Farewell To My 'Eras' Era
Graphic by Julia Norkus
By Karenna Umscheid
As the US leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour draws to a close, it’s sweet and nostalgic to look at where it all began. For me, and thousands of other Swifties, that was frantic text messages sent back-and-forth in all caps between my friend and I, while she waited for hours in the Ticketmaster queue—otherwise known as “The Great War.” I told her to get any two seats she could find and that I would pay anything for them. July 22, 2023. Seattle, Night One. It had felt so far away back in November, but the long-awaited day came, and to say that Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ blew me away would be a gross understatement.
The Eras Tour is a pop music phenomenon like no other, a culture made of writing ‘13’ on your hand, trading friendship bracelets that say anything from song titles like ‘cruel summer’ and ‘lover,’ to more unhinged ones that said ‘scooter is a bitch’ and ‘speak never john.’ It has breathed life into my summer, smothering my TikTok For You Page with people mimicking Swift’s show outfits from scratch, as well as keeping track of surprise songs in spreadsheets and predicting what she would play for each new city.
The Swiftie Craze is hard to explain for those who aren’t already in it, but to be a Taylor Swift fan is to be a part of a community of popular music culture. Most of us have grown up alongside her, watching her traverse from each era and genre with grace. A news clip from her documentary Miss Americana said it best—“Taylor Swift is the music industry.” The Eras Tour is a chance to relive the songs that have scored our adolescence, from pure joy and romance, to heartbreak and fear, all executed beautifully in production and spectacle. Most fans opted to dress on theme and channel a specific album era of Swift’s. From donning news print, gold, and black for reputation, to cowboy boots and hats with soft, white or yellow dresses for Fearless, to a shirt saying “Not A Lot Going On At The Moment” with a black hat and a red lip for Red. Fans also came dressed in witty shirts printed with quips like “It’s Me, Hi. I’m the Dad, It’s Me.” (a parody of the lyrics to “Anti Hero”) to inside jokes like “my mind is alive” and “still swift af boi.” The day before my concert, my sister and I waited in the merch line for three hours, making friends with the girls standing next to us, swapping surprise song hopes and dreams. At the concert, I was dressed as Lover, with a hot pink dress, white cowboy boots, and a glitter heart around my eye, and my friend dressed as reputation with a black dress and black combat boots. I traded bracelets at my seats, at the CapitolOne booth, on the bus on the way there, while waiting outside the stadium, and left with so many that my wrists and forearms were covered in marks. The electric excitement of Swifties was at its peak when “Applause” by Lady Gaga played from the speakers, a sign that the two-minute countdown was soon to follow.
The show begins with a haunting background medley featuring an echoing “Big reputation” from “End Game” alongside “It’s been a long time coming” from “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince,” leading the crowd seamlessly into for the first number. Among the echoing applause Swift dives headfirst into fan favorite, “Cruel Summer,” and the lyrics to the bridge echo all throughout the stadium. The crowd's cheers are almost deafening. Swift, enhanced by the power of her fans, launches into “The Man” next. She introduces the song by flexing her arms and saying “I guess what I’m trying to say is, you’re making me feel like I’m the man!” The infamous Lover house, from the eponymous music video, lurks behind her on the screen, a preview of all the eras she’s about to enter. After the news of her breakup with longtime partner Joe Alwyn was released, she subtly hinted to it before a performance of “Lover,” explaining that these songs, at one point, were written about her life. Now, she hopes for the songs to remind fans of their own lives, and the memories they’ve made alongside her music. As she finishes “The Archer,” the Lover house goes up in flames and yellow sparks, indicating that we’re moving on to the next era.
The title track to the timeless country album Fearless is instantly recognizable, its classic twang evoking screams of excitement from the crowd. Swift and the audience put their hands in a heart shape and hold it above their head, Swift beaming at the timelessness of this Fearless-era gesture. I remember watching the “You Belong With Me” music video religiously in first grade and singing it on the playground at recess, so to see it live was truly magical. And “Love Story” is, of course, a smash hit.
Evergreen trees emerge from beneath the stage, and, in the shows before July 22, “tis the damn season” would start. With HAIM joining Swift as an opener on the West Coast dates of the tour, the intro to “no body no crime” began to play instead and the crowd erupted into ecstatic cheers upon hearing the eerie sirens. HAIM’s electric stage presence paired perfectly with the show, making for an extremely fun surprise to kick off an extremely sad era. I had forgotten that “marjorie” was on the setlist—a beautiful, solemn track about grief where fans turn on their phone flashlights as a sign of love for Swift. The rest of the set is just as soft and beautiful, with Swift gushing about how excited she has been to hear a live crowd scream the lyrics “She’s fucked in the head” during “champagne problems.” She engages in theatricality and drama during the performance of “tolerate it” and after she’s pushed the fancy shit off the table, it’s time to go to the next era.
The reputation era begins with slithering snakes and a quiet hissing emanating from the stage, bracelet lights suddenly flashing green and the ground shaking to the iconic entrance of “...Ready For It?” The strength of Swiftie culture has produced many call-and-response type chants, like a Taylor Swift version of Rocky Horror Picture Show screenings. The most popular one is to scream “1, 2, 3, let’s go bitch!” after the first verse in “Delicate,” a tradition started during the Reputation Stadium Tour in 2018. One of the most electrifying moments in the entire show is the seamless transition from “Don’t Blame Me” into “Look What You Made Me Do,” with strobe lights welcoming us into one of Swift’s most notorious lead singles, and the last song of this era. During the song, she sings to versions of herself from all her past eras, all of whom beg to be let out of their glass cages, a nod to her re-recordings.
Out of the darkness, Swift emerges wearing a stunning ball gown amid purple lights flashing throughout the stadium, and sings “Enchanted” for the crowd. Every descriptor used in that song about infatuation from a fairytale-like encounter could just as easily describe a night at the Eras Tour. Upon the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Swift added the flawless, powerful closing track “Long Live” to the setlist, beginning with the night one Kansas City show. This is my favorite track from Speak Now, reminding me of leaving high school, as well as all the other milestone changes in my life. I cry every time she sings the lyric “Bring on all the pretenders / I’m not afraid.”
To begin the Red era, a dancer wheels out of a big red box, opening it to reveal a few seconds of some beloved Red songs, including “State of Grace” and “Holy Ground,” before launching into the first song of the set, “22.” Swift then runs out in an iconic Red-era t-shirt, with phrases like “Who’s Taylor Swift anyway? Ew.” and “We Are Never Getting Back Together. Like Ever.” The sweetest moment of the concert, for me, was seeing her take her hat off and give it to a fan, as the audience cheered with love and joy for them, freaking out after being touched by the Taylor Swift. The Red set ends with fan favorite “All Too Well (Ten Minute Version),” memorized by pretty much every person in the crowd and if you don’t know it, you might as well just leave! Performed by just Swift and her guitar, her odyssey, her masterpiece of young love and heartbreak, it closed out the Red era in scarf-drawn style.
The folklore set once began with Swift laying on the roof of a cabin, singing “invisible string.” But in another fun surprise, she’s swapped it with “the 1”—perhaps a nod to her recent breakup with Joe Alwyn? Who knows. She sings every song of the folklore love triangle with witty storytelling prowess and vocal beauty, but the best parts of the folklore set are “illicit affairs” and “my tears ricochet.” Swift sings only the bridge of “illicit affairs,” but she does so twice, immediately following “august” with passion and vocals unparalleled by any recording of the song. She performs the entirety of the gut-wrenching track five “my tears ricochet,” with unbridled anger and magnificent dramatics. The quarantine-produced fairy tale of folklore ends, with another Grammy-winning era to follow.
Screams of “What time is it?” jump out from the crowd when the opening beats of “Style” play, just in time for Swift to answer the prompt with the first word of the song, “Midnight!” Swift’s Grammy-winning pop perfection 1989 courses in glowing-blue bracelets through the crowd, from one hit to the next. She brings back the infamous golf clubs during “Blank Space” from her 1989 World Tour, and provides stellar vocals to each track, my favorite being the masterpiece “Shake It Off.” During “Bad Blood” the crowd references the Kendrick Lamar remix by yelling “You forgive, you forget, but you never let it go!” and gusts of fire shoot up as Swift belts “If you love like that, blood runs cold!” The crowd is burned, electrified, energized, eagerly anticipating the most mysterious hour of the night, surprise song o’clock!
Even though there were dozens of songs I would have died to hear live, the two that I had wanted to hear the most were “I Know Places” and “Hits Different.” I kept the extensive list in my notes app, many of my picks tragically struck through as Swift played them at a previous show. I fell to my knees when I found out she had already done “Hits Different,” and despite her saying that she could repeat Midnights tracks as many times as she wants, I knew the possibility of her playing it for me was unlikely. Though my heart weeps for my lost chance of hearing “I Know Places” live, I feel extremely lucky to have gotten a show with “Long Live” and “no body no crime” on the setlist, as well as “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things,” one of my favorite reputation tracks, as a surprise song. Tragically, my other surprise song, “Everything Has Changed” isn’t one I know very well—but I still loved hearing it live!
Swift then dives underneath the stage, and emerges sparkling for the Midnights set, the final era of the night. She appears in a shimmery top and big purple coat, perfect to sing “Lavender Haze” in. The most notorious song of the Midnights set would be “Vigilante Shit,” where Swift does a provocative chair dance to her tale of glorious, sexy revenge. The rest of the set is an absolute blast, a Swift dance party like no other. She goes from “Bejeweled” to “Mastermind” and ends with “Karma,” with fireworks going off at the end of the final song. Swift thanks the crowd and gives a humble, loving bow to the audience before dancing off.
The Eras Tour is a mega-hit, a concert like no other, and I feel so incredibly lucky to have gotten to experience it. Swift makes me hopeful for the future of the music industry—fighting for ownership of her music, writing songs true to herself for her entire career, and putting on spectacular shows. I can’t wait to see what else she has in store for the future, a pop phenom, a true mastermind.