It’s taken a whopping 632 days to complete and generated billions of dollars as it travelled the globe, but now Taylor Swift’s Eras tour is finally over.
Kicking off in Glendale, Arizona, on 17 March last year and finishing in Vancouver, British Columbia on 8 December, it was perhaps bigger than even Swift could ever have dreamed.
Made up of 149 shows, each running for around three hours, the elaborate performance featured multiple costume changes and a set list of more than 40 songs.
Spanning five continents, the tour has become the highest-grossing of all time and the second most attended, seen by 10.1 million fans worldwide (it was narrowly pipped to the post by Coldplay, with 10.3 million expected to attend their 175 shows).
Serenaded with Happy Birthday by the Vancouver crowd ahead of her 35th birthday next week, an emotional Swift called it “the adventure of a lifetime” and “the most thrilling chapter of my entire life to date”.
The show has been a cultural touchstone, attended by fans, celebrities including Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts and Adam Sandler and even the UK’s own prime minister (which later led to questions over government intervention in Swift’s security escort for the shows).
And her gigs have been eventful.
During the tour, the singer-songwriter has re-released multiple albums (and one double-feature of new material), donated to foodbanks in every city she visited, and proved an economic angel boosting the local economies of each city she passed through, earning her own economic term – “Swiftenomics“.
In Scotland, fans even triggered an earthquake.
Her first London shows saw her make headlines worldwide after bringing out her American football player boyfriend Travis Kelce for a surprise appearance.
She went on to make history as the first solo artist to perform at Wembley Stadium eight times on a single tour.
But her return to London two months later came after a difficult few weeks for the star. In July, three young girls died during a stabbing at a dance class inspired by her music in Southport.
Swift said she was “completely in shock” at the “horror” of what happened.
Then, just days later, all three of Swift’s shows in Vienna were cancelled over a suspected terrorist plot, in which the suspects had sought to kill “tens of thousands” of fans.
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The penultimate Canadian show was attended by fellow singer and Vancouver resident Michael Buble, who called it an “unforgettable night”.
“When I tell you I witnessed something last night that I’ve never experienced before and frankly, may never experience again,” he told his four million Instagram followers.
Paying tribute to Swift’s “kindhearted” family, Buble dubbed her a “truly an incredible entertainer,” calling her “power of connection” with her fans “a testament to Taylor’s incredible talents”.
‘Exciting, powerful, electrifying, intense’
Wrapping her final show, Swift told the audience: “It has been the most exciting, powerful, electrifying, intense, most challenging thing I have ever done in my entire life.
“We have got to perform for over 10 million people on this tour and tonight we get to play one last show for you tonight, in beautiful Vancouver.”
Swift was named Spotify’s most-played artist of the year with more than 26.6 billion streams earlier this week, and she won seven awards at the MTV Video Music Awards and was nominated for six Grammy Awards.
And while there was no big announcement to mark the end of the tour (as is often Swift’s way at key moments in her career), she’s still topping the UK album charts as The Tortured Poets Department soared back up this week after a new anthology version was released.
The Eras Tour may be over, but Swift, it seems, is only just getting started.
