Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour review: A love letter to fans (Taylor’s version)
An energetic and enthralling experience—even for those without friendship bracelets—the film effectively captures Swift's Eras Tour performances
Film Reviews The Eras Tour
If ever there was a review-proof movie, it’s the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film. You probably already know whether you want to see it or not, and no critical analysis of its value as a film or a filmgoing experience is likely to change that. Advanced ticket sales have already surpassed $100 million and it’s projected to exceed $125 million at the box office in its opening weekend. Swift fans are treating this as a theatrical event, and for good reason. Watching the film feels like attending an Eras concert all over again. Or for the first time, if you couldn’t get tickets. Which is kind of the whole point.
The infamous Ticketmaster debacle that sparked a Department of Justice investigation and made fans feel like they had to go through “several bear attacks” to get Eras tickets, as one pissed-off Swift put it in an Instagram story, was clearly a driving factor behind this film. And it will likely figure into its success as well. There’s nothing quite like seeing an artist perform live, but if the barriers to that experience are especially high, a concert film is the next best thing. One of the secrets to Swift’s success is her connection to her fans and the unwavering dedication that has inspired among Swifties in turn. So if the fans can’t come to her, she’ll happily screw the system and come to them.
Filmed over several nights at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles, at the end of the U.S. segment of the Eras tour, the film gives the audience a front-row seat and a pretty good approximation of what it was like to be there in the thick of it. Director Sam Wrench knows his way around a concert stage, having previously shot live shows featuring Billie Eilish, Lizzo, and BTS. He keeps the camera moving and captures a variety of different angles, from overhead shots high above the stage to close-ups so detailed you can see the chipped polish on Swift’s nails and the sweat dripping down her cheeks. There are also a few spare but effective cutaways to enthralled audience members, sometimes crying, sometimes singing along. In order to stay true to the concert-going experience, you don’t get any behind-the-scenes footage or interviews here. For that, you can always check out the documentary Miss Americana.
The sound is expertly mixed to deliver Swift’s energetic vocals clearly, but it also allows the crowd noise to bleed in at the edges. At the screening we attended there were times when you couldn’t tell whether the cheering was coming from the film or from inside the theater. That outpouring of affection seems to be what fuels Swift’s unbelievable stamina. The time between musical performances in the live show has been tightened for the film, giving the impression that they seamlessly flow from one song to the next. Costume changes happen in a matter of seconds, and there are only a few moments when Swift isn’t on stage singing her heart out. And though some songs performed during the live tour have been cut for time (otherwise we’d be looking at a run time of more than three hours), you may still feel more worn out than Swift appears to be by the end of the film.
Even if you’re not a Taylor Swift fan, you’ve got to appreciate the level of commitment and theatricality she brings to the stage and the screen. Not to mention the business savvy she showed by cutting out the big studios and securing the best possible deal for herself directly with AMC Theaters for the exclusive distribution rights to the film (it’s the least the chain could do in exchange for Swift saving their entire business model). Some of you non-Swifties may find yourself being dragged to the theater to see this with a loved one. You won’t have a miserable time. Don’t be surprised to see audience members singing and dancing in their seats. You might even feel like joining them.
33 Comments
I’m not really a fan of her music, and probably never will be. If you put a gun to my head and asked me to name any of her songs I’d be super dead. But I’m getting a real kick out of the way she fucked Ticketmaster and pissed off the movie studios. Most of all, I’m loving how she’s getting a lot of her fans to vote, pissing off the far reich. For these reasons alone, she’s won me over (not that I matter that much).
Thanks Bam. Because of this comment, I’ve decided to run for President as a Republican. You DO matter. Love, Taylor
I think if you just say “Taylor’s Version” you’ll be ok.
Filmed over several nights at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles,Darn, I was hoping we’d get the Soldier Field show where she accidentally ate a bug.
They actually included that in the bloopers during the end credits.
Apparently they’re going to show that.
Taylor, you got a doppelgänger at 6 o’clock! It could be Queen Doppelpopalis!
It looks like we have a solution to the all of the massive headaches involved in putting a live tour together. Just hire an audience (or not) in one single location, film it, distribute, get paid.
No more throwing shit at entertainers.
Better even than filming it, live stream it to theaters. The Grateful Dead did it admirably with their 3 shows from Soldier Field, and it was an exceptional experience. The theaters have good audio, and as long as you have a director willing to linger on a shot instead of cutting shots every 5 seconds or so, you have a great show available to all the fans that couldn’t snag (or afford) tickets to the actual concert.
Yeah, it seems kind of obvious now that you mention it. Theatres could use the boost. The sound systems in a our two complexes are really bad so they’d have do some work there.
Given what we’ve heard about the deal that Swift cut with AMC, it would be worth the expense of upgrades if it meant getting fans in for simulcasts. All the major stars could pull in big audiences, Beyoncé, Springsteen, Rolling Stones, etc.One of our local Marcus theaters does occasional simulcasts of concerts and opera performances, but top rock/pop stars would be bigger draws.
You might not have meant that comment seriously…but that will probably be the future. Especially if the whole VR thing picks up at home.
I’m not a fan. Not a hater, but I wonder if she would ever where a suit on stage or even a Billy Eilish kind of wardrobe. I’m thoroughly sick of bodysuit culture. Ariana Grande’s Big Sweatshirt and hip boots were worse. What’s she been doing anyway?
“bodysuit culture”
“breadnsuit culture”
you need to check your house for a gas leak my man.
I’m not a man.Having trouble following the text? It seems fine to me. Meanwhile:“first time i’ve heard that one. i’d take it over radcliffe, i guess, but i wish we could get someone with a deep voice. i don’t care about he height stuff i always thought really short wolverine looked stupid.”
WFT? Lol
Maybe we could play a game of “Where’s Her Suit On Stage”?
only 20’something minutes shorter than killers of the flower moon.
Can we do away with this “you’ve got to appreciate…” and “you have to admit…” rhetoric surrounding Taylor? I don’t HAVE to admit that she’s talented (I don’t feel like her lyrics reflect a 30-something authentically, and too many of her songs ride along on a single pitch), or whatever other forced compliment, at least not until she knocks on my door and tells me that I’m also good at my job and hobbies. We don’t do this with any other public figure, not even the ones who are arguably gifted. You never saw Tori Amos fans browbeating other people into acknowledging her piano training, and PJ Harvey fans never acted like she invented emotive songwriting, and yes I’m talking about teenage fanbases in these examples.
Neither of whom reached anywhere in the same zipcode of fame that Swift has. The point of those qualifiers is that she’s reaching fans and inspiring a following not seen in a generation or more, and even if her music isn’t your thing there’s no denying what she’s been able to accomplish and why.
Well one of the reasons is the lack of options, which is something that her fans refuse to acknowledge but people over 30 take for granted. And “there’s no denying”? That’s exactly what I’m talking about. She’s competing for finite discretionary income in a landscape with fewer options than existed for young consumers 20 years ago.
“Lack of options” in a time when virtually every one of those young consumers carries in their pocket a device from which they can access essentially every piece of music ever written within seconds? Not sure I follow. Or do you mean there are fewer artists? Which, if that’s the case, I also do not follow.
In the interest of steel manning the argument, I can kind of see a case to be made that there just aren’t that many new superstars nowadays. But that’s largely because of the fragmentation of culture- there’s fewer superstars because everyone’s able to just watch/listen/consume their own thing and not all coalesce around the same artists.Even so, it’s a bit shaky.
“they can access essentially every piece of music ever written” but they don’t. They just go along with whatever is being fed to them by the almighty algorithm.
While that’s an argument that could be made, it has nothing to do with “options” as posited.
No, there is denying it. I deny it. She’s never gotten a cent of my money and the only seconds I pay attention to her is when The AV Club demands it or when I’m at the store and they pipe her in. I deny Taylor Swift. And I’m ok.
“We don’t do this with any other public figure, not even the ones who are arguably gifted.”Speak for yourself. Until Stranger Things did my work for me, I spent 30 years going door to door preaching the good word about Kate Bush.
Speaking of which; do you have a moment to go over some pamphlets? Just let me in through your window…
Got to respectfully disagree about Tori Amos. I have been browbeaten for not liking her music enough (at all really).
Sounds like somebody wasn’t on usenet in the 90’s.
I know that she is 6’00 or so, but that camera angle for the picture at the top of the article makes her look 6’09… (not that that is either bad or good, it just is, before anyone gets mad)
Taylor Swift wants to screw the system? Um… no.
Inasmuch as she wants to minimize the people who can take a percentage of the money coming from her fans to her, yeah, she seems to want to screw the system. And she has to power- and will- to do it, so good for her.