TAYLOR Swift’s record-shattering “Eras Tour” is set to end on Sunday in Vancouver with the final performance of a cultural phenomenon that has easily become the highest-grossing musical tour in history.
The globe-spanning event kicked off in the US state of Arizona on Mar 17, 2023.
After the last show in the Canadian city on Sunday (Dec 8), the American singer/songwriter would have performed 149 shows with stops from Buenos Aires to Paris and Tokyo.
Swift’s camp has not publicly released ticket revenue numbers for the tour, but the widely cited trade magazine Pollstar has estimated the figure at well over US$2 billion.
That smashes the record previously held by Elton John’s pandemic-interrupted Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, which sold an estimated US$939 million in tickets over 328 shows spread across five years.
Beyond the concerts, Swift’s presence in venue cities has supercharged local economies.
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Her second-last tour stop was Toronto, where she performed six shows over two weekends.
She generated an additional C$282 million (S$267 million) in economic activity in Canada’s largest city, tourism promotion organisation Destination Toronto estimated.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended one of the Toronto shows with his family.
Last year, before the announcement that Eras would include Canadian stops, Trudeau issued a public appeal urging Swift to come.
“I know places in Canada would love to have you. So, don’t make it another Cruel Summer. We hope to see you soon,” Trudeau posted on X in July 2023, referring to a hit song from Swift’s 2019 album, Lover.
Not all the political attention Swift attracted during Eras was positive.
Shortly after the US presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in September, Swift endorsed the Democrat for president.
That triggered an all-caps Trump post on the former president’s Truth Social platform that simply said, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT”.
‘Super Bowl suspense’
Eras also earned sterling critical acclaim, with reviewers praising Swift’s stamina and energy through shows that have averaged just under four hours.
The New York Times called opening night in Glendale, Arizona a “master class”. The Vancouver Sun called Friday’s show, her third last, “spectacular”.
A setback came this summer in Vienna when three shows were cancelled after the authorities arrested a man in connection with an Islamist attack plot.
And tragedy struck when a fan died from heat exhaustion during a show in Rio de Janeiro in November of last year.
Unprecedented ticket demand led to frustration for many fans and forced Ticketmaster initially to scrap presale plans.
Eras also included a “will she, won’t she” moment of suspense that transcended the world of pop music.
The question was whether Swift had enough time after finishing a show in Tokyo on Feb 10 to make it to Las Vegas in time for kick-off at football’s Super Bowl to see her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, play for the Kansas City Chiefs.
It is rare for a non-football storyline to dominate discussion ahead of America’s premier sporting event.
But concern about Swift’s schedule was so acute that the Japanese embassy in Washington issued a statement affirming she would “comfortably” make the game.
From a private box, along with Kelce’s mother, Donna, Swift chugged a beer and watched the Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers – as more than 200 million TV viewers watched her. AFP
