The Eras Tour Was Taylor Swift’s Biggest Outing Yet, But It Was Far From Her First
Tell them how the crowds went wild...
City by city, song by song, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has quickly become of the highest-grossing (and buzziest) tours in music history. Spanning the entire length of Swift’s discography, Taylor honors each of her previous musical/aesthetic “eras” with a dedicated section on her setlist, allowing fans to relive the feeling of each album, if only for a moment.
But while the Eras Tour brings each album together on one mega-tour, it’s hardly the first time Taylor has been around, or even the first time she’s embarked on a stadium tour. From humble beginnings to sold-out shows across the globe, here’s a breakdown of all of Taylor Swift’s tours, in chronological order.
Fearless Tour
As most Swifties know, Taylor’s first album was a self-titled country pop record with singles like “Teardrops on My Guitar,” “Our Song,” and “Tim McGraw.” Taylor did tour during the release of Taylor Swift, but not as a headliner—she supported her first album by performing as an opening act for larger artists at the time like Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Faith Hill, and Keith Urban.
But while Taylor Swift was her first album, it wasn’t her first tour—that honor belongs to the Fearless Tour, which kicked off in April 2009 and ran through July 2010. The tour played a total of 105 shows (mostly across North America) including limited stops in Asia, Europe, and Australia. Kellie Pickler joined Taylor as an opening act, with artists like then-boyfriend John Mayer, Katy Perry, and Faith Hill appearing at certain performances as surprise guests. Though the tour didn’t get a concert film, Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless was released as a 3-episode docuseries, documenting the behind-the-scenes of the tour.
Speak Now World Tour
Taylor’s first proper world tour, the Speak Now World Tour, began in February 2011 and featured a total of 111 performances, including seven in Asia and 12 in Europe. In addition to being her first world tour, Speak Now was also Taylor’s first stadium tour and featured more extensive set pieces, choreography, and costuming than the Fearless tour. Speak Now‘s openers included NeedToBreathe, Hunter Hayes, and Hot Chelle Rae, and it was the first Taylor tour attended by yours truly. A concert film, Taylor Swift: Speak Now World Tour Live, was recorded to accompany the tour.
The Red Tour
Two years later, Taylor was back on the road with the Red Tour, which kicked off in March of 2013 and ran through June of 2014, with a total of 86 performances across the globe. In addition to continuing to bump up the tour’s production value through costuming, choreography, and set design, the Red tour also featured the introduction of surprise songs, which changed night-to-night. Certain Red tour dates also featured Taylor bringing out a surprise guest and singing one of their songs as a duet. Highlights of Red tour guests included Taylor singing “Jenny From the Block” with Jennifer Lopez, “You’re So Vain” with Carly Simon, and “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark” with Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump.
Unlike previous installments, there was no concert film version of the Red tour.
The 1989 World Tour
Following Red was the 1989 World Tour, beginning in May 2015 and ending December of the same year for a total of 85 shows. The 1989 World Tour featured the return of the Surprise Songs mechanic, and hosted Vance Joy, Shawn Mendes, Rae Morris, and Haim as opening acts. Haim would also go on to return as an opening act for the Eras Tour, as well as guest star in the Bejeweled music video and feature on an evermore track.
One of the tour stops in Sydney was recorded for a concert film version of the tour called The 1989 World Tour Live—prior to the Eras Tour, that Sydney performance held the record for Swift’s most-attended performance, with 75,980 Swifties in attendance.
Reputation Stadium Tour
Though Taylor had previously performed at plenty of stadiums on tour, the Reputation Stadium Tour was Swift’s first all-stadium tour, playing May through November of 2018 for a total of 53 shows—her shortest tour to date. Openers for reputation included Camila Cabello, Charli XCX, and Broods, some of whom would join Taylor during the set for “Shake it Off.” As with her previous tours, reputation featured surprise songs at each show and a number of surprise guests at certain performances, this time including Troye Sivan, Selena Gomez, and Niall Horan.
A performance in Arlington was recorded for a concert film called Taylor Swift: Reputation Stadium Tour, which was released by (but recently taken off of) Netflix. Fans speculate that reputation leaving Netflix could be related to the fact that Taylor has yet to re-record her masters for reputation.
Lover Fest
A sixth tour, Lover Fest, was originally scheduled for April through August of 2020, but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour would’ve featured Swift’s then-first performance in Brazil, and would also have been the first time Swift’s tour dates included stops at previously organized festivals. Because there was no tour, there’s no Lover concert film, but Swift did release City of Lover, a recording of a one-off concert in Paris, as a tv special in May of 2020.
The Eras Tour
Last but certainly not least is, of course, The Eras Tour, which is currently ongoing and kicked off in March of 2023. We’ve previously done a full breakdown of the Eras setlist, which features glimpses into all of Swift’s previous albums, but focuses most heavily on those she was unable to tour because of COVID— Lover, folklore, evermore, and Midnights. A concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, was released in theaters and is currently available to rent on streaming.
(featured image: Taylor Swift Productions)
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