On the 19th August on the penultimate stop of the European leg of The Eras Tour, and her 7th date at Wembley Stadium, Taylor Swift dazzled a crowd of over 90,000 people with her incredible vocals, production, and stage presence.
Fans came from all over the world to see the superstar singer perform in London. Tens of thousands of people were in their best dress to see the artist, with many fans wearing outfits referencing Swift’s songs and albums. One of my favourite, and more recent, traditions amongst the fans is friendship bracelet trading, where they would craft Taylor-themed bracelets at home, and bring it to the show where they could trade with others. People of all ages took part, from the youngest to the oldest Swifties, and even the security guards! Wembley Stadium did their absolute best to make every fan feel welcome, with little touches such as themed drinks, customised signs, and even having little friendship bracelets printed on the food napkins!
Swift’s show was opened by 2 amazing acts; the first being Maisie Peters. Peters is no stranger to performing, being signed to Ed Sheeran’s label ‘Gingerbread Man Records’ in 2021, then supporting him on his tour. She opened for Coldplay on part of their ‘Music Of The Spheres’ tour this summer, is currently supporting Noah Kahan on his UK and EU tour, and is supporting Conan Gray on his US tour in September and October of this year. In the midst of her fantastic set including songs such as ‘Lost The Breakup’ and ‘History of Man’, Peters stated that she’s “been a Taylor Swift fan for as long as I’ve been alive”. She went on to explain how influential Taylor has been to her and her songwriting, and how grateful she was to Taylor and her team for providing her with the opportunity. As a long term fan of Peters and her music, I felt incredibly privileged to be able to see her achieve something that meant so much to her and to perform such an amazing set to so many people. I am extremely excited to see her further growth, and what opportunities present themselves to her in the future. The second opening act was the astonishing Paramore. Formed in 2004, the band is based in Nashville, where 14 year-old Taylor and her family moved in order to pursue her music career. Taylor and lead singer Hayley Williams first met in 2009 at a Grammy’s party and have been friends ever since, supporting one another with their music careers and progression. The band’s set included a fantastic range of some of their more recent and older songs including ‘This Is Why’ and ‘That’s What You Get’. It perfectly exhibited their talent and musical variety as well as showcasing Williams’ astounding vocal range. By the end of both opening acts, the crowd was warmed up and ready for Swift’s entrance.
Taylor’s set, described by Swift herself as an “adventure spanning 18 years of music”, features songs from almost every single one of her albums and the ‘eras’ surrounding the release of those albums. However, it is worth noting that for some unknown reason, Swift’s setlist does not include any songs from her debut album ‘Taylor Swift’.
Starting the show with songs from ‘Lover’ and ending it with ‘Midnights’, the set lasts around 3 hours total with a couple of minutes gap in between each era. ‘Speak Now’ is the shortest era on the setlist with only 1 song featured, whilst ‘The Tortured Poet’s Department’ and ‘Midnights’ are the longest, each having 7 songs included. Not all of the songs are played in full, however it is amazing to hear the variety of music that Swift has released throughout her time as a musician, and to hear so many different songs (regardless of their length) within 1 show.
Every era is accompanied by its own outfit, in which, excluding her outfit for the ‘Reputation’ era, there are numerous varieties of. This is another fun activity that fans, whether they are attending the show or not, can participate in, by guessing which outfits will be making an appearance at each show. Many shows are also live streamed on social media by fans attending the show, allowing for hundreds of thousands more fans to watch the show despite not being able to get a ticket or be there in person.
The amount of effort that has gone into The Eras Tour shows is astounding. It can be seen in every single detail, whether it be the sets, lighting. a part of the choreography that Taylor and her dancers do, or one of the graphics shown on screen, it truly is a phenomenon to watch. There was an incredible level of production throughout the whole show including a rising stage, special effects such as pyrotechnics, choreography and lighting design. In particular, I feel the need to mention ‘The Tortured Poet’s Department’ era, which included moving sets, Hollywood style graphics, and even a marching band. Another one of my personal favourite parts of the production would have to be the programmed light up wristbands that each ticket-holder is given to wear. These, very similar to the wristbands that Coldplay hand out at their shows, are programmed to light up, respond, and change colours with the music depending on which song is playing. A key moment where this happened was during the ‘Reputation’ era where, during one of the songs, the light up wristbands were used to create the image of a snake (one of the motifs of this album) moving throughout the crowd. It was an extremely creative way to use the wristbands, and was an awesome thing to witness.
Another memorable part of the show would be during the ‘Folkmore’ era when Swift deemed our show a ‘rain show’ after saying “I think when it rains for more than like 6 minutes we can officially declare it a rain show!”. Despite myself not experiencing any rain due to being under cover from where I was sitting, I’m glad that it made so many others in the crowd excited to hear what Swift had to say. A ‘rain show’ is supposedly a rare thing on ‘The Eras Tour’ and does not happen every show, thus making ours even more unique. The ‘Folkmore’ era itself isn’t named after 1 album; it’s named after 2. It is a section of the show consisting of songs from 2 sister albums called ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’ and was probably my favourite era of the whole show. Being able to hear Swift perform the song ‘August’ during the month of August was one thing, but being able to experience the crowd’s ten-minute-lasting standing ovation after Swift performed ‘Champagne Problems’ was another thing entirely. The cheering and clapping was extremely loud, so much so that Swift said “London I think that might’ve been the loudest sound I’ve ever heard in my entire life”. In addition to the clapping, you could physically feel the vibrations from people in the crowd jumping and stomping their feet which was crazy.
At every show, there is a part called the ‘surprise song section’ where, like explained in its name, Swift plays 2 surprise songs that are not included on the regular setlist. These songs can be any that she has had a part in creating (as shown by her singing ‘This Is What You Came For' by Rhianna and Calvin Harris at a previous show in which she sung backing vocals on), and are usually performed either on the guitar or piano. This segment is extremely special to many crowd members because it makes their show unique compared to others. The surprise songs can even be mashups of multiple songs and sometimes feature a special guest, there truly is no knowing of what Swift will sing. At this show, Swift first played a mashup of ‘Long Live’ from ‘Speak Now’ and ‘Change’ from ‘Fearless’ on guitar. She then went onto play a mashup of ‘The Archer’ from ‘Lover’ and ‘You’re On Your Own Kid’ from ‘Midnights’ on piano. Both ‘Long Live’ and ‘The Archer’ were featured on a previous rendition of the setlist but had since been removed since ‘The Tortured Poet’s Department’ era had been added. Many in the crowd, including myself were extremely happy to hear these performed live after thinking that they never would. ‘Change’ was an amazing surprise song because Swift had yet to perform it live on ‘The Eras Tour’, and ‘You’re On Your Own Kid’ was definitely a favourite of the crowd. One sweet detail that I noticed when the surprise songs were played, was that the wristbands, as well as the Wembley arch itself, lit up the colour of the era that the song was from. I think that it was a very special detail to add.
The show was brought to a close during the ‘Midnights’ era with the song ‘Karma’. For this song, Swift, her singers, and dancers, all donned colourful tinsel jackets which looked amazing, especially when they moved around. After the song had finished, with an extended instrumental outro being played, fireworks being shot into the air, and confetti falling to the ground, everyone gathered together on the main part of the stage. Swift thanked the dancers, singers, and band, before each group took their bows. Then, everyone, including Swift, stood together in a long line of colourful jackets and took their final bows. As the band, singers, and dancers were leaving, Swift took one last walk around the stage waving goodbye and thanking the crowd before taking one last bow and disappearing under the stage.
Overall, the show was outstanding. I truly hope that everyone that wants to, gets the chance to see Swift perform live one day. If you would like to see the tour, but are unable to attend a show, there is a recording of ‘The Eras Tour’ on Disney+, however please be aware that this is a recording of the old setlist and does not include ‘The Tortured Poet’s Department’ era. Despite this, it is still definitely worth a watch if you like Swift and her music. The European leg of ‘The Eras Tour’ has now ended, but Swift will be starting another leg of the tour in the US in October before finishing the tour in Canada in November. I will definitely be keeping an eye out to see what possible changes she may make to the set list or what new outfits or surprise songs she may debut! This night was a once in a lifetime experience for me, and one that I will be talking about for a long time coming!
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