Taylor Swift Kicks Off Eras Tour in Glendale

On March 17, 2023, Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated Eras Tour kicked off in Glendale, Arizona—or Swift City, as it was renamed for the weekend. Ticket sales for the tour had previously broken Ticketmaster’s website and caused outrage from fans, even leading to a Senate hearing. Eighty-thousand of the two and a half million lucky enough to get tickets flocked to Arizona’s State Farm Stadium to attend the opening night. Earlier that day, Swift surprised fans by releasing four new songs in honor of her tour: Taylor’s Version re-recordings of “Eyes Open,” “Safe & Sound,” and “If This Was a Movie,” as well as a previously-leaked “All the Girls You Loved Before” from 2019’s Lover.

“So, uh, is it just me or do we have a lot of things to catch up on?” Swift asked at the beginning. It was her first time touring again in five years, and fans were not disappointed by the 44 song, 3 hour setlist composed out of all ten of her albums. “We’re going to be going through an adventure, one era at a time,” she promised, and certainly delivered just that. The performance was split into sections for each of her albums—or eras—with quick costume changes and stunning sets for each.

Taylor Swift took the stage in a custom Versace bodysuit and opened the show with “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince”, before performing “Cruel Summer” for the first time in a concert. She then went through three more songs from Lover before switching over to hits from her second album, Fearless. Throughout the night she performed hits from each of her albums, including an acoustic version of “Mirrorball.” She also revealed her plans to sing a different acoustic song for each concert.

With a back catalog as expansive as Swift’s, it was unreasonable to expect her to be able to fit in all the fan-favorites. However, many are disappointed by the lack of songs from Speak Now, Swift’s third album. Throughout the night she sang just one song from the album, “Enchanted”.

“Speak Now needs more justice during the #TSErasTour because that album? Bangers on bangers on bangers” one disappointed fan tweeted.

However, some Swifties believe that she may be planning to drop the re-recorded version of Speak Now during the tour and that that could be the reason the album barely got any coverage. On the first and second nights of her tour, fans were quick to notice differences in the shirts she wore to perform “22”: the phrases written on the shirts, and the words in red, changed. The first shirt read “A lot going on at the moment” with “a lot” in red, and the second had “ew” from “Who’s Taylor Swift anyway? Ew” in red. Swifties think that, when unscrambled, all of her shirts put together will eventually reveal a secret message saying something along the lines of “Speak Now Taylor’s Version”.

It’s been a running joke among Swifties that Taylor Swift hates evermore due to the fact that she has barely acknowledged it since its release. “What is your evidence? I would like to see your evidence,” Swift joked on stage. “[Evermore] is an album I absolutely love despite what some of you say on TikTok.” She performed five tracks from the album, including “champagne problems” and “‘tis the damn season.”

“Mother finally shows her best daughter some respect,” said one Swiftie. Most fans are delighted the album got the recognition it deserves, especially since many expected little to no songs from it to be performed.

The tour will continue through August, with the final stop being in Los Angeles.

Are you ready for it?

by ELISSA FAN