Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour has taken the world by storm since March 17, 2023, playing every weekend for over six months at completely sold out stadiums.

People of all ages have been able to enjoy it by dressing up as some of Taylor’s eras and even exchanging friendship bracelets with strangers who they meet either in merch lines, around their seats, or even just around the stadium. 

I went to the tour on August 8, which was the second to last day of the U.S. leg of the tour. While I was there, I saw some pretty amazing costumes, with most of them being based around their favorite Taylor Swift song or era. My costume was from her “I Bet You Think About Me” music video from Red. One thing to note is that most people at the concert are very friendly; I got a lot of compliments on my outfit.

Another thing to add is that the merch lines are extremely long. Oftentimes, those who wanted the famous blue crewneck were out of luck, for they had them in only a few sizes and were even sometimes limited to only two crewnecks per person. I didn’t get the blue crewneck, but I still stood in line for over two hours for merch and made it to my seat just about 10

minutes before she got on stage. This meant that I didn’t get to see the openers Gracie Abrams and HAIM, but fortunately, you could hear them all throughout the stadium.

When I finally went to my seat, I luckily got to see the crew roll her to the stage inside of the “cleaning cart,” which is a cart that Taylor hides in so no one sees her before she gets on stage.

Then, myself along with other fans waited for the famous clock to start, knowing that she’s “the 1” that we have been waiting for ever since tickets dropped in late 2022.

Review of the Sets

Lover

Taylor kick starts her setlist with songs from her album Lover, which is an allusion to Loverfest. This was supposed to be her tour for Lover back in 2020, but unfortunately it got canceled due to Covid. In this set, she sings six songs, starting with “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince,” then goes into “Cruel Summer,” where she sings her first bridge of the tour, which gets everyone pumped and ready for the rest of the night. 

She then goes on to sing “The Man,” “You Need To Calm Down,” “Lover,” and finally ends with “The Archer,” which I believe is the perfect song to end the set.

Fearless

Keeping true to the order of her albums, Taylor’s next set is Fearless, where she sings her three most iconic songs: “Fearless,” “You Belong With Me,” and of course “Love Story.” 

These songs are perfect concert songs, as they are loved by all Swifties, energizing, and songs that everyone knows the words too. Plus during “You Belong With Me” after she sings, “I’m the one who makes you laugh when you know you’re ’bout to cry,” everyone in the stadium claps twice to the beat of the song. It is a really cute way for everyone at the tour to bond and interact in a way with Taylor.

Fearless is the first set of the tour that is already Taylor’s Version, or a re-record of the album. This is a loophole that Taylor found that allows her to own her music after Scooter Braun, owner of the old record label she first signed with, sold her first six albums Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation. 

The other Taylor’s Version sets are Red and the recently added Speak Now. However on October 27, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) will be released, leaving Taylor Swift and Reputation as the only stolen versions left.

evermore

The evermore set is one of my favorite sets of the entire tour, and she picked some of her best songs to sing: “‘tis the damn season,” “willow,” “marjorie,” “champagne

problems,” and “tolerate it.” However, on days when HAIM is her openers, she replaces “‘tis the damn season” with “no body, no crime,” and even sings it with the Haim sisters as she does on the actual album.

One of the most memorable moments of the night was when Taylor sang “marjorie,” a song dedicated to her grandmother who passed away when she was younger. Her grandmother was an opera singer, so in the song as well as the tour, Taylor plays recordings of her grandmother singing to honor her, and so that her grandma was there at every tour date and could sing along with her on stage. 

Fans also took it upon themselves to turn on the flashlights on their phone, making the stadium light up. It’s definitely one of the most sentimental moments, and one that will definitely make you cry, if you’re emotional like me.

Reputation

Taylor starts the Reputation set with “…Ready For It?”, getting everyone hyped again  after being emotionally destroyed by evermore. Then, she sings “Delicate,” “Don’t Blame Me,” and the iconic “Look What You Made Me Do.” 

You need to listen to the transition from “Don’t Blame Me’ to  “Look What You Made Me Do” if you haven’t already. It is the perfect transition and fits so well together. It is 100% the best transition of the entire tour.

An unusual thing about the set is that it happens to be the only set that Taylor does not have different outfits for. At every show, she wears her iconic black bodysuit with a red snake slithered around her leg, torso, and even arm. Will we finally get a new outfit when Reputation (Taylor’s Version) is announced?

Speak Now 

Behold the album that had the first Taylor’s Version announcement at the Eras Tour: Speak Now. 

Almost all of Taylors fans knew that Speak Now was next on the list, and almost everyone had different theories. Some believed that Taylor’s T-shirts from Red would spell it out, but most everyone believed Taylors performance in “Look What You Made Me Do” gave it away. This is due to the fact that during the performance, Taylor’s dancers dress up as her eras, and in one part of the song, they are trapped inside of boxes spinning around her. During the months before Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) was announced, she would point to the Speak Now version of herself during the verse about karma and sing, “Maybe I got mine, but you’ll all get yours.”

Before Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) was released, Taylor only played “Enchanted” as the only song on the set, disappointing many fans. However, after its release, Taylor has started playing “Long Live,” a song dedicated to her fans that she waited to play until she officially owned it.

Red

Just like the order of the albums themselves, after Speak Now comes Red, which she kicks off with her most iconic song “22.” During this song, she wears her famous T-shirt, black shorts, and hat. She switches the sayings on her T-shirt from “A lot going on at the moment” to even “Who is Taylor Swift Anyway? Ew.” She also gives away her hat every night to a random fan, mostly to younger ones who will remember the moment forever. It is a very sweet moment that every fan loves, especially if they’re the ones receiving the hat. 

After “22,” Taylor moves onto “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “I Knew You Were Trouble,” and finally ends the set with the famous “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” which fans can all agree is a top-tier song due to it’s astounding and breathtaking lyrics.

folklore 

The folklore set is one of the longest sets on the tour, which definitely is not a bad thing. Folklore is one of my favorite albums, and Taylor sings most if not all of my favorite songs.

For some shows, Taylor started off by singing “Invisible String,” but after the news broke out that she and her boyfriend Joe Alwyn broke up, she started the set by singing “the 1” since “Invisible String” was about Joe and how they were destined to be together. Both songs are great without any doubt, but I wish at my show she would have played “invisible string,” as it is my favorite song on the entire album. 

However, Taylor makes up for it by singing “Betty,” “August,” and even “Cardigan” throughout her set: the entirety of the folklore love triangle. These songs are loved by all, and at least one song is on everyone’s top three in the album overall, especially since it deals with teenage love.

Taylor wanted her fans to feel every emotion possible for the night, for she even plays “illicit affairs” as well as “My Tears Ricochet,” songs that got most of the stadium in their feels.

1989

During the 1989 set at the 8/8 show, everyone stood up, knowing that 1989 would soon be reclaimed as hers. I knew we weren’t going to be the lucky ones to get the announcement, for the next day was August 9 (8/9), but it was still exciting knowing that it was next and that after  its release only Taylor Swift and Reputation would be the only stolen versions left. 

This is yet another set where Taylor plays all of her iconic songs, including “Style,” “Blank Space,” “Shake It Off,” “Wildest Dreams,” and finally finishing the set with “Bad Blood.” 

1989 is definitely one of those sets that can get everyone dancing. Not only is every song a bop, but it’s yet another nostalgic album for many, myself included since the first and only other concert I ever went to was the 1989 World Tour back in 2015. 

Surprise Songs

The absolute most anticipated moment of the night is definitely the surprise songs, where Taylor plays two songs that she doesn’t sing at all on the regular set. The first song she sings on the guitar, whilst the other on the piano. As people enjoy the concert, they can’t help but feel excited for the end of the night when they get to hear the surprise songs that Taylor has in store for them. Will they be “The Lucky One” and get their favorite songs? Will they get a song Taylor has never sung on any night of the tour? Or will they get a recycled surprise song? 

People all over social media even make predictions about songs that every show will get, and they even dare themselves to do certain things if Taylor sings a certain song. They basically say, “If Taylor sings _, then I will _.”

I did not make a prediction about what songs I would get formally, but I guess you could technically say that I did, since I happened to make myself a “King of My Heart” friendship bracelet, which was the second surprise song sung on the piano. My first surprise song was “I Know Places,” and for both songs, I screamed as loud as I could as soon as I heard the first few notes since both songs happen to be some of my favorites in Taylor’s discography. 

“Looking at it now,” I am incredibly grateful that I got these songs; Taylor hadn’t even ever played these songs acoustically before. It also 1000% made up for all of my other favorites that Taylor had sadly already sung.

Midnights

At the end of the surprise songs, Taylor dives into the stage, turning into a koi fish and transitioning into “Lavender Haze,” her first song on Midnights. Since it is Taylor’s newest album (besides the re-recording of Speak Now), she sings a total of six songs, which may be due to the fact that she sings a lot of Midnights surprise songs, and allows herself to sing them as many times as she wants. 

During the set, she sings “Midnight Rain,” “Vigilante S—,” “Bejeweled,” “Mastermind,” and ends the night with the fan favorite “Karma,” which she even sang with Ice Spice for a few weeks after the release of the remix.

As the end of the song approached, it was hard to not feel sad. The three hours seem to go by so fast, and it’s difficult to come to terms with the fact that it’s over. 

The walk back to the car after standing up for three hours and singing your heart out is dreadful. My voice was extremely hoarse, and the best part was that there was so much traffic that I had to walk over a mile just to get to the car. In my opinion, it was worse than the walk back home after a full day at Disneyland, but it was the completion of the full experience of the Eras Tour. In the end, it was all worth it.

“Question…?” Can I Still Buy Tickets?

Tickets are available for resale for international dates on Stubhub, with the next date being on November 9 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Tickets for the Argentina dates can be as low as $269, but can go as high as thousands. Fortunately however, these prices are much lower than the U.S. tour, whose lowest price was about $500 for nosebleed seats.

Taylor is also doing a North America leg, where she will come back to the U.S. and play in Miami, Florida, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Indianapolis, Indiana before finally hitting up Toronto, Ontario.

“long story short,” if you’re planning to go to The Eras Tour, you will have a blast!