“The rest of the world was black and white, she was in screaming colors ”
If you have opened any of your social media apps in the past month, chances are, you already know everything about the Eras Tours. Taylor Swift and her Eras tour have taken the world by storm. Since the day of its announcement, every fan has been dreaming of attending the concert. From serving outfits to saving the world economy, there is no doubt that the tour has been a massive success.
Let us dive a little deeper into this tour and everything that happened so far in this journey. Coming from a swiftie, best believe this article is going to be bejewelled with puns.
The tour began on March 17, 2023, in Glendale, USA, and is set to end on August 17, 2024, in London, England. Miss Americana is going to be performing 131 shows across five continents. The tickets for each of the performing stadiums have been met with an insanely high demand. The fans struggled to get tickets for each stadium because millions of people were accessing the website at once. The number of people booking the tickets was so high that on the first day of the ticket sales, November 15th, Ticketmaster (the website to book the tickets) crashed. Many even sued the company for not being able to book the tickets. Despite this on the very first day 2.4 million tickets were sold, making the highest single-day sale in the history of music. And yet, I believe millions of us missed the opportunity to attend this three hour blissful labyrinth disguised as the Eras Tour.
The Evermore Eras
What sets this tour apart is the fact that Taylor Swift performs all her albums in every concert. Taylor Swift is not the first artist to have different eras associated with different phases of her life but she has certainly popularised the concept. Each album is a different era, associated with different emotions, styles, colours, and vibes.
Love her or hate her, you must admit that she is one of the most renowned pop icons in the history of music. Her fans, “the swifties”, are an entire mass of new romantics, who shower her with love and support for every step that she takes in her career.
With a career spanning seventeen years, she has released ten studio albums, each of which is an entire era. It has made this tour a one-stop destination for all tastes of music lovers. From pop to country, and folk to alternative rock, accompanied by stage effects, this is one of the most diverse concerts in the history of music. The tour, to its audience, is not just a series of concerts but an entire carnival, because every era performance becomes an emotional rollercoaster. The crowds are shaking it off to her 1989 performances and bawling over “champagne problems” the next minute.
Gleaming and Twinkling
From the outfits worn by Taylor Swift to the stage illustrations and appurtenances, everything felt like a gold rush, enigmatic like a lavender haze would. Words will not do justice to the aesthetics and visual beauty that was witnessed by the attendees. I am not kidding, check out the video clips of this tour if you haven’t already because you are missing out on something gorgeous. Not just the artist and crew, but even the fans got to be a part of the exquisite visuals using high-end technology. At the beginning of each show, the fans receive an LED- laser bracelet. This bracelet was controlled by the engineers, which helped them create these amazing layouts.
As the show switched from one era to another, so did the stage, background dancers, and most importantly, Taylor Swift’s outfits. While performing her album Red, the entire stage vibe becomes all too red. But as we move towards the next act, the album folklore, the stage is converted into a green forest to match the vibe of the album. Immediately, when it’s time for her next act, the era of 1989, all the fairy lights are replaced with neon, and the stage lights up like streets in New York. Now imagine witnessing Taylor switch such aesthetics nine times in a single night. From the confetti showered in the show to the fans dressing up as different songs, everything about this tour has a vibe. It is named “the Eras tour” for a reason.
As far as her clothes are concerned, I believe that they deserve an entire blog segment of their own. From dreamy and romantic gowns to slithering-snake bodysuits, each era received its outfit, in the way that it deserved. All of the outfits were customised and hand-crafted by luxury designer labels such as Versace and Roberto Cavalli. The most expensive of these was the infamous pink gown of the speak-now era which cost $13000. But this is not the only place where money is involved in the tour. The era’s tour has managed to pull some invisible strings that manage the global economy.
The Mastermind
With around 54,000 people attending per show, through one night of the era’s tour, Taylor Swift has been estimated to earn 13 million dollars. The entire revenue generated from this tour is expected to be 1.4 billion dollars. At this rate, this tour is predicted to make Taylor Swift a billionaire by the end of her last show in London. Taylor is not the only person getting rich from this tour.
The stadiums and their cities of the era’s tour have now become the holy ground for money. At each stadium, fans from all over America booked their tickets to attend the concert. This single motive has helped the entire tourism chain for the cities in which Taylor Swift decides to perform. The flight tickets saw a surge in their sales for flights destined in this city, and so did the hotels. The sudden rise in people shopping and eating from the local stores actually helped a few shops from closing down or running out of business. Whenever outsiders spend money, it increases the purchasing capacity of the locals and provides additional tax to the government. This has had such an impact on the economy of America, that governors from various states, and other countries are personally requesting Taylor to host a show in their city.
Queen of hearts
No one in their wildest dreams could have imagined the level of success this tour has accomplished. Throughout the tour so far, Taylor Swift has continued to surprise her fans with new songs, and the announcement of her re-recorded album speak now. All of these surprises were hyped by the fans and acted as great marketing tactics that helped the tour and shows stay relevant.
Call it what you want to, but Swifties are the best marketers any artist could ever have. Like mentioned in the beginning, every social media platform is blowing up with Taylor Swift content and the algorithm is going insane over the interactions each posts receive. From appreciating her performance to making fun of the accident of this tour, the fan pages have one tik tok for every incident you could possibly imagine. Watching videos of thousands of people singing a bridge of her song, may not be as good as attending the actual tour, but it certainly helps those swifties who couldn’t attend from feeling left out. And the best part is that you can see Taylor Swift happy, energetic, and interactive throughout these performances. It becomes very clear that she loves the fans as much as they love her. With such love and support from her fans, Taylor Swift manages to never go out of style. If you are lucky enough to attend the concert, make sure you post it online so that we can write another article on The Eras Tour.
Written by – Mrunal Deo
Edited by – Shamonnita Banerjee
