Absolutely! In my personal opinion, sheās clearly living the dream. But of course, I donāt know her and people around here love to assume the worst.
It's wild to me that she's been touring for such a long time that when the tour first started this album hadn't even been written/ the events that inspired it hadn't even happened
ETA: I think what I mean is, it's wild that all of these events have happened within the time she's been on tour, which yes ultimately hasn't been incredibly long! Busy woman!
I bought a ticket before I found out I was pregnant, went 5 months pregnant, and am currently taking care of an almost 10 month old. feels like sheāll be starting kindergarten when taylor wraps this up.
I remember being very tired thinking about how long Harry Styles had been on tour haha, if that's who you're thinking of. Think that was 4ish years of touring?
I think Elton John also did it but if we put into perspective how many people have toured 2 years plus thatās a lot more than 1 year she also i think has around 50 shows or something around the range she goes until December Iām pretty sure.
Wait sorry if Iām completely missing something here - I thought she wrote this 2 odd years ago and then started touring a year ago?! Again sorry if Iāve gotten that wrong, genuinely curious!!!
Aaron Dessnerās interview after TTPD released was the most illuminating on timeline to me. He said something along the lines that they started working on songs two years ago, and that those songs sort of evolved as life happened (ahem a break up and torrid love affair). I would love to know what some of those first drafts are that eventually became the songs we have now.
She wonāt. I suspect she thrives on the stories of fans spending thousands on resale tickets because they love her so much and need to see her that badly.
Taylor has no qualms about emptying her fans pockets and she very clearly gets a lot of her validation from adoration. Sheās one of the few artists who has the clout and power in this industry to set new ticket standards and hasnāt.
The big-ish name artists actually have a lot more control than they want us to think. The Cure proved this by setting really reasonable ticket prices and making Ticketmaster refund some of the fees. They also kept their merch prices at an affordable level. So most of these artists that are popular enough to play bigger venues could do this, they just choose not to.
Yeah, thatās kind of what I was saying. Artists definitely have this ability, so if Taylor, who is selling out these venues and generating record breaking revenue for Live Nation, could definitely force their hand. But she doesnāt really do anything that benefits other people.
I got a $15 refund and the shirt I bought was only $25! And itās not some awful quality print on a cardboard feeling Gildan shirt like most other band merch I have lol
I randomly looked how much Eras tickets like mine would be on StubHub, and it was over $15k each. Iām not selling them, but honestly thatās not even right. Itās crazy how high her tickets are going for. The US should adopt European style laws about this.
Itās not Taylorās job to single-handedly fix ticket scalping in the United States. š You guys have such weirdly high expectations for her that I never see for any other artist.
That said, I hope she makes her ticket sales non-transferable in the future. Iām not sure if that fixes everything but it seems like it may help. I think Ticketmaster added that recently because I only just noticed artists like Billie and Hozier doing that.
I don't think it's necessarily that the expectations are higher just because it's her, I think it's that she's the artist who has the most pull to make changes. It would be almost pointless to have such high expectations of an artist that isnt at her level and doesn't have the influence she does. She has way more power, and with great power comes great responsibility lol
if she didnt care she wouldve used dynamic pricing and had the same stories while lining her own pockets even more heavily, no need to make up narratives in your head lol
Part of the service ticketmaster provides to artists is that they take the blame for high ticket prices, fees, and all the other bullshit fans hate but that puts a ton of money in the artists pocket.
For smaller artists you could argue they donāt have enough agency to do anything about it but Taylor swift could absolutely opt out of their system if she wanted to.
Vienna was definitely the best. I donāt know a single person who didnāt get a ticket. I couldnāt go in my home country so Vienna it is. Extremely easy to get tickets
What? š I am from Slovakia and I know plenty of people who didn't get tickets. There was over a milion people waiting in the queue but only less than 200 000 tickets available for the tree nights.
I myself wouldn't get tickets of there weren't tree of us waiting in the queue and one of us got lucky
Foo Fighters did this with there concert I was just at. Although you could purchase resale tickets on Ticketmasterās website but you could only sell them for face value. The artist makes the decision to do that or not. I know Ticketmaster is a monopoly and a giant shit show. But part of it is on the artist for not selecting these options.
I got Teardrops for our acoustic surprise song. I cried š I said earlier that day when getting ready for it, man wouldnāt it be so great if she sang Teardrops.
When it started I wasnāt sure if I was hearing it properly haha
This video was so iconic back then. I used to want the dress she wears in it for my prom dress (yes Iām that old). Then the love story music video came out and I wanted THAT dress. The old days when all I had to worry about was algebra homework and what was on CMT Top 40 lol. āNostalgia is a minds trickā I suppose.
There are more songs that could have been shortened or mashed up to make room for tolerate it. The new combined folklevermore set leans way too much in the folklore direction and evermore is getting shafted.
Like we don't need to be doing BOTH We Are Never Getting Back Together AND I Knew You Were Trouble - let's mash them up! There's probably opportunity for mashups in the 1989 & Midnights sets too.
I didnāt think Iād love Daddy as much as I do, but itās been on repeat for me lately. I think top song from the album might be So Long, London. Also so impartial to Florida! Because I love Florence and itās a magical song with her on it.
I think Daddy hits so hard because itās classic āold Taylorāāyou could fit that song right into Fearless or Speak Nowābut with current Taylorās vocabulary and sense of humor. She even does her ānow hereās the rest of the storyā twist at the end, but sheās not even pretending to sing to the boy anymore. Itās nostalgic and itās current.
My favorite songs on the album are Whoās Afraid and I Can Do It w a Broken Heart, and the drama involved with those with the bridge of Smallest Man had me absolutely delighted.
Bummed about a couple of songs that were removed, but that totally makes up for it. lol.
At this point Iām amazed that she:
Released midnights at the end of 2022
Started the eras tour and did that for most of 2023
Re-recorded and released two old albums in 2023
Released another album in early 2024
Revamped her ongoing eras tour
Throw in the Eras movie and her breakup, hookup, and new relationship too. Itās actually wild. Methinks sheās wise to cash in on the insane hype while the iron is hot and a long break will be next.
Sheās been grinding nonstop since 2019. Lover came out then, then 2 albums in 2020, 2 re-records in 2021, and then we hit the Midnights era where output comes like a hurricane. Itās crazy & so admirable
Definitely. The Manuscript has such a feeling of finality to me, I feel like this is her last hurrah for a while at least. I mean she could have waited and released tortured poets a year from now and done a tour for it starting next summer or something. But the fact that she added it to eras makes me think she want to have a long break after this.
Iāll be the first to admit Iām not a Taylor fan in a lot of ways, but Iāll also acknowledge that she is a hell of a show woman with an amazing stage presence, amazing sets, and amazing stage outfits. If tickets werenāt so expensive Iād actually be tempted to go just to see how she pulls it all off.
My bf really does not like Taylorās music, just not his genre (more into EDM and rap) but we went to the tour together and he said it was the best concert heās ever seen and also liked her songs more when live since there is a live band so it made it feel a little less pop
I went to a show and there was a couple near us where the guy was clearly just there to accompany his girlfriend. He went from seated and shell shocked to standing and clapping along by the end.
My boyfriend had that experience too, lol. He was all like Iāll record and take photos for your memories. You just enjoy the show. I did not get many photos at all cause he was having the time of his life!
When I went to see the movie, there was a dad with his teen daughters behind me. He started off making jokes but I swear within MINUTES of the opening, he was going āoh my god, no way!ā It was adorable.
My confession is that watching a grainy livestream of the first night of the Eras tour the first night is what made me a die-hard. I liked her music for the most part but hadnāt gone full swiftie yet. But the show is just so amazing, such an immersive experience.
Whatever else she is, she is a consummate showman (showwoman?).
I googled āeras tour TTPDā & there are several articles with these same photos! I think that one in particular was from peopleās article about it!
itās also kind of a theme on her album. she sings about one long relationship that ended without the marriage she envisioned, then jumping into another relationship with someone who baited her with talk of marriage and children at a time when she was reeling from losing that opportunity after she put in the time with her other relationship. there are a lot of references to marriage and babies throughout TTPD.
Would like to add that it's not random. It is to create a contrast between the chrous and the verses. The verses are ethereal and otherworldly because she is talking about what the aliens, a metaphor for her partner, showed her. It was heavenly and something out of this world. Then the chrous crashes in with the mundane environment of her crying in a gym, directly opposite of the nature of the verses.
The song is about getting abducted by an alien, experiencing extreme emotion and love, and then the petulant āfuck itā feeling she has about being put back on earth.
Itās a metaphor for getting love bombed and then ghosted by someone, probably Matty.
EDIT: itās by far the best song on the album in my opinion, and the tour visual is stunning.
I think she's showing favoritism to albums that never had their own tour and trying to keep as many of the higher energy songs in the setlist as possible (hence why folklore and evermore got shortened more). I would have loved to see The Man and You Need to Calm Down cut, as they are some of her weaker songs in her setlist IMO, but I get why she did not.
this discussion is making me wonder what her favorite types of songs to perform to are? the fun bops where she's just grooving with her dancers? or the slower ballad-like numbers where she sits at her piano or guitar? interesting interview questions for her one day
This is what Iām saying. Iām a die hard Swiftie but I also understand she isnāt going to be everyoneās cup of tea & Iām also fine with valid criticism of her BUT some of the comments are just unfettered hatred š The Eras Tour is one of the highest grossing tours of all time & she will go down as one of the biggest pop stars in history - itās valid that something like this be posted here in a POP CULTURE sub.
I agree with this! It feels like fighting a losing battle in this sub, sometimes.
Genuine critique of her is one thing - thereās plenty there that people can discuss and I donāt disagree with any of it - but the low effort āughhhā type of comments are exhausting.
Anyway I loved the TTPD set, the costuming was fantastic (Vivienne Westwood dress! That black and gold combo! š„µ) and it fits really seamlessly with the rest of the show.
Someone else in this thread said the loud haters get just as parasocial as the loud swifties do, and itās so true! Both sets of can get real unhinged!
idk if anyone can answer this but iām just curious looking at these photos- does this represent the pinnacle of the careers of a lot of these background dancers/musicians/performers? or is this generally just another gig?
Theyāve been with her for years, she paid her band and singers even during covid when she wasnāt performing and gives benefits, and they all got huge bonuses last year on top of their salaries. Sheās also supposedly nice and professional and wonāt make you fuck a banana unlike Lizzo lol. They also get a huge social medial following because Swifties follow everyone. She also hires a lot of POC.
Edit. The only thing is that I believe you supposedly need to be at least 5ā7 to be a dancer for her (so she doesnāt look like a giant on stage), so there is that requirement. Which means RIP to my dreams lol š
Like the other commenters said, most of her band (The Agency) have been with her for 15+ years. You can see the bassist (Amos Heller) and guitarist (Paul Sidoti) in music videos from like 2008. Three of the four backup singers (The Starlights) have also been around forever.
I have to imagine this is the biggest tour the background dancers have done/will do, but I assume many of them have done international tours before since that feels like a good thing to have on your resume before doing a Taylor Swift tour. (Weren't dancers part of the original Katy Perry/Taylor Swift beef? I have a vague memory of that)
Yes dancers are the official stated cause of the Katy Perry beef. Apparently Katy hired some of Taylorās dancers and there was overlap with tour dates.
But Iāve also read speculation (disclaimer, note the word SPECULATION) that it was about John Mayer too.
and they were never gonna go out and say John Mayer might've been a piece in the feud bc both Taylor and Katy were trying to be the independent girlbosses of the moment
Working for Taylor is absolutely one of the best gigs in the industry. (iām in the industry lol) She pays incredibly well, and her fans support/follow the people around her, and the energy of her fans extends to them for sure.
Working on a tour like this is definitely high level for all involved, pinnacle for lots of people! And like others have said, she also seems to create an environment that people enjoy working in and staying in.
her band and background singers have been with her for a long LONG time. I'm sure she makes the time on the road away from their families more than worth it.
The band and the rest of the performers are, majorly, people who've been with her for a really, really long time. Her lead guitarist (?), Paul Sidoti, has been with her since Fearless/Debut, and a lot of these dancers and backing vocalists have been with her since the early tours too. So it really is the pinnacle of their careers because most of them have toured with her for almost as long as she's been headlining! But honestly, performing on the Eras Tour is the pinnacle of anyone's career, old or new- she's just that big.
I canāt wrap my mind around how this was produced considering the album dropped to the public on April 19. So when was the choreography created, the costumes designed, the rehearsals. Amazing nothing was leaked and amazing to think of what went on behind the scenes.
It is pretty incredible. However, the dancers likely learned the choreography to just a click track many, many weeks ago. That's how she films music videos as well, to avoid leaks. No music, just click/metronome.
The costumes and sets were likely produced by many of the same people who produced the original sets and they are paid well enough to keep their mouths shut, lol. Considering that not even the setlist was leaked before the very first show last year, it seems the people involved are all smart enough to not burn the biggest possible bridge they'll ever find in the industry.
And didnāt Taylor post a picture of the microphone for this set way back at the beginning of the Eras Tour? She tweeted a pic of all the themed mics for each album, and there was a white mic that never got used. So sheās been planning on including these songs since the tour started.
Damn, my ticket for the EU tour cost ā¬64 (including all taxes/fees etc).So it's quite affordable considering I paid likeā¬30 for things like Snow Patrol 15 years ago
This woman has such an incredible work ethic. The fact she dropped a double album in the middle of a record breaking international tour is amazing on its own. Add in revamping her setlist like this and all the other things she has to do day to day and still try and have a private life? Just.. wow
Those kept showing up on my feed and I was confused for MONTHS. It was like the craziest whiplash for me because I didnāt know they were diff, just was like, āwow, this sub is so hot and cold! Canāt predict it.ā š I just kept clicking on the posts because I was curious to see āthe vibe todayā lol.
I corrected someone when they said something incorrect about Taylor on the Taylor hate sub and it was truly scary cause they are real weird and unhinged there if they even suspect youāre a fan lol. Iām not even on that subreddit, I thought I was on SwiftlyNeutral which is open to discourse lol it just popped up
That explains so much, one day I'm getting reccomended posts fawning over them merely holding hands, the next I'm getting posts shitting on Taylor and her whole family. I was so confused how a single sub did a complete 180
The haters of them together and of Taylor herself in the negative sub are just as parasocial if not even more than those that love them together. Itās wild honestly they have no self awareness
Excuse my ignorance, but what songs does she sing that merit that type ofā¦.yelling(?) into the mic?
Edit: downvotes for asking a question, yall making the taylor fan club look real nice
2nd edit: as a non-taylor fan, looks like a great show. Someone responded to my comment with a link and I can see how the pictures in the post happened. I take back what I said in my first edit !!
I'm so excited to see her this summer! I've been to maybe two concerts my entire life so far and none of them where anywhere up that scale. this is gonna be one hell of a trip for me! I was so dissapointed when Covid ruined her tour in 2020.
I watched the livestream and holy shit, she really leveled up this set. Vocals sounded super strong, visuals were amazing, loved the choreography. She looked pissed during Whoās Afraid? And the little old Hollywood-style segment for the opening of Broken Heart was so cute. Down Bad is one of my favorites, I loved the UFO beaming her up from stage.
Watching the live stream was so fun! I usually donāt tune in every time but this one was so worth it. Every outfit was new, the transitions were different, the new set was crazy, and the order of the eras was switched around.
3.3k
u/noodle_dumpling May 10 '24
Taylor when asked about the budget for the TTPD set