CW: SPOILERS!
On Oct. 13, crowds rushed to theaters to see “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” the official concert film of Taylor Swift’s most recent tour. This three-and-a-half hour-long concert experience was designed to portray Swift’s past musical eras, each getting their own part of the setlist.
I, along with many fellow “Swifties” (Taylor Swift fans), showed up wearing merchandise. The theaters were filled with Swift-themed outfits that made reference to her past albums or songs. Viewers would compliment each other’s outfits and trade friendship bracelets, replicating experiences that attendees of the concert participated in.
Directed by Sam Wrench, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” is a stunning visual depiction of the magic that is seeing Swift live. Having seen “The Eras Tour” live twice, the movie allowed me to see different angles of the show and was a great alternative to the actual concert.
In the movie, Swift uses her sets and dancers to paint stories that connect back to her songs. To depict the song “tolerate it” from her album “evermore,” Swift sets a table for Raphael Thomas, the dancer portraying her partner, and proceeds to depict an emotional storyline about feeling undervalued in a relationship. As she smashes plates and vases off the table, you feel the full extent of the emotions that lie buried in the song. It is a captivating visual that engages viewers and prevents you from feeling like you’ve been watching Swift sing for three hours.
During the movie, Swift wears 16 different outfits, each one depicting her different eras and different storylines. She wears a bedazzled blazer while singing “The Man,” a song from her album, “Lover,” and a ballgown while singing the songs from “Speak Now.”
With the concert being three-and-a-half hours long and the movie coming in at two hours and forty-four minutes, it was inevitable that some cuts were made. Songs such as “The Archer,” “Long Live” and “cardigan” were all cut out in order to get the movie down to the length that it is. While many fans find this disappointing, it is impressive how smoothly they made the transitions without these songs, and if someone watching the movie did not know the original setlist, they would not be able to tell they had been cut at all.
Toward the end of the movie, Swift does her “Surprise Songs,” where she sings two songs from her discography not already on the setlist. In concert, this allows Swift to make each experience unique. With the movie being filmed during three out of six of Swift’s Los Angeles shows at SoFi Stadium, the surprise songs included in the film are “Our Song,” from Swift’s debut self-titled album, and “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” from her most recent album, Midnights. These surprise songs are fan favorites, with “Our Song” being one of Swift’s earliest hits and “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” inspiring the fans to trade friendship bracelets with its lyric “so make the friendship bracelets.”
With lots of issues regarding ticket availability for Swift’s tour, watching “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” in theaters allows fans who were not able to get tickets to experience the concert for themselves. Even those who aren’t die-hard fans of Swift will enjoy this portrayal of her 17-year music career, leaving the theater feeling awestruck and inspired by her work.
