[Lifestyle] 'Her fans are making pilgrimages': How Taylor Swift's Eras Tour became a near-religious experience

[Wolf.17]

 

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, a "cultural juggernaut" remarkable for both its scale and intimacy, comes to an end this week. Along the way, it has become the most extraordinary live event of our time – and for many, it's meant even more.

This weekend, after 20 months, 149 shows, a blockbuster concert film and millions of friendship bracelet swaps, Taylor Swift's Eras Tour finally comes to an end in Vancouver, Canada.

Less a live show than a cultural juggernaut steamrolling into 53 cities across five continents, the Eras Tour has dominated headlines, boosted national economies (and craft sales), caused mini-earthquakes and broken countless records – including becoming the highest-grossing tour of all time (experts believe it will top $2bn (£1.6bn) – and that doesn't include merchandise). Since she kicked off the live shows in March 2023, Swift has released three albums (re-recordings of Speak Now and 1989, and The Tortured Poets Department), snagged her fourth album of the year Grammy – the first artist to do so – and embarked on a high-profile relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce (who made a cameo on the Eras Tour). She has called the end of the tour "the closing of the most extraordinary chapter of my life so far".

I think her fans are going to church, or the closest they can get to church – Simon Critchley

The sheer scale and cultural dominance of the Eras Tour, from the record attendances to the 3.5-hour setlist, is undeniable. In the almost two years it's been going, it has become its own news cycle – even if you didn't attend, you've probably seen the videos of Prince William or Tom Cruise dancing at the show, or heard about world leaders begging Swift to give their country an economy-boosting visit. We live in an era of blockbuster live shows, but there's never been anything quite as colossal as this. It's hard to see how anyone, including Swift herself, will top it anytime soon.

And yet, if Swift's shows were remarkable for their size, they were also striking for their against-the-odds sense of intimacy. Attending the Eras Tour felt less like bowing down to a global megastar, and more like a mass, sequinned meet-up. Earlier this year Variety magazine dubbed her "the world's greatest community organiser".

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20241205-how-taylor-swifts-eras-tour-took-over-the-world