Taylor Swift’s Record-Breaking Eras Tour Ends After Two Years
On Nov. 1, 2022, Taylor Swift announced The Eras Tour, and on March 17, 2023, the first show commenced in Glendale, Arizona. Now, two years and 149 shows later, the tour is officially coming to an end. Swift’s last two stops on the tour consisted of five nights in Toronto and three nights in Vancouver, with the last show being in Vancouver on Dec. 8, 2024.
Throughout The Eras Tour, Swift made multiple notable announcements, including the announcement of her re-recorded albums, “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” and “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” released on July 7, 2023 and Oct. 26, 2023, respectively. She also released her concert film, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” and a surprise double album, “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.”
Over the course of the two year tour, the concerts collectively had 10,168,008 attendees, and, on average, reached 72,500 people in attendance per show. The Eras Tour officially became the highest-grossing tour in history after her first 60 shows in 2023 reaching over $1 billion, and the numbers only increased from there.
Across the 149 shows, Swift brought out many different surprise guests for her famous acoustic set, commonly known as the surprise song set. She brought out two of her main producers during the set - Aaron Dessner five times between April 14 and July 1, and Jack Antonoff during her second East Rutherford show.
Artists such as Ed Sheeran, Sabrina Carpenter, Gracie Abrams, and Florence Welch also took the stage to perform with Swift. During the last leg of The Eras Tour in Vancouver, Swift brought out Abrams as the final surprise guest of the tour during her acoustic set on the second night. Together, they performed Abrams’ “I Love You, I’m Sorry” and Swift’s “Last Kiss.”
The final night’s surprise songs were one of the most notable parts of Swift’s last performance. On guitar, she played “A Place in this World” and “New Romantics.” During her piano performance, she ended the final acoustic set with a mashup of “Long Live,” which fans highly predicted as the surprise song, “New Year’s Day,” and “The Manuscript.”
Many fans noticed the connection between this night’s acoustic set and the set during the first show in Glendale, where Swift played “Tim McGraw,” the very first song on her discography for the very first show of the tour. Swift continued the trend Sunday night by playing “The Manuscript,” the last song on her discography.
Swift is no stranger to iconic moments - and this tour was packed with them. From the giveaway of the “22” hat and long standing ovation after “champagne problems” that repeated every show, to the memorable security guard incident during her performance of “Bad Blood” and the occasional note changes in her setlist, The Eras Tour became more than just a concert to many fans - it’s an experience to remember for life.
Sources: CBS News, Variety, GRAMMY.com, New York Times