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Eras Tour movie review era by era

The Ears Tour movie has quickly become Swift's fans' new favorite documentary to watch from the artist.  Here is a complete review of the movie from fellow "Swifties" here on The Howler!
The Ears Tour movie has quickly become Swift’s fans’ new favorite documentary to watch from the artist. Here is a complete review of the movie from fellow “Swifties” here on The Howler!
Maya Schindler

Beloved American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift broke the internet with her biggest tour yet: The Eras Tour. This three hour tour encompassing all of Swift’s albums, also known as eras, produced record breaking ticket sales, leaving many Swifties without the opportunity to see the amazing show. On Aug. 31, Swift announced the tour would be coming to the big screen. Read on to enjoy our collective review of each era of the tour in order. Let’s jump into the eras.

Lover
Lover

Swift opens the tour with songs from “Lover,” which she released in Aug. 2019. Many fans were surprised by her choice to begin the tour with this album, assuming she would start with her most recent album, “Midnights.” However, Swift likely opened with “Lover” because the album never got a tour, due to the fact that the “Lover” tour, called “Lover Fest,” was canceled due to COVID-19, making “Lover” the first album without a tour since her second album, “Fearless.”

This album is truly magical, with themes of nostalgia, heartbreak, and the emotions of young love. Swift perfectly encapsulates the vibes of “Lover” with her iconic outfit, a shiny bodysuit in Lover’s signature pastel blues and pinks with silver knee-high boots.

Swift included five songs from “Lover” in “The Eras Tour” movie, starting with “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince” and “Cruel Summer.” These upbeat tunes are the perfect songs to start the tour and get fans out of their seats.

Next, Swift adds a beautiful silver blazer for her third song of the tour, “The Man.” This song about the double standards women face is truly scream-worthy and is a great addition to the tour.

Swift then sings “You Need To Calm Down,” another fabulous pop song. Swift ends the “Lover” era with one of the most iconic songs from the album: “Lover.” This song, though less upbeat than the others, is the perfect finale. “Lover” truly encapsulates the album’s themes with creative lyrics describing the experience of true love.

This setlist certainly did the album justice and sets a positive tone for the rest of the performance, and leads perfectly into songs from Swift’s hit country album: Fearless.

Fearless
Fearless

The second set performed in Swift’s “The Eras Tour” is the “Fearless” set. “Fearless,” Swift’s second studio album of her career, is a country album from 2008 with many hit singles telling stories of first loves and heartbreaks. The moment I heard the distinctive guitar chords of “Fearless,” I knew I was in for a treat.

With this tour marking fourteen years after Swift embarked on her first-ever tour, the “Fearless Tour,” performing these songs really meant a lot to both her and her fans.

During this set, Swift sings the songs “Fearless,” “You Belong With Me,” and “Love Story,” looking as happy as can be while dancing, jumping around and strumming her guitar. It was a pivotal moment in Swift’s career for her to be able to sing the music she created back in her high school days.

The “Fearless” set is also one of the few sets that did not have any cut songs, which further proves how important these tracks were to Swift and how much the fans enjoyed them.

Overall, this set was one of my favorites of the entire concert film. It was a moment to remember and provided a smooth transition from the opening act to the rest of the tour.

Evermore
Evermore

In Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” film, Swift performs a select amount of songs from all of her albums. However, rather than simply singing a familiar tune, Swift goes all out with a large visual production for each album’s “era.” 

The “Evermore” era is my personal favorite. In the film, the era opens up with the song “Willow,” as Swift and her talented backup dancers portray a scene from its music video. The dancers exhibit intense choreography around the stage, wearing green cloaks and stimulating witchcraft.

 Next, Swift sings a rather emotional ballad dedicated to her grandmother. The song “Marjorie” is a bittersweet moment in the concert, where fans turn on their phone flashlights to resemble stars in the night sky. Swift’s raw emotion portrayed in this portion of the era is like no other. 

Arguably, the most famous moment from the tour is the intense applause following “Champagne Problems.” In the film, the crowd cheers for a few minutes as Swift paces around the stage, wearing an appalled look. 

To close up this era is my favorite portrayal, “Tolerate It.” The theatrical performance of this song includes a long table, which Swift finds herself dramatically crawling across later. Another performer sits at the end of the tidy table set by Swift and ignores her cries of love. How these two perfectly brought “Tolerate It” to life will always be a monumental moment for me. 

The “Evermore” era illustrates a powerful passion that fans cannot disregard. 

Reputation
Reputation

“Reputation” is the sixth of all ten of Taylor Swift’s albums in her music career. This album consists of 15 songs with many genres, ranging from electropop to hip-hop. It is a very special album because it creates a new identity for Swift, and she finally shows the world who she is now. We cannot blame her for creating such a wonderful and iconic album. Reputation changed her for the better. She is now seen in a new way with her new reputation. 

In “The Eras Tour,” the “Reputation” set is filled with the most iconic and amazing songs from the album. In the intro, she walks onto the stage in a black one-legged jumpsuit with a red snake across her body to the beat of “…Ready For It?” and makes a sensational entrance into the “Reputation” era. During the song “Delicate,” on the stage, when she jumps at certain points of the song, the stage gives the illusion of breaking glass. During the song “Don’t Blame Me,” smoke machines and lights create a  dramatic effect. The “Look What You Made Me Do” part of the set can remind you of the music video created for that song. On the stage for the final song, we see different versions of Taylor Swift in her past, showing that she has a new reputation.

The world and I were unprepared for a big comeback album by Taylor Swift that changed her life forever.  I hope more people understand and appreciate the album “Reputation” because it is enjoyable to listen to. 

Speak Now
Speak Now

After the jaw-dropping spectacle of her “Reputation” set, Taylor Swift returns to her country roots by performing songs from one of her older albums. 

In Oct. 2010, Taylor Swift released her third album, “Speak Now.” Her first pop-country album, “Speak Now” set the stage for her enchanting future as one of the world’s most popular pop artists. “Speak Now” marked the beginning of Swift’s shift to pop music, with many of the songs having more of a rock sound, especially in her recent re-recording. A revolutionary album written completely by Swift herself, “Speak Now” won Favorite Country Album at the 2011 American Music Awards.

13 years later, in an inspiring journey that was better than revenge, Taylor re-recorded “Speak Now” so she could regain the rights to her music after Big Machine Records sold her original album without her consent. She released this re-recording on July 7, while on tour, and added another “Speak Now” track to this era of her concert setlist: “Long Live.” This re-recording included six vault tracks, which were written in 2010 and recorded with this new album. 

During the Speak Now section of her concert, Swift emerges wearing a stunning purple dress as hundreds of purple flowers appear on the screen behind her and sings “Enchanted” and “Long Live.” Afterward, the screen turns black before bursting into color at the start of her next era: Red.

Red
Red

The songs performed by Taylor Swift in “The Eras Tour” movie were all too nostalgic. Swift debuted her award-winning album in 2012 and re-recorded the previous songs and the extension of her song “All Too Well” in 2021. The Red era began Swift’s iconic look of red lipstick and represents a time of love with inevitable heartbreak. 

The era begins with a mysterious red box. As the dancer opened and closed the box, the music started and stopped, creating a perfect transition between “Speak Now” and “Red.” “22,” “We are Never Getting Back Together,” “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” were performed in “The Eras Tour” movie, creating the perfect combination of exhilarating pop and emotional acoustics. Swift began with the song “22,” leaving many fans speechless when she shared an emotional moment with a fan. Handing the fan her hat and giving her a big hug displayed Swift’s compassion and love for the people who love and support her. 

It was followed by “We are Never Getting Back Together,” “I Knew You Were Trouble” and her most iconic re-recorded song, “All Too Well (10 Minute Version.)” This one song embraces every message in the album. There’s no other way to explain this era except “Red.”

Folklore
Folklore

In 2020, Swift surprise-released her eighth studio album “Folklore.” This was a shock to all her fans because it was in the middle of the pandemic and it was such a large genre shift from her upbeat pop album “Lover” to an indie-folk genre. The whimsical “Folklore” era is well known for its woodsy vibe, iconic 17-soundtrack list, amazing storytelling and incredible melodies. 

The ethereal “Folklore” set opens up with a shimmering rain of gray and gold and the beautiful cabin coming into view with Swift lying on the mossy roof in a gorgeous fairy-like dress. She then starts singing her first song, “The 1,” and fans who have been following the tour for a while will adore the note change that is included in the movie as well. Swift then goes through her next two songs, “Betty” and “The Last Great American Dynasty,” while singing and dancing in the cabin with her backup singers and dancers. After that, she glides around the stage while singing “August.” This is one of her many opportunities to go around the stage and see all her adoring fans singing along with her. The song then transitions into the bridge of “Illicit Affairs” and continues the same emotional vibe to the next song, “My Tears Ricochet.” This is usually the second to last song in the set, but the song “Cardagin” was cut from the movie. 

Overall, this set is an amazing theatrical experience with lots of dancing and much to look at around the stage. All of these elements, coupled with the beautiful songs from the album, create an iconic era that is enjoyable to watch and sing along to. 

1989
1989

The “1989” era followed the chill mood of “Folklore,” sparking an excited energy within the audience with its neon lights and colorful outfits. As soon as I saw neon white lights create the city skyline and heard the beginning notes of “Style,” I knew it would be an exciting era to watch on screen. 

“1989” has always been my favorite album of hers, and I was not disappointed. The songs on this record are pop hit after pop hit, making the audience want to get up and dance, which we did. In the movie, Swift performs “Style,” “Blank Space,” “Shake It Off” and “Bad Blood.” It’s worth mentioning, though, that on the tour, she also performed “Wildest Dreams,” but Swift cut it from the movie for the sake of time. These songs were the perfect picks for the tour as they were the most popular when “1989” was released in 2014, and for good reason. Each song is easy to sing along to and upbeat enough to get you up off your feet, especially after the “Folklore” set. 

The choreography and special effects added a lot to the storytelling aspect of these perfect pop anthems. My favorite song she performed has to be “Blank Space,” where her backup dancers rode around on neon glow-up bicycles and used neon glow-up golf clubs to attack a projection of a car, mimicking the viral music video. Overall, this entire era, glittery mini skirts and all, was such a fun experience to watch. I’d recommend for anyone who loves a girl-power pop anthem to see it on the big screen themselves!

(AP)
Midnights
Midnights

“Midnights’” has always been the most intriguing era of Swift’s music. Coming off indie folk albums “Folklore” and “Evermore,” it was interesting to see this new side of electronic dance from Swift. Watching this thaw out on the big screen was even more captivating and a pleasure to experience. After the anticipation of “surprise songs” was over, Swift took her bow and leaped under the stage into her next and final set, “Midnights.” 

Climbing into the glistening snowball-shaped cloud, she performs her first song, “Lavender Haze.” Following this dream-like performance, she plays fan favorite songs, “Anti-Hero” and “Midnight Rain.” She then transitioned into her most scandalous performance, “Vigilante” Bringing out an abundance of backup dancers, she had prop chairs and captivated the stage. “Bejeweled” showcased her best sparkly outfit, and if you ask me, it was really “NICE!” “Mastermind” and “Karma” ended the 3-hour show, along with a display of colorful fireworks and confetti after the show. Seeing this all play out on the big screen was a moment to remember and has brought more anticipation to the international dates of the tour. 

From Midnights to Debut, the Eras Tour movie is truly an unforgettable experience. Get your tickets today, they’ve been waiting for you!

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