The Pitch: It’s perhaps the easiest sell of all time: What would happen if we took an enormous, record-breaking, joyfully communal tour, professionally recorded it, and tossed it in theaters? Taylor Swift is a mastermind, indeed, but Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour was a true no-brainer.
Following an exceptionally buzzy premiere and some last-minute early access screenings, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour officially opened in theaters on Friday, October 13th. It’s already on pace to become the most profitable concert film in history.
While social media has already been flooded with videos of some of the more performance-inclined fans, this writer’s experience was delightfully average. Fans stayed seated throughout the two hours and 48 minute run time, save for the finale of “Karma.” Some attendees sang along, but never so loud that it distracted from the viewing experience — and maybe some of this is due to the fact that Nashville’s Belcourt Theater attracts longtime fans of cinema, like the trio of folks in their 60s beside me who were there “just to see what the fuss was all about.”
(Cinema) Style: Whether attendees had floor seats, watched the concert from the nosebleeds, or haven’t been able to see “The Eras Tour” at all in-person, the film offers an entirely new perspective. Filmed at Los Angeles’ mammoth SoFi Stadium, the theatrical experience takes viewers closer than even the best seats would have allowed. It’s particularly gratifying watching the dancers up close, whose melodramatic facial expressions during “The Man” and gorgeous technique in the duo performances of “Lover” are on full display here.
The costuming and detailed sets shifting from era to era are part of what made “The Eras Tour” such an immersive experience, and the camerawork again puts the craft in the spotlight. Swift, of course, looks and sounds great, beaming at the sold-out SoFi crowd throughout the show.
Ready For It: Picking a standout era is a fool’s errand and really comes down to personal preference, but for this writer, it’s always the evermore portion of the show — I could’ve stayed in the spooky, witchy, cauldron-filled portion of the concert for the entire run time and left happy. The only true problem with the concert film is the same one that appeared in the live version of the tour each evening, and it’s the lack of time spent with Speak Now and Swift’s self-titled debut record. Thankfully, one of the surprise songs included here is “Our Song,” as much a bop now as it was in 2009.