The Eras Tour is Over, But its Impact is Ever-lasting
Taylor Swift was just 19-years-old when she hit the stage for her first headlining tour, The Fearless Tour. So, it's no surprise that now, at 35-years-old, the seasoned performer holds the title of having the highest grossing tour of all time and harbors the trust of millions of people all over the world who know Swift can put on a good show.
Swift secured this accolade over the course of The Eras Tour’s 149 shows. Like a graduation ceremony or trip to the DMV, for much of the public consciousness, the Era’s Tour felt like it lasted an eternity; in reality, the shows spanned just a little under two years. Perhaps the feeling of the tour’s eternal presence is a product of the impact the show had on the live music landscape and fan behavior.
The element of surprise: Outfit variants and surprise songs
One need not look far to see how Swift has inspired other musicians. Sabrina Carpenter, whose career built up some serious traction when she was an opener for early Eras Tour shows, took some pages from Swift’s book. Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Tour, which kicked off in September of 2024, starts with the singer removing a towel to reveal a bedazzled bodysuit. The outfit remains the same each performance, aside from its color — the bodysuit has taken form in all sorts of shades, from bright red, to Barbie pink.
Carpenter’s ever-changing color palette is eerily reminiscent of Swift’s Eras Tour tradition of wearing the same outfits — albeit some have more tassels or tulle than others, but they’re generally the same garments — but in changing color schemes each night. This color changing tradition gives fans equal and streamlined experiences at the shows, while still keeping them on their toes.
Another element of mystery that Carpenter lifted from The Eras Tour is a surprise song performance, unique to each audience. Towards the end of Swift’s three-and -a-half-hour set, she performed two songs from her catalog that didn’t make the cut for the show's official setlist. Sometimes the songs were a reference to the location of the show—she played “the lakes” when I saw her in Chicago, an ode to the city’s proximity to the Great Lakes. Sometimes they were related to new releases, like The Tortured Poets Department, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) or Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), each of which came out during the duration of The Eras Tour. Sometimes, they were fan favorites, or picked with seemingly no logic at all. Either way, the surprise songs became a huge part of The Eras Tour’s appeal and re-watchability —even if you’d seen the show before, the surprise songs almost guaranteed that you’d have a new experience at a different show. Even fans who weren’t physically at the shows tuned in via Instagram and TikTok live streams to see which of her hits Swift would revisit each night.
Similarly, for the Short n’ Sweet Tour, Carpenter carved out a section of her show for a surprise cover song, chosen by the timeless game of spin the bottle. Depending on which direction the bottle lands, Carpenter sings a karaoke style cover with song options ranging from ABBA’s “Mamma Mia,” Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” Madonna’s “Material Girl” and many more.
Utilizing tour as a marketing tool
In addition to showcasing her existing art, Swift used the stage to announce new projects — specifically the Taylor’s Versions of 1989 and Speak Now. For the latter, Taylor revealed a large graphic showing the album cover and a release date during the surprise song set, producing an audience reaction that could very well have surpassed the frequency of a large earthquake. For 1989, Swift donned all blue color variants of her tour outfits, before using the same graphic approach. Through this strategy, Swift informed the thousands of excited fans in the audience of the albums who went on to make enthusiastic social media posts. The marketing was free, yet as widespread as you could get.
Olivia Rodrigo — an artist who seemingly attended the Taylor Swift school of pop music — implemented this same strategy to announce the deluxe edition of her most recent album, GUTS. During a performance of “get him back!”Rodrigo and her dancers held up little paper signs that revealed the five deluxe song titles and the release date of the album. Not only was the audience thrilled to see this special moment in their show, but videos of the moment were spread widely across social media, pushing the album to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and further proving that Swift was onto something with this strategy.
Tour movie
The release of The Eras Tour Movie in theaters, and later on streaming, helped catapult Swift’s tour into mainstream popularity. Although The Eras Tour encapsulated much of the world — spanning 5 continents — its shows became fairly inaccessible due to exorbitant ticket prices. Giving fans a filmed version of the concert allowed everyone to be part of The Eras Tour while the show was still on the road.
Swift did not single-handedly spearhead the concert movie concert; musical juggernauts like Micheal Jackson, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry helped to popularize the genre. But what was unique to Swift’s situation was that she released the film while the tour was ongoing. Yet again, we saw Rodrigo follow in Swift’s footsteps, releasing the GUTS World Tour movie on Netflix amidst touring performances.
Friendship bracelets and audience attire
The impact of The Eras Tour doesn’t stop at Swift’s performance alone; fan behavior like trading friendship bracelets and creating elaborate costumes corresponding to Swift’s distinct eras was commonplace at Eras shows, and thereafter, at concerts of all kinds.
Midnights, the album that was released in conjunction with the tour announcement, features the song “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” with the lyrics “So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it.” Fans took this lyric as a call to action, crafting plastic beaded friendship bracelets that spelled out albums names, inside Swiftie jokes and comically long acronyms (my favorite being aycmuajtbmlapsccitnobh, an acronym for the bridge of Swift’s iconic song, “All Too Well”). The tradition of making and trading bracelets became so ingrained in the DNA of The Eras Tour, that Swift’s mom even started handing out bracelets spelling out “Mama Swift loves you.”
"I never thought that writing one line about friendship bracelets would have you guys all making friendship bracelets, making friends and bringing joy to each other. That is the lasting legacy of this tour," Swift told the audience on the final night of the tour.
This Eras Tour tradition has seeped into other shows of all genres. Recently, a friend of mine went to a Fall Out Boy show and traded a wrist-full of friendship bracelets with fellow Fall Out Boy fans.
Beyond their accessorized arms, fans went all out for other aspects of their Eras Tour outfits, sparking a trend of elaborately-clad concert-goers. Swift’s fans not only partake in breathtakingly accurate recreation of Swift's outfits, but also extremely niche references to her history. Take it from me — a girl who nearly bought a dog collar and ears to dress up as Kitty, Taylor Swift’s mom’s great dane who was briefly featured in the 2019 Netflix exclusive documentary Miss Americana. Notable fan outfits included a 12 year-old Taylor performing the National Anthem at Detroit Pistons game and Taylor Swift’s ex-boyfriend Joe Alwynn at his frozen yogurt job, a reference to a lyric from “invisible string.”
Whether it's through these themed concert outfits and beaded bracelets or the ever-changing structure of live shows and their accessibility, The Eras Tour has changed the music industry and touring tradition as we know it.
