Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (2023)

Image via @tstheerastourfilm on Instagram

I don’t know how it gets better than this… the mastermind herself, Ms. Taylor Swift, spectacularly delivered in this bejeweled and bedazzled three hour musical showcase of unprecedented talent and showmanship. It’s not hard to see why Taylor is on top of the world right now, with consistently sold out stadiums filled with throngs of starry-eyed fans swapping friendship bracelets and showing off their cleverest Eras-themed costumes and attire, four original and three (soon to be four!) re-recorded albums since her last world tour, and, now, the Eras Tour concert film that crashed ticketing sites for movie theaters across the country.

Since I wasn’t able to attend the Eras tour in person, I had hoped and prayed that a concert film like her Netflix Reputation stadium tour special was in the works. Instead, what Taylor and her team delivered far exceeded my expectations. We love going to the movies, so getting to see the concert on the big screen at our local AMC theater was such a treat, and one that I really did not expect to see so soon, with the international leg of her tour still to come.

The film is pretty straightforward. It is the concert. Minus a few songs, that is, basically, that’s it. It’s just the whole concert. And I’m not complaining. The sound was incredible in our Dolby theater, the picture was clear and brilliant, and the colors were vibrant and sparkling, making Ms. Swift shine that much brighter, her poignant chords and lyrics cut that much deeper, and her upbeat pop hits making it hard not to dance in my seat. My only gripes were that two of my darling favorites, “Wildest Dreams” and “Cardigan”, were cut from the film. But, with a 2h 49m runtime, I understand why some sacrifices were necessary; it’s not as though there are any bad songs to choose from.

As promised, Taylor Swift takes us on a truly epic journey through her discography, as she shakes and shimmies and struts across the ever-transforming stage with incredible confidence and charisma and many fabulous costume changes. With the exception of the Evermore and Folklore sets, which have a similar whimsical, mystical, mossy-cabin-in-an-enchanted-forest vibe but are spaced out enough in the show’s chronology to where they don’t feel overly redundant, each album era feels uniquely distinct from the others, characterized by nostalgic callbacks and costume changes.

Dillon was a good sport and cemented his best-fiancé-ever status by attending with me in spite of the fact that he is decidedly NOT a Swiftie (in spite of my persistent efforts to brainwash him). However, leaving the theater, I was pleasantly surprised that he generally only had good things to say, unlike the casually cruel nine-year-old girls I overheard maligning Folklore in the lobby. Whether she’s your cup of tea or not (I’m not sure my college-football-obsessed fiancé is really her target demographic), and whether you’re a Folklore/Evermore girlie, a 1989 stan or a die-hard OG yee-haw Swiftie, I think every rational human being on the planet (except Facebook commenters and twitter trolls who are all in a seriously delusional state of misogyny-fueled denial) can agree that Taylor Swift is an incredible talent and treasure, and one of the most prolific, hardest working songwriters and performers in the music industry. 10/10 and would happily fork over a heap of cash for a souvenir soda cup for Taylor any day.

READ ON FOR OUR FAVORITE ERAS & PERFORMANCES FROM THE CONCERT FILM!

Image via @taylorswift on Instagram

---