On Friday, March 17, about 69,000 people flocked to the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. to witness the opening night of Taylor Swift’s “The Eras” tour. Of course, in typical Swift fashion, she simultaneously broke a national record while performing. Madonna had previously held the record for the highest-attended female concert in America. The opening night of “The Eras” tour actually broke this long-standing record. There is no doubt that the public demand and support for Swift was evident. 

Prior to the actual concert, there was some turmoil expressed online regarding how Swift and Ticketmaster handled the sale of admission. In my opinion, companies such as Ticketmaster need to do a better job of preventing bots and spam accounts from inundating websites when ticket sales go live. While these bots may have not been successful in actually purchasing tickets, since they contributed to the crash of the site, genuine fans weren’t able to purchase tickets if they were kicked out of the queue. Another factor that I believe to be unfair was how people who had no intention of actually attending the concert, bought tickets at considerably lower prices than what they actually resold them for. For people who were unable to get tickets, many TikTok creators live-streamed the shows. Regardless of how chaotic the process to purchase tickets was, the success and anticipation for opening night demonstrated that fans have moved forward.  

A hallmark of any concert, especially a Taylor Swift concert, is the outfits. Whether it was the fans who attended, or the actual performer herself, there was a lot of buzz surrounding what everyone wore. I thought it was creative how many fans selected a specific era or album to coordinate their outfits with. Swift herself also came dressed to the nines with many sparkly and show-stopping styles. Many fans noticed how she wore a variety of different colored bedazzled Loubiton boots. I loved how each pair of boots coordinated with the color of the respective outfit. Christian Louboutin did announce that the company would be outfitting her in custom red bottoms throughout the tour. 

Another part of the show that I found exciting was Swift’s announcement that she was going to perform a different acoustic version of a song at each show. I love the idea of each venue listening to a different song since it offers a moment of surprise and anticipation. Since she only played one song from Speak Now (“Enchanted”), hopefully, the acoustic set will include more songs from this album. Perhaps the limited amount of “Speak Now” songs was due to the speculation surrounding Swift releasing the re-recorded album in the near future. 

As a “Folklore” fan myself, I was excited to hear that Swift performed so many songs from the indie pop album. Not only did she dedicate a substantial amount of show time to the album, but she also included some unexpected but well-loved tracks such as “My Tears Ricochet” and “The Last Great American Dynasty.” 

The monumental success of “The Eras” tour opening weekend seems to be the result of Swift’s dedication to including what the fans truly want to see and hear. Instead of just playing the most popular singles from each album, she took the time to reflect on what the audience would enjoy the most. I think Swift’s enduring commitment to valuing her fans plays a considerable role in her popularity and fortune. 

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