Paige Hert

A fan tradition of The Eras Tour is to make and trade friendship bracelets with other fans. At the end of the film, Swift shows her gratitude to her fans by displaying friendship bracelets to them. “The Eras Tour” concert film is a great way to relive the concert, experience it for the first time and have something fun to do for an afternoon.

As soon as I got that well-recognized notification that “Taylor Swift has made a post” on Instagram, I immediately clicked on it, just like I always do. When I saw that the post was announcing that her Eras Tour was coming to theaters, I scrambled to my local movie theater’s website to buy tickets. Months later, I got to my movie theater 30 minutes before showtime  to buy Taylor Swift merchandise and meet my friends, who I got to see the movie with. Everyone in the theater was dressed to their best in glittery dresses and Taylor Swift shirts. As I sat down in my seat and looked at the menu with Taylor-Swift-inspired drinks, I felt a thrill of excitement, as I was about to relive one of the best nights of my life. 

Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” is a concert film that goes through all of Swift’s “eras”. It was filmed at the Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, Los Angeles which was her last stop on the U.S. leg of the tour. According to Ticketmaster, more than 2 million tickets were sold on the day of the presale, and they quickly sold out within 24 hours. The concert film is a good way to get to experience the concert for those who didn’t get to attend.  

The film itself is a three-hour-long phenomenon and goes through Swift’s music career. Before this tour, Swift had done a single tour for each new album that she had put out, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she was not able to go on tour for the new albums that she had put out. To make up for this, she decided to combine all of her eras/albums into one big tour. Her eras are composed of all of her different albums and range from one to seven songs in each era. 

Personally, I loved the film because as someone who went to the actual concert, I felt like it was an incredible way to relive and experience the concert again. My seats at the concert were in the lower bowl so I had a pretty good view, but the movie allowed me to get to experience different angles of the show and take a closer look at all of the magic that went on behind the tour. 

Diving into the elements of this film, one aspect that I absolutely loved was the actual editing of the movie. For example, during the “Reputation” era, there was a big 3-D snake edited into the film to make it look like it was wrapped around the stage. There was also some editing with the text that would announce each era as it came on. I thought that the editing enhanced the movie greatly because it allowed us viewers to get to be entranced by the visuals and keep the film organized and fun.

Another aspect that I loved about the movie was how it allowed me to see different angles of the show and get to notice things that I never noticed before the movie. Something that I didn’t pay much attention to during the actual concert and the videos that I saw on the internet was how intricate and beautiful the actual sets were. During the “Evermore” era, I was able to see the incredible backdrops of tall trees and a forest, and during the “Folklore” era, I was able to see the unbelievable cabin. Another thing that can be seen is also the stage visuals which honestly took my breath away. A guitar can be seen on the actual stage during the “Fearless” era, and I could see the iconic dive that she does into a hole in the stage even better during the movie. 

Some other things that I never noticed before watching the film were the detailed costumes, dancers and backup vocalists. The concert itself was a very overwhelming experience and there was a lot of information to take in, so I never got to fully see Swift’s costumes or appreciate her backup dancers and vocalists. This movie allowed me to actually see the precise details on her bodysuit in the “Lover” era, and how her “Folklore” nail was chipped. I also loved getting to see her incredibly talented dancers who made their presence known with their amazing choreography. There was always so much happening on the stage and I feel like I previously hadn’t paid much attention to the actual backup vocalists but with these closer angles on the stage, I was able to watch them put on a remarkable performance and hear them better. 

If I had one complaint about this whole film, I would honestly say that I wish that she hadn’t cut some songs from her setlist. The film is just about three hours-long and I understand that to keep the time short, it was necessary to cut some songs out of the film. However, some of my favorite songs that she performed live were cut and I would’ve loved to get to experience those songs again.

I personally feel like this movie was a phenomenal way to relive “The Eras Tour” and get to hear some of my favorite songs again. For those who didn’t get to go to one of Swift’s concerts, the movie is obviously not the same thing, but if you have fun people in your theater, you can sing and dance along together and get to watch it on a big screen with your friends as well as listen to the songs on loud speakers. 

Overall, I thought it was such a fun movie to watch because it wasn’t like your traditional movie theater experience where you sit and quietly watch the screen. I got to sing, dance, talk and clap along with everyone else. I would for sure recommend this film to anyone who has been to the concert and wants to relive it, fans who didn’t get to go to the concert, and also people who aren’t fans because you never know how this movie can change you.