- Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour concludes tonight (December 8)
- The mammoth world tour began in March 2023
- It saw Swift celebrate tracks from all 11 of her albums
After 152 shows in five continents and 51 cities, Taylor Swift‘s gigantic Eras Tour comes to an end tonight (December 8).
The final gig will take place in Vancouver, Canada after Swift has spent almost two years on the road. In that time, the Eras tour has become the highest-grossing concert tour in history and is estimated to have sold around just over 11 million tickets.
In addition, the tour has also kick-started a host of new trends in live music. The celebrated ‘surprise songs’ segment, where she plays unexpected deep cuts from her albums, led to more artists reaching into their back catalogues for their own live shows. Fans have also developed their own trends that have spread to other fan groups, such as making and exchanging friendship bracelets.
Swifties have had a constant supply of moments to celebrate and share online – but which are the most iconic? Let’s find out…
Announcing 1989 (Taylor’s Version), August 2023
At the end of Swift’s first leg of shows in North America, she announced her re-recorded version of her fifth album 1989 was on the way.
Some fans had wondered if it was coming based on the day of the show – August 9, 2023, which would be written down as 8/9.
They also noticed that she was wearing more blue outfits during that show in reference to the new album’s cover art. The new artwork was projected onto a screen at the end of the gig.
1989 (Taylor’s Version) was later released on October 27, 2023, exactly nine years to the day that the original album came out.
The first surprise song mash-up, November 2023
When she first did surprise songs, Swift promised she would only play each song once unless she made a mistake. However, further into the tour, she said all of her deep cuts were “fair game” once again.
Later in the tour, she kept things fresh by introducing mash-ups into the surprise song section. The first of these took place in Argentina in November 2023, where she played Is It Over Now? (from the re-recorded version of 1989) mashed up with Out Of The Woods from the original 2014 album.
Mash-ups didn’t just add an extra element of unpredictability to the surprise songs sections, but it gave fans even more to look forward to.
The Tortured Poets Department joins the setlist, May 2024
If Swift wasn’t already having a busy year, she also pulled off the Herculean feat of dropping a new album in the middle of the world tour.
Released in April, Swift’s 11th album was quickly added to the setlist when she began the European leg of the Eras tour in the spring.
During the opening show in Paris, she she performed a mash-up of But Daddy I Love Him and So High School, followed by Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?, Down Bad, Fortnight, The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived and I Can Do It With A Broken Heart.
It was traditionally performed with Swift and her backing dancers in white outfits, matching the album’s colour scheme.
Bringing out Travis Kelce, June 2024
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are rarely far apart – she is often seen at his football games, while he’s also been spotted in the crowd at multiple Eras shows. At one show, however, he got to have a moment in the spotlight.
During a show at London’s Wembley Stadium this summer, Swift brought her boyfriend on stage. Kelce, who was dressed like her other backing dancers, picked Swift up off the floor, placed her on her seat, and woke her up. Then, he dusted her off and got her ready to start singing I Can Do It With A Broken Heart.
The Chiefs player later revealed it was his idea to join his girlfriend on stage. He later said she “found the perfect part of the show for me to come in,” and noted that it was an “honour” to stand beside a “true showman” like her.
Ed Sheeran makes a surprise appearance, August 2024
Swift has brought out a host of special guests over the course of the tour, including some of her support acts such as Hayley Williams and Gracie Abrams. Frequent collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner have also made appearances.
The artist returned to London later in the summer for another string of shows at Wembley Stadium and brought out a more unexpected guest in the form of Ed Sheeran.
They played their duet Everything Has Changed, t from 2012’s ‘Red‘ followed by End Game and then Sheeran’s own song Thinking Out Loud.
