For anyone thinking that 2023 mega tours from Adele, the Rolling Stones, Beyonce, Ed Sheeran and even the $5,000 man, Bruce Springsteen, would be next year’s hottest concert tickets, step aside: current Billboard charts Top 200 Albums topper with Midnights (to say nothing of ruling the Top 100 with its 10 leading singles), Taylor Swift, just announced her Eras Stadium Tour of the United States. Starting in Glendale, Arizona in March with a split list of female opening acts among all of its dates – Paramore, beabadoobee, Phoebe Bridgers, girl in red, MUNA, HAIM, GAYLE, Gracie Abrams, and OWENN – before ending in Los Angeles in August, Swift will surely move through to Great Britain, Latin America and the rest of the planet after August to complete her Midnights’ world domination.
Already starting Taylor’s ascending supremacy, beyond owning the Top 10 songs of the month – the first recording artist, ever, to do so – the many multiples of Swift in various costumes and dresses, can be seen haunting the rush of Capital One ads with her music toiling in the background during the World Series; surely, a metaphor for her ubiquity to come.
I may not have dug Swift’s coy appearance on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon on October 24, when she stated she “should [go on tour]. When it’s time, [I will] do it” – it’s like watching guests of honor at birthday parties feign humility and say “should we open the presents” – but I have to admit, Swiftie knows a good set up when she sees it. And if you find interest in nothing else about Swift, it is the fact that she, with every calculated move she makes and line she writes, she is forming clues and developing Easter eggs – or entire sets of Russian Dolls – as to what comes next hidden within even more enigmatic folds. That’s how we started the Midnights cycle to begin with: Swift showed up at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards in August 28, 2022 (winning three Moonmen) and, in her acceptance speech for the Video of the Year award, announced a “brand-new” studio album scheduled for release on October 21, 2022 along with a new website that, that same evening at – ugh, midnight – updated itself with a clock counting and the phrase “Meet me at midnight. Then, her social media accounts all stated at once that Swift’s tenth studio album would be titled Midnights, accompanied by a premise and a temporary version of the cover – “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout [her] life”. That official website crashed due to heavy traffic. People love to be teased and hoodwinked.
While a large portion of her ascendancy has been Swift’s ability to morph from country to pop to dance to folk to now – with Midnights being some sort of softcore mash-up of all the above styles touched by her newly formed mix of personal confessional and observational lyric writing – it should be noted that the concert Swiftie, too, has gone through the same changes in a live setting. Having not toured since 2018’s Reputation Stadium Tour (also commenced in Glendale, WTF?!), and the travelling carnival covering every musical move up to Lover, her 2017 album, one has to be curious as to what can come of set consisting of such psyche-ripping, atmospheric acoustic music (2020’s Folklore and Evermore) and the fluffier dance pop likes of Lover (2019) and the connected tissue of it all that makes up Midnights (2022).
While I certainly recall being at previous live showcases such as the Fearless Tour (2009–2010), the Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012), the Red Tour (2013–2014) and the 1989 World Tour (2015) – the latter being her real arrival to the mega-concert stage – the Reputation Stadium Tour probably gives off the greatest set of scents and reference points as to what to expect from the Eras Tour.
For one, Swift, in 2018, also welcomed a woman-only list of openers in which to share her stage in Camila Cabello and Charli XCX. Secondly, the Broadway-like extravaganza of the Reputation Tour – in a stadium with trapeze artists, not a place for nuance or quietude – did manage to allow for a sense of intimacy crucial to her still-growing capabilities as an emotional singer and songwriter, all while moving seamless from mood to mood to mood and its accompanying sonic locution. With so much folderol, Swift did manage on the less dance (and dancer-filled) oriented moments to conjure up the feeling of being home, or homecoming.
While I am neither a choreographer or a set designer, I can speculate to that what the Eras Tour will look like when it comes to including non-played live numbers from Lover (twee dance pop, eh) the gorgeously lustrous ambience folk of Evermore and Folklore and the mood swinging, confessionals of Midnights.
Imagine, if you will, how the cool and edgy “Vigilante Shit” – the track on Midnights supposedly dedicated to the weirdly splitting marriage of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, after they attempted to derail her career – and its “Now she gets the house, gets the kids, gets the pride / Picture me, thick as thieves with your ex-wife/And she looks so pretty/ Driving in your Benz” would look bathed in bold mean reds. Or how “Karma” – built to dis Kanye, Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun (the latter two for taking her Big Machine Records masters then selling them off to private equity investors without allowing her to bid) – would look in envy green. The short story form of Evermore and Folklore and the tenderness of tracks such as “Cardigan” “Betty”, and “Exile” from Folklore, and “Willow”, “No Body, No Crime”, and “Coney Island” from Evermore will surely be witnessed broken down into their own homey stage motif/setting – a brand of staging that Swift has used in the past to dynamic effect. And picture, if you will, new Midnight songs such as “Anti-Hero” topped in blue-black glow, “Lavender Haze” (of course) swimming in purples and pinks) and “Snow on the Beach” (the song featuring the female Chet Baker, Lana Del Rey) billowing with pillowy snow.
Here’s something to know, too about the Eras Tour because these tickets will move fast:
To ensure tickets to Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour get into the hands of fans, Taylor Swift has partnered with Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program. Fans can register HERE for the TaylorSwiftTix Presale powered by Verified Fan starting now through Wednesday, November 9 at 11:59PM ET.
Registered fans who receive a code will have exclusive access to purchase tickets on Tuesday, November 15 starting at 10AM local venue time. Only fans that have received a unique code will have the chance to purchase tickets starting at $49 up to $449. In addition, VIP packages will start at $199 up to $899 on a first come, first served basis.
Previous Lover Fest Verified Fan purchasers will receive preferred access to participate in the TaylorSwiftTix Presale. Please make sure that you register with the same Ticketmaster Account as your Lover Fest purchase. Public on-sale begins Friday, November 18 at 10AM local venue time. Registration for the TaylorSwiftTix Presale powered by Verified Fan is open now.
The dance to Taylor Swift’s Eras Stadium Tour starts now.
