Taylor Swift, the pop star who has reshaped the music industry in its entirety over her 17-year career, announced earlier this year she would be going on tour again after releasing her newest album, Midnights, just a week prior. On the first day of ticket sales for the tour, 2.4 million tickets were sold, breaking the record for the most sales one artist has ever gotten in less than 24 hours. With 52 shows in the US and dozens more in Europe, South America, and Australia, her tour will end (as of 7/7) on August 17th, 2024 at Wembley Stadium in London. Part of this tour included two shows in Cincinnati at Paycor Stadium. The two sold-out shows took place on June 30th and July 1st, as her 38th and 39th shows in her tour.
Taylor performed her setlist of 44 songs for an audience of more than 65,000 people (plus thousands more “Taygating” outside) each night. Two of those songs were “Surprise Songs,” which she selected just for that show, and the songs are unknown to the audience until she performs them each night. Once they are performed, the songs are never repeated, unless she forgets the lyrics or messes up during the performance. Because of this, fans often root for their song to not be played until they see her live, which can often be a blessing and a curse for Swifties. On Friday night, Taylor played “I’m Only Me When I’m With You” and “Evermore,” minus the Bon Iver feature. On night two in Cincy, fans got a special surprise of THREE songs instead of the normal two, something that has never happened before. After performing “Ivy” as her first surprise song (featuring The National Aaron Dessner), she then went on to introduce Gracie Abrams, one of the opening artists of the show, back onto the stage to perform one of her songs “I Miss You, I’m Sorry,” featuring Swift. She ended her acoustic section of the evening with “Call It What You Want,” a song from her 2017 album “Reputation.” Fans online have said she seemed to rush through the song, as though wanting it to be over. While the reason why isn’t known for sure, swifties speculate it was likely due to the song’s connection with Joe Alwyn, who dated Taylor for 6 years, ending in April of this year.
The Eras Tour features songs from all of Taylor’s Albums, except for Taylor Swift, her debut album released in late 2006. Many of her biggest hits were featured, such as Cruel Summer, Shake it Off, All Too Well, 22, Love Story, Anti-Hero, and so many more. Millie Bobby Brown, best known for her lead role in the hit Netflix show Stranger Things, was seen on Friday night in the VIP box dressed up after Taylor’s album, Lover (2019).
Speaking of dressing up, Swifties have their traditions when attending the tour. People in (or outside) of the stadium dress up as their favorite album, wearing as many items of clothing to enhance the look. Many fans created bracelets to exchange with other fans, often themed around songs, lyrics, or inside jokes that Swift fans would know.
While both nights had pretty much flawless performances, a few things did happen that weren’t part of the pop star’s plan. On Saturday Night, Taylor’s performance started at 7 pm, an hour before planned due to weather concerns later in the evening. On Friday night, a mistake was made with the stage while trying to do a costume change after performing songs from her Reputation Era. As she stood in the middle of the central diamond to be lowered down, the floor didn’t open up for her to get into. After waiting a moment, she stomped on it, seeing if it would pop open – nothing happened. Now panicking to get off the stage and do an outfit swap in time, she ran up the pathway to the top end of the stage and went in the doorway where the other dancers and performances went, running along it as fast as possible. Ironically, the door to the stage opened just moments after she ran upstage to change.
Taylor, however, had no intention to let this drag her down. At the beginning of her performance on Friday night, she exclaimed that Cincinnati’s “Reputation precedes you,” and that Gracie Abrams texted her backstage, saying the audience was “so hardcore, (and) on another level.” Even the slightest gesture of her hands or a single step forward would cause the crowd to erupt in cheers and applause; there is no stopping the dedication of Swifties.
Now that Taylor Swift’s shows in the Queen City have wrapped up, she aims for Kansas City, where she will perform in Arrowhead Stadium, for another 2 nights of sold-out shows. Every single one of her shows across the United States, in fact, is performed in a sold-out stadium, with thousands more outside who couldn’t get their hands on tickets.
Taylor is undoubtedly one of the biggest artists of all time, and even the largest stadiums around the world aren’t enough for her fans. With hundreds of millions clamoring to see her during one of her performances, the demand for her work is without a doubt insane, especially for someone who has been in the business for over 17 years now. She re-released one of her original albums, “Speak Now” on the day this article was published: July 7th, 2023. With billions of sales, streams, and an impeccably massive fan base, the global sensation that is often referred to as The Music Industry Herself continues to be one of the most successful artists in the world, and shall go down as one of the greatest, if not, The Greatest Music Popstar in History.
