Additional shows in Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo were announced on June 12. Shows in Asia, Australia, and Europe were announced on June 20.
From June to November 2023, new shows were added to the tour. In the Asia-Pacific, the total number of Singapore shows were increased to six,[25] and two extra shows were announced in Australia.[26] In Europe, eight shows were added initially, followed by fourteen more,[28] then two in London;[29] Paramore was announced as the leg’s opening act.[28] Nine shows were also announced in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver), with Abrams as the opening act.In February 2024, a second show was added in Madrid after the venue’s football club, Real Madrid, asked La Liga to reschedule their match to cover the “extraordinary demand”.
Several politicians and government officials demanded the tour be brought to their country or city. Places such as Canada and Chile were expected to be part of the tour but were absent in Swift’s announcement on June 20, drawing dismay and demands from fans and officials. Across Southeast Asia, fans decried the lack of shows in countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong and demanded the tour be brought to there. In particular, her return to the Philippines had been highly anticipated.[36] Some journalists and fans opined that unlike venues in Japan and Singapore—the only Asian countries that are a part of the Eras Tour—those in Hong Kong, the Philippines and Thailand might not have the proper infrastructure that is required to host the tour. In addition, Hong Kong and mainland China reopened to foreigners much later than most other places following the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, which may have affected touring plans, as per South China Morning Post. In Malaysia, legal opposition to LGBT rights and the ban on pop concerts during Ramadan were cited as potential reasons.
Ticket sales
Ticket sales for the Eras Tour were handled by various ticketing agencies around the world, such as Ticketmaster, over several dates. Met with unprecedented, record-setting demand, tickets at every venue sold out in hours. Sales faced technical malfunctions in many countries; bulk purchases of tickets by scalpers and bots were reported at numerous venues, resulting in tickets being listed on resale platforms for exorbitant prices. StubHub noted that the Eras Tour ticket sales were “tracking to be the best-selling of any artist [they’ve] seen”. Jay Marciano, CEO of AEG, stated that Swift outright refused to impose dynamic pricing on the tickets in the purview of her fans.
US and Canada
See also: Taylor Swift–Ticketmaster controversy
The first US leg was set to go on sale to the general public on November 18, 2022. Due to Swift’s multi-year partnership with Capital One, cardholders had presale access, which was set to begin on November 15. Fans registered for the Ticketmaster Verified Fan program from November 1 through 9 to receive a presale code that granted exclusive access to the TaylorSwiftTix Presale on November 15; those who purchased merchandise from Swift’s website received “boosts”, and previous Lover Fest ticket holders also received preferred access to the presale if they registered using the same Ticketmaster account. Swift confirmed ticket prices in advance, abandoning the “platinum ticket” model; they ranged from US$49 to $449, while VIP packages ranged from $199 to $899.[6] According to Ticketmaster, the TaylorSwiftTix Presale provided “the best opportunity to get more tickets into the hands of fans who want to attend the show” by evading bots and scalpers.[51] It also noted that if demand from the program “exceeds supply”, it is possible that “verified fans may be selected at random to participate in the presale.” It later reported that it received a record 3.5 million verified fan registrations for the Eras Tour.Ahead of the second leg’s presale on August 11, Ticketmaster estimated that 14 million users were vying for roughly 625,000 tickets.
Ticketmaster handled the Canadian sales as well, using the Verified Fan program. Members of the Royal Bank of Canada’s Avion Rewards program received exclusive access to a separate presale. An estimated 31 million people registered for the Toronto Verified Fan presale, equal to over 77 percent of Canada’s population.
Latin America
Latin American tickets went on sale in early June 2023.Presale access was granted to Banco Patagonia clients in Argentina on June 5; around one million customers were reported to have queued for the 24,000 available presale tickets for the Buenos Aires shows, and over three million during the general sale.DF Entertainment served as Swift’s tour promotion partner in Argentina; CEO Diego Finkelstein called the demand “unprecedented”,based on which Perfil opined that Swift could fill the stadium 36 times if she wanted to. On the day of the show, more than 1 million users tried to get last-minute seats.
In Mexico, ticket presale was handled by Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program; registrations ran from June 2 through June 7, followed by a general public on-sale.[65] In Brazil, previous Lover Fest ticket holders and C6 Bank Mastercard holders gained access to presales on June 6 and 10, respectively. Instantly after the announcement of the shows on June 2, people camped outside Allianz Parque to purchase physical tickets to the São Paulo shows that would not go on sale to the general public until June 12.The Mastercard presale tickets sold out in 30 minutes, with over one million customers queueing.On June 12, over two million users queued for the general sale online
