By Matija Šerić

One of the specific aspects of the tour was that, during its run, Taylor Swift released re-recordings of her older albums (“Speak Now” and “1989 (Taylor’s Version)”) as well as an entirely new album, “The Tortured Poets Department” (TTPD). This affirmed just how wise the decision was for Taylor Swift to re-record her earlier work after the rights to the original masters were sold without her consent—first to Scooter Braun through his acquisition of Big Machine Records, and then to Disney’s investment firm Shamrock Holdings. New music videos were also released, including for “I Can See You” from Speak Now and “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” both of which were featured during the shows.

Tour highlights
Taylor and her team carried out this massive and demanding project flawlessly, through sunshine, rain, and wind. A particularly challenging performance took place at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, in May 2023, where rain poured like a waterfall, yet Swift and her band were undeterred. The only minor errors during the entire tour involved the occasional wardrobe malfunction, a rare moment of forgetting lyrics, or the keyboard acting up. However, even these spontaneous moments added charm and authenticity to the performances, showcasing Taylor’s spontaneity and professionalism in front of tens of thousands of fans.

Let’s not forget the third London concert in June 2024, where Taylor’s boyfriend, American football player Travis Kelce, appeared as a surprise guest dancer. In his honor, Taylor changed the lyrics of “Karma” from “Karma is the guy on the screen” to “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs.” Another brilliant moment was when she invited Sabrina Carpenter on stage during the second concert in New Orleans.

The only blemish on the tour was the cancellation of three Vienna concerts in August 2024 due to a terrorist threat. Still, the responsibility for the threat didn’t lie with Swift or her team but with the Austrian intelligence services, which failed to prevent the conspiracy. In any case, it was better to cancel the concerts than to risk a potential tragedy.

Swiftmania
Thousands of fans followed the concerts via livestreams on social media, a trend sparked by Swifties—Taylor’s incredibly active and vast fandom. In October 2023, the official concert film was released, followed by the extended Taylor’s Version in March 2024. A companion book came out in November 2024. Both the film and the book sparked massive lines outside cinemas and bookstores, breaking numerous records.

The sheer enthusiasm of the fans was evident in how their reactions during some concerts, such as in Los Angeles (August 2023) and Edinburgh (June 2024), caused actual seismic activity—mini-earthquakes triggered by the audience’s dancing, jumping, and the booming music. The euphoria was especially visible during the concerts in Munich, where fans without tickets crowded the nearby hills overlooking the Olympic Stadium. Similarly, despite the canceled shows in Vienna, fans flooded the city’s main square and streets, singing Taylor’s biggest hits for days—a truly unprecedented event.

The most profitable tour of all time
Financially, The Eras Tour broke all records, becoming the highest-grossing tour in history. Over 10 million tickets were sold, and the tour grossed $2.07 billion—an amount roughly equivalent to the GDP of Seychelles. No other artist has ever achieved such earnings. The next closest is Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour, which earned $1.2 billion. Taylor, as the world’s highest-paid female singer, was generous in sharing the success—she paid out nearly $200 million in bonuses to her team as a token of appreciation.

Swiftonomics
Beyond the concerts themselves, the tour generated an economic boom for every city it visited. This phenomenon, dubbed Swiftonomics, involved massive sales of merchandise at stadiums, and booming business for hotels, restaurants, cafes, malls, public transport, tourist attractions, and small businesses. It’s no wonder—cities were flooded with fans from around the globe. The tour is estimated to have contributed over $10 billion to the global economy.

An emotional ending and the close of an era
The final concerts in Vancouver were emotionally charged, especially the last show on December 8. Both fans and Taylor struggled to hold back tears, aware that this was the end of something historic. During the acoustic set, Taylor performed a mashup on guitar of “A Place in This World” from her debut album and “New Romantics” from 1989. The mashup symbolized the beginning and evolution of her career. “A Place in This World” speaks to the search for identity and belonging, while “New Romantics” marks Taylor’s transformation into a global superstar, symbolizing the freedom and independence she has gained over the years.

Mashup: A Place in This World – New Romantics

Chairman of the Tortured Poets Department then sat at the piano and played a triple mashup of “Long Live” from Speak Now, “New Year’s Day” from Reputation, and “The Manuscript” from TTPD. In “Long Live,” a song dedicated to fans, Taylor changed the lyric from “it was the end of a decade / but the start of an age” to “it was the end of an era / but the start of an age,” thus marking the close of one era in her career. “New Year’s Day” sends a message about the importance of preserving love in the face of external challenges and changes—a subtle announcement of the new age in her artistic journey.

Choosing “The Manuscript” as the final song was intentional—it’s the closing track on TTPD. At the first acoustic set in Glendale, she played “Tim McGraw,” her debut single from 2006. This came full circle. “The Manuscript” is Taylor’s tribute to the Swiftie community, which she affirmed on stage with the line: “then I reread the manuscript, but the story isn’t mine anymore.” With this, she emphasized that her work had become bigger than herself as an artist.

Mashup: Long Live – New Year’s Day – The Manuscript

“The Music Industry”
Through the magnificent and brilliant The Eras Tour, Taylor Swift has further solidified her status as a megastar and a cultural phenomenon—so much so that the only fitting descriptor remains the one given to her by Bloomberg journalist Barbara Walters back in 2014: The Music Industry. Parallels can be drawn with the Beatles and Michael Jackson. But in today’s music scene, there is Taylor Swift—and then there’s everyone else. And no, The Eras Tour was not a farewell; it was the end of one era and the beginning of an age. In the times ahead, Taylor Swift will continue to enrich the world with her presence and her art. New projects are just around the corner—more on that in upcoming articles.