As a casual listener before, I can attest that this experience will change your whole mindset on Taylor Swift and her music.
Raking in about $96 million in the box office for its opening weekend, Taylor Swift’s concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, became the highest grossing concert film.
The 2 hours and 49 minutes film captured Swift at one of her LA shows back in August, the last stops in America for the year.
As someone who saw a performance on this tour, I gladly put everything down to buy tickets for this film so I could experience it again. The live concert was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that everyone should go to.
Before going to her concert, I was more of a casual listener and never really listened to her because I never really got the hype. Now, I have listened to all her songs and albums and have fully become a Swiftie.
The Eras Tour is a tour that consists of songs from all 10 of Swift’s albums throughout her 17-year career. For each era, or album, she includes a transition time in between to have an outfit change for each era. The actual live show itself was over three hours long. Despite how long it was, the actual experience itself felt too short.
This tour is known for the ecstatic fans showing up in bedazzled outfits, friendship bracelets to trade with others and some fanchants that go with a couple of the songs.
When I arrived in the theater, I felt a genuine feeling of eagerness, just like I did for the concert. We were able to purchase cups that were made for this film and even traded some friendship bracelets with some of the other audience members.
As the film started, the entire roared and cheered to show their excitement. The chills that I got before the concert were unreal, and I didn’t think I would feel anything like that again until this film.
She included a remix of some of her songs at the beginning in order to hype up the crowd for her entrance, which was so fascinating to watch.
The film had some amazing shots that made me feel overjoyed for the singer. Her performances as well deserved a standing ovation because of her stage presence and her passion for each song was amazing.
An outstanding performer hypes up the crowd and can interact with them naturally, and this film really showed how appreciative she is of her fans. It included scenes where she would just stop and take a look around her, and it really shows that she is grateful for everything and everyone.
The concert and film really showcases how much of an amazing performer and singer she is. With a three-hour long show, Swift does not show that she is tired once and performs with her whole body and soul. Her emotions and facial expressions could be seen and felt through the screen.
I also enjoyed Swift showing her gratitude and appreciation of her dancers, vocalists and band, as they are a huge part in the show. They all put in a lot of work to highlight Swift, and she makes sure to give them some of the spotlight throughout the film and show.
Now although the film was absolutely extraordinary, I did feel like she should have included the entire setlist. For the film, Swift decided to cut out some of the songs she performed. Although I did know this before seeing the film, each transition from each song was so smooth, I forgot that she even had it on the setlist.
At the end of the film, where the credits are shown, her song “Long Live (Taylor’s Version)” is playing in the background as one side has the credits and the others show some “bloopers”/accidents that happened during a couple of the live shows, which the audience loved watching.
I just wish that there was more behind the scenes and her process of creating the setlist and show. I think that would be a cool concept for something else that she could work on. Also, showing how she prepares and gets ready for these long concerts would be interesting to see.
All in all, I believe that this film should not be unseen by any music fans. Her music is outstanding, and she is a great lyricist and performer. As someone who didn’t get into her music until recently, I truly regret all the missed opportunities I would have had if I was a listener earlier in her career.