Taylor Swift has been dominating the music industry for years and with her recent Eras Tour, she’s gained even more popularity. Swift’s tour has sold out every single of her 146 shows, ultimately meaning that many people were not able to attend. Despite many not being able to go, they now have access to see a majority of the tour with the newly released Eras Tour movie.
I have both attended the Eras Tour and watched the movie, and overall, I would say that the movie captures the performance very well. Viewers get to see Swift performing up close, which really gives them a feel for how the live performance looks and sounds. It was interesting to see the show up close since at the actual concert—nobody is able to see all the small details.
Unfortunately, Swift cut quite a few of the songs performed on the tour when making the movie, including “The Archer,” an emotional self reflective ballad, from Lover, “no body, no crime,” a story about a cheating husband, from evermore, “Long Live,” the depiction of having your whole life ahead of you, from Speak Now, “cardigan,” all about the feeling of being excluded, from folklore, and “Wildest Dreams,” a song about remembering Swift in one of her past relationships, from 1989. Swift also cut out many of the speaking parts in between certain songs as well as the “seven” interlude.
On the other hand Swift did include one of the most anticipated parts of each show: the surprise songs. The surprise songs shown were “Our Song” from her debut album and “You’re On Your Own Kid” from her most recent album Midnights.
Of course, the two experiences are very different from each other. One of them involves dressing up, trading friendship bracelets and screaming your heart out. The other is a movie where everyone’s experiences vary from theater to theater.
Despite the movie not having the exact same feeling as the actual tour, it includes the most important part: Swift’s performance. Having gone to both, I believe that Swifties who could not get tickets to the show are able to gather a general feel for it through the movie and are now included in the experience along with the ones who could attend.
