Swift takes the stage for her final U.S. tour date of the year. Photo courtesy of TAS Rights Management.
LEAH OLLIE | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | lollie@butler.edu
After 142 stadium stops, a few trips around the globe and two prior sold-out concerts, Taylor Swift completed her Indy Era and final U.S. tour leg on Nov. 3. Swift’s last of three nights at Lucas Oil Stadium hosted 69,000 fans — a final count that broke the stadium’s all-time concert attendance record for the third night in a row.
The historic scale and cultural ubiquity of The Eras Tour are undeniable, and Swift has long since established and defended her dominance in the music industry as its victory lap has touched every continent. A seemingly endless stream of Swiftie demand has only strengthened under limited supply as unprecedented Ticketmaster website crashes became a national conversation at the intersection of arts and commerce. Fans and celebrities alike have clamored to have a chance to witness the sheer scale of this stadium tour, and Indianapolis Swifties are no exception.
Senior English major Miranda Emerick grabbed a last-minute ticket from a friend and found community as a solo attendee at Saturday’s concert.
“I went to the concert alone, so I was surprised at how safe I felt the entire time,” Emerick said. “Everyone was very kind and I found plenty of people to talk to while I was there. [The environment] was exciting and full of positivity.”
Over the span of the concert’s three-and-a-half-hour setlist, Swift took the audience on a journey through her music career — from her debut album to her latest chart-topping record. Each era featured its own unique set, staging and choreography, creating an immersive experience not unlike time travel.
“I’m so happy that it’s you and me [and] I’m so happy that we all get to share this memory tonight,” Swift said while introducing her single “Lover”. “These are songs I either wrote about something that happened in my life, something I felt at one point, or something I invented completely in my imagination … but all that’s about to change after tonight because, after tonight, when you hear these songs, you’re going to think about us.”
Swift’s ability to simultaneously universalize the specific and fantasize about the mundane has captured audiences for decades and hallmarked her signature style of confessional pop that both constructs and reveals her persona. Audiences caught a glimpse of the illusion and allure of “knowing” her through the vulnerability of her performances on stage and left with memories to hold close to their own hearts.
Swift has achieved a unique feat in cultivating personalized experiences for fans in a sea of thousands.
Emerick felt this fan connection in her own unique experience and attributes it to the tour’s overall success.
“The Eras Tour is special because it has something for everyone and it’s ever-changing,” Emerick said. “I can see my favorite songs that I never saw performed when they came out. What really makes it special is that it’s clear that it’s a love letter from Taylor to her fans and the work she’s gone through to own her own image and her work.”
Besides the pathos of Swift’s performance, The Eras Tour is a technical feat in and of itself. Both Swift and opener Gracie Abrams effortlessly filled the stage — and its catwalk stretching across half the Lucas Oil floor — as it shifted, glowed, shattered and mutated. Intricate video visuals and immersive backing audio made even transitions between Eras and costume change breaks feel like cinematic experiences and ensured that the cohesive narrative of the show didn’t break for a second.
For any remaining skeptics who have escaped Swift’s omnipresence in monoculture or simply don’t understand it, look no further than the success of The Eras Tour. The excellence of the product itself proves its popularity, presents its own gamified bubble of fan engagement and justifies its own dominance in ecosystems — and local economies — that support it.
Entire online fan communities have created their own culture and traditions around the show by channeling attention, posts and cold, hard dollars towards it. A fanmade social media livestream of Swift’s first concert in Indianapolis this weekend generated $34,000 for the Coburn Place, a local nonprofit that serves survivors of domestic violence.
As Swift moves on to Canada to close out her tour with its final nine shows, she leaves in her wake the millions of fans who have experienced the joy of The Eras Tour — whether they were screaming from the nosebleeds, dancing while crying on the stadium floor, singing along to the Eras Tour concert film on your couch or watching a TikTok Live, basking in Swift’s warm, pink glow.
