In honor of “The Tortured Poets Department” coming out this month, allow me to give you a full review of the “Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version)” available on Disney Plus.  I attended MetLife night 1. 

We’re gonna do this one era at a time– just like Taylor. 

Let’s Kick it Off With the “Lover” Era 

Wearing my favorite Lover bodysuit, Taylor commands the stage and gets the crowd hyped for the emotional journey they are about to endure. Taylor truly knows how to engage a crowd asking if anyone knows the “Cruel Summer” bridge and challenges them to sing it by literally screaming “PROVE IT”.  We finally meet her dancers as she calls out the patriarchy with her song “The Man”. The set design for this song deserves a reward as it illustrates the message of the song perfectly. Showing her (literally) climbing her way to the top while people try to bring her down because she is a successful woman. As the era goes on, she tells her fans, “after tonight when you hear these songs out and about in the world, my dream is that you’re going to think about tonight and the memories we made here together.” As she sings the title track, “Lover,” her dancers join her on stage with absolutely gorgeous dresses. Finally, we arrive at the last song of the era, “The Archer. ” She makes an absolute power move by being the only one on the stage during this song pointing to the crowd as she sings “you could stay” as they point back, signaling the connection Taylor has with her fans. 

The “Fearless” Era: Time For a Little Throwback

Next, Taylor skips out onto the stage wearing a gold fringe dress with the guitar that her parents had decorated for her (we love Scott and Andrea Swift!) My favorite part of this era is that it is only Taylor and her band on the stage. Many people might not know this, but her band has been with her since she started her career 17 years ago. It’s honestly so cute how she has them with her during this era because this album was her big break and they were there with her every step of the way. Obviously, we can’t talk about this era without mentioning the iconic fearless heart, something that has been a staple in Taylor’s Career since she was 17. This era is filled with nostalgic songs like “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me.” Once a country girl, always a country girl.

Now it’s “Evermore” Time

One word I like to use to describe this era is witch. As in, this woman is a witch– a witch who can sing and tell a story like nobody else on this planet.  In this era, Taylor sings one of her most personal and meaningful songs, “Marjorie.” The song is about her grandmother Marjorie, who was also a singer. Taylor has her voice on the song so whenever she sings it, she’s singing with her grandma. She sings about how her grandma’s spirit is always with her, making it a truly  moving and emotional song. Before singing the next song “Champagne Problems,” she sits at the piano and makes a little speech where she says, “Genuinely, this (the eras tour) has meant more to me more than anything I’ve ever done or been a part of.” After the song, the fans give a standing ovation while Taylor gets ready for her next son, “Tolerate It.” For this one, she brings out one of her dancers as they act out the song with lyrics like, “I sit and watch you reading’ with your head low, I wake and watch you breathing’ with your eyes closed, I sit and watch you, I notice everything you do or don’t do.” Her dancers are truly some of the most talented people on this planet and I love them. The artistry of this whole era and the acting is absolutely insane and leaves me in tears each time I watch it.

“Reputation”: Aka the Greatest Comeback Era of All Time

She starts the era by showing a snake. Why is that iconic? Kanye and all of his followers were calling Taylor a snake following the release of the edited phone call. Not only did she come back with one of the greatest comeback albums, she openly embraced being a snake and used it throughout the whole era even going so far as having a snake design on her outfit. Of course the era started off the same way as the album with “… Ready For It?” which is a great way to start any era. She then sings, “Don’t Blame Me” and absolutely devours the high note at the end of the bridge. Next, in the greatest transition of all time, she mixes “Look What You Made Me Do” into “Don’t Blame Me.” There is no other word to describe this mix other than- iconic. Her dancers come out dressed as her different era before she delivers the iconic line, “I’m sorry the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now, why?, ohh, CAUSE SHE’S DEAD.”  Signaling the transition from the squeaky clean teen country to pop star to the strong, empowered billionaire that is Doctor Taylor Alison Swift.

Now My Personal Favorite: “Speak Now.”

Let me start off by saying, “Speak Now” was robbed on this tour. Only two songs from the album made the setlist after “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” came out and only one was played on my night of the tour. But I forgive her because she wears my favorite “Speak Now” dress.  During this era, Taylor makes her way down the stage singing “Enchanted” (The one Speak Now song I got) looking like a princess. And for the record, I really love “Enchanted.” She then grabs her guitar and starts belting out, “Long Live” with her band, once again, right by her side. She truly channels her inner “Barbie: The Princess and The Pop Star” during this whole era. 

The “Red” Era: Prepare for ‘All Too Well’

Starting off with “22”, she parties with her dancers before heading upstage to give one lucky fan the 22 hat. That lucky fan, Kobe Bryant’s daughter, Bianka (queue the sobbing, not joking I actually cried).  She then joins her dancers again, this time doing a kick line! Then, she launches into one of her most iconic songs, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” My favorite part of this era is when she gives the mic to her backup dancer, Kam (whose brother played football for the Chiefs!!!!!) during the iconic “like ever” line. Kam’s energy is my favorite thing and I love him so much.

Now a moment that changed my life: hearing “All Too Well (Ten Minute Version) (From the Vault) (Taylor’s Version)”. There are no words to describe that experience. Her songwriting is truly something else. More than anything else she is a storyteller and that’s the driving connection between swifties and Taylor. Also Jake Gyllenhaal, give back the scarf. Or else.

Now it’s time for “Folklore” 

We start the era with Taylor singing “The 1” on top of the folklore cabin. Taylor also addresses the mode of the album which I describe as the diary of an old Victorian woman who lives in the woods with her 8 cats. Taylor said something similar, but I really like my description.  The greatest part of this era is the storytelling. Not just Taylor’s lyrics, but her dancers. The choreography illustrates the story of songs like, “The Last Great American Dynasty” perfectly. Not only does the choreography illustrate the story but her dancers play the characters that are present during the song. My favorite song of the era is “illicit affairs,”one of the saddest yet, also one of the best songs to scream at the top of your lungs, and her performance of it is absolutely stunning. Also, the dancers’ costumes during, “My Tears Ricochet” are so pretty but also give  witch funeral vibes, and that honestly makes me love them even more. 

Next, “1989” Era: Party Time

Wearing her pink “1989” outfit, she rises from the stage like the goddess she is singing “Style”. Side note, I love Harry Styles, like I really love him . But anyway, she struts her way down the stage before singing “Blank Space”.  She brings the music video (which she filmed on Long Island) to life with glow in the dark golf clubs which is so cool and I want one. Then it’s time to party once again with the classic “Shake it Off”. Hearing it live brought me back to being 7 years old and screaming the bridge. Also her vocals during “Wildest Dreams” are heavenly. And the “Bad Blood” chant, “You forgive you forget but you never let it *pause* go!” so iconic. 

We have now arrived at what’s probably the most anxiety provoking moment of the whole show–  surprise songs.  

I would like to take a moment to brag about how I got one of my top 3 surprise songs, “Getaway Car ” with special guest Jack Antonoff. The surprise songs shown in the movie were the LA surprise songs “Our Song” and “You’re on your own kid”.  Starting with “Our Song”, an absolute classic in taylors discography, one of the first songs she released and every fan knows it so her singing it on the Eras tour is really special. Now “You’re on your own kid” — And wow! That song is so meaningful and so many people can relate to it on so many levels and her vocals on it are absolutely amazing. Also her smile when she says “make the friendship bracelets’ ‘ cause she knows that’s exactly what the fans did and has become such a huge part of the tour itself. At the end of the movie she adds four extra surprise songs , “Maroon”, “I Can See You”, “Death by a Thousand Cuts”, and “You Are In Love’’. Starting with “Maroon”, which was my second surprise song when I went. It’s so cool seeing it in the movie and knowing that I was the first show to ever hear that song live. Also it’s just such a good song and one of my favorites off of “Midnights”. Next straight from the “Speak Now”  vault, “I Can See You”, the opt up she does on the second verse is so good as a proud “Speak Now” girl I can positively say it’s one of the best vault tracks ever. Period. Third is “Death by a Thousand Cuts’ ‘, the bridge.That bridge is one of her best and nobody builds a bridge by Taylor Swift. The last surprise song is “You Are In Love” off of “1989”. It’s such a beautiful song and her voice on it is absolutely angelic. She also gets bonus points for wearing the burgundy surprise song dress instead of the yellow one. I love the burgundy dress. 

 Now it’s time for the last era, “Midnights”

Starting off with “Lavender Haze”, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, nobody writes a bridge like Taylor Swift.  Next we have “Anti-Hero” . She’s so dramatic when singing it and that makes the song so much better. Then we have “Midnight Rain” which is so Tom Holland lip sync battle coated and my favorite blue fringe romper. Now “Vigilante Shit”. Ate, iconic, slayed the house down houston i’m deceased.Moving onto “Bejeweled” , the strut and spin before she sings “ I can still make the whole shimmer” is so fun. Also another Kam solo and he death drops. I love Kam so much I can’t stress that enough. I was so happy when “Mastermind” made the set list because I love it so much and it’s so underrated. Also the way it’s choreographed is so fitting to the song. The way she controls the dancers along with the lyrics, the choreographer deserves a huge billion dollar raise. Now the final song of the night, “Karma” and we have the blue karma jacket!! The “Karma” dance is so iconic, I love it so much. Although there was no “Karma is the guy on the chiefs” the bridge still ate. 

Altogether this is definitely one of the greatest tours ever, and i recommend that everyone and i mean everyone watches it. It really has something for everyone, pop, country, folk, witches and is amazing to sing along to when you’re in the mood to party. 

Thank you for reading and also stream “The Tortured Poets Department” out on April 19th .