International pop sensation, Taylor Swift, announced her sixth concert tour of her career, “The Eras Tour” (directed by Sam Wrench), on Nov. 1, 2022, after not touring for five years. “Swifties” all over the world went wild. The tour commenced on March 17, 2023 and the US leg concluded on Aug. 9, at SoFi Stadium. The first leg of the tour itself was an international wonder, selling out stadiums all over the United States.
Unfortunately, due to high demand and pricing, not every fan of Swift was able to attend the remarkable tour. Less than two months after the US leg of the tour came to an end, Swift announced “The Eras Tour” film will be released on Oct. 13, 2023. This film would allow Swifties who couldn’t attend the tour a chance to experience the musical phenomenon in theaters Swifties that attended the tour would also get a chance to relive the tour’s experience. Due to consumer demand, Swift ended up premiering the movie a day early, on Oct. 12. To no surprise, The Eras Tour film accumulated $92.8 million on opening weekend, which made it the highest domestic opening in October.
The film encompasses what one show would look like but was filmed over multiple nights at SoFi Stadium. Swifties were able to observe the changes between shows due to a few imperfections. In some scenes, Swift’s hair is perfectly styled while in other scenes her hair has been affected by the rain and humidity of California. Also, Swift’s nail polish is seen to be chipped in a few scenes which has viewers questioning how it wasn’t fixed before the filming of the movie.
The idea of an “eras” tour is not something that occurs in the music industry often. The tour was set to include every era of Swift’s career which includes her 10 studio albums. Although Swift has produced 10 studio albums so far, she has actually released 13 albums (soon to be 14), including “Taylor’s Version,” due to the controversy with owning her own music. In order to properly express her musical journey, Swift put together a 42 consistent song set-list plus an extra two acoustic surprise songs which varies based on the show.
The film starts out with the tour’s infamous introduction soundtrack. The intro includes clips from a variety of Swift’s popular songs from different eras of her career. The intro track then fades into the beginning of her most popular song “Cruel Summer,” which was released in 2019 on her 7th studio album, “Lover.” After the song concludes, Swift introduces herself before continuing the “Lover” set.
The tour itself had amazing audio but while you could definitely hear Swift’s vocals, it was not always clear due to the reactions of the crowd. This is where the film triumphs the tour. The audio of the film is crystal clear. You can hear every single note Swift hits, due to the audio from the movie being derived directly from the microphone.
Not only was the audio amazing, the camera work was extraordinary. Viewers could see close ups of Swift, her dancers, and her band from multiple angles. People were able to see details of her show they may have missed before. Director, Wrench, had cameras everywhere at once. We see Swift dancing on stage and then the camera soars over the crowd and allows viewers to truly feel like they, too, are in the crowd at that very moment. Wrench was able to bring Swift’s connection to her fans and songs back to life through the film. Wrench captured special moments and Swift’s small interactions with fans during the songs. In some songs, Swift even starts tearing up and with Wrench’s impeccable filming skills, we are able to notice that and see how the crowd feels too.
Although there are so many cameras at play during the show, fans never see a single one of them. Instead they are able to notice subtle but significant changes throughout the show such as Swift’s microphone color, outfits and more. We also get a closer look at some of Swift’s stage stunts such as her “Stage Dive” in which Swift is seen diving through the stage and swimming under it until she reaches the back and not too long later Swift reemerges for the next set.
One major difference between the tour itself and the film is all intermission periods are cut from the movie. We do not wait for Swift to change outfits even though Swift is seen to change remarkably fast throughout the shows.
During the performance of Swift’s hit song, “22,” from her “Red (Taylor’s Version)” set, Swift begins and plays the first half of the song wearing a hat, which is known to fans as the infamous “22” hat. This is so popular with fans as during each show, one fan is chosen to receive the “22” hat during the song. In the film, Swift makes her way to the front of the stage mid-song, and bends down to give away the hat to 6-year-old Bianka Bryant, daughter to Kobe Bryant. This was such a heart-warming moment which undoubtedly made viewers around the world tear up.
As the film comes to an end, Swift begins her second-to-last set, “The Acoustic Set.” In this set, Swift performs two acoustic surprise songs, one on the piano and one on the guitar. In the film, the surprise songs that are performed are “Our Song” and “You’re On Your Own Kid.” This is a very unique and important choice of surprise songs because “Our Song” was released in 2006 on Swift’s debut album, which makes it the only song from that album played the entire night. “You’re On Your Own Kid” is from Swift’s latest album, “Midnights.” Meaning, Swift played one of her first songs she released and then one of her most recent songs. Swift did not actually perform both of these songs on the same night. Swift performed “Our Song” on Aug. 4 at SoFi Stadium and performed “You’re On Your Own Kid” a day later on Aug. 5, at SoFi.
Overall, the film changed the tour’s game, making it accessible to every single fan out there. “The Eras Tour” is a magical experience that was brought to life once again by Sam Wrench’s incredible film. Fans can relive the experience whenever they want. Going to the film was an amazing experience that you should experience for yourself.
