Photo courtesy of Emily Myers.
Taylor Swift’s record-breaking “Eras Tour” came to the big screen last weekend, and it performed just as well as you could imagine. The film brought in $92.8 million domestically, thus making it the highest-grossing concert film in North American box office history.
Fans worldwide dressed up in Swift-themed outfits and merchandise, traded friendship bracelets, sang, danced, and purchased collectible “Eras Tour” popcorn buckets and cups.
So what does this film consist of, and should you go see it too?
The movie opens with the countdown clock that is present on the big screens during the Eras Tour performances.
Then shown on screen is the Lover album title, since that is the first era that Swift explores in her show. In the performances, Swift sings six songs from this album. However, one song from the album– “The Archer” –was cut from the movie.
Next comes the Fearless era, in which all three songs on the concert setlist are shown. Theaters were full of fans holding up hand-hearts, mimicking Swift’s gesture to the audience during “Fearless”.
After that is the haunting evermore era, opening with an even witchier version of “willow” than seen before. One evermore song on the normal setlist was cut, entitled “‘tis the damn season”. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise, since filming for the movie took place in Los Angeles, when Swift sang “no body, no crime” (featuring HAIM) in its place. However, “no body, no crime” is also not featured in the movie. Also worth noting about this portion of the show is how the film shows details during the “tolerate it” performance which many fans were happy to see.
Next is the reputation set, introduced by a giant CGI snake seeming to wrap itself around the stage. All four reputation songs on the setlist are present in the film, and the well-known transition from “Don’t Blame Me” to “Look What You Made Me Do” is even more powerful in the theater.
Afterward comes to Speak Now. This era in the performances consisted of only one song, “Enchanted”, until July 7. Following the release of the re-recorded Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Swift added “Long Live” to the permanent setlist, but it was not in the movie, making the Speak Now portion of the film contain only one song.
Moving on to the Red era, the movie did not cut any of the four songs in the performance. Special to this set, fans know that Swift chooses someone in the crowd to receive her iconic “22” music video hat that she also wears on tour. The person chosen to be shown receiving the hat in the movie was none other than Bianka Bryant, the 6-year-old daughter of the late Kobe Bryant. The “awwww”s during that part of the film were heard in every theater.
Then it’s time for the folklore era to shine, albeit with the most cuts compared to other eras. The “seven” interlude that normally introduces the era was not in the film, along with the song “cardigan”. That leaves folklore with six songs in the movie. Swift’s performance of the “illicit affairs” bridge, complete with the key change, was as heart-wrenching as ever on the big screen.
Next up is 1989. One of the five songs performed from this album, “Wildest Dreams”, was cut from the film. Being my personal favorite album, this portion of the show is full of pop songs that make you dance in your seat – or, in some theaters, dance in front of the screen.
Following the 1989 era was the acoustic set, consisting of two surprise songs that vary from city to city. Fans were eager to see which would be in the movie since six surprise songs were performed while filming was taking place.
The first chosen song was “Our Song”, from Swift’s self-titled debut album, in which she played the guitar. The second was “You’re On Your Own, Kid”, from Midnights, which was played on the piano.
This second surprise song led right into the next era of the show, the Midnights era. Consisting of seven songs, none were cut from the film. And yes, the “Vigilante Shit” choreography is even better when filmed with movie cameras and not cell phones.
Ending the performance with “Karma”, the movie transitioned into the end credits which were backed by “Long Live”. Accompanying the names of all the people involved in the making of the film were short clips of fans attending the Eras Tour. There were also videos of Swift’s concert mishaps thus far– including wardrobe malfunctions, choreography mistakes, and microphone glitches.
The film ended with a message from Swift, spelled out to look like it was written with the iconic friendship bracelet beads: “Thank you to the most generous, thoughtful, loving fans on the planet. This is all because of you and for you.”
Freshman Emily Myers is a Staff Writer. Her email is emyers3@fandm.edu.