taylor swift eras tour live tiktok

Meet the Taylor Swift fan who performed the entire Eras Tour live on her TikTok page

Many Swifties profess to know every Taylor Swift song performed during the 3½-hour shows on the Eras Tour — but Chelsea Biehl, 21, actually does. 

Biehl gained thousands of followers on TikTok after she performed the entire set list live from her living room in Irwin, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 11. The performance, which her online following is calling the “Living Room Eras Tour,” reached an audience of over 500,000 people throughout the night.

Fellow Swifites online inspired the decision — one of her followers had commented on a previous video cover she had posted of a Swift song: “This is the only Eras Tour I can afford.” Another person suggested she re-create the whole tour in a comment on the same video.

“Me and my mom were like, ‘That’s actually a pretty cool idea; I wonder if we can make it happen.’ So we decided to try to put it together, and then we did it,” said Biehl, who described herself as one of the “very lucky” Swifties who got to see the Eras Tour in person .

“It was an amazing experience, and that’s actually part of why I wanted to do this,” said Biehl, who now has 15,400 followers. “I knew that so many people didn’t get that chance. I know it’s not the same, but if me doing my version in my living room can give people just a little bit of that experience ... maybe that will brighten their day.”

Her version of the Eras Tour was a group effort involving of her six family members and four friends; her father and one of her brothers handled sound and lighting cues tailored to each album aesthetic, another brother danced “onstage” with her, a family friend played guitar, her mom helped her with quick costume changes, and her best friend, Amber Caldwell, 21, was the show’s opener. 

Biehl and her group performed 46 songs, spanning nine of Swift’s albums. Using a combination of karaoke tracks and live accompaniment, she performed the permanent set list, as well as an acoustic set of two “surprise songs” from Swift’s discography and two of her own original songs.

I know it’s not the same, but if me doing my version in my living room can give people just a little bit of that experience ... maybe that will brighten their day.

— chelsea Biehl on her own eras tour concert

The hardest part of re-creating the show, Biehl said, was coordinating everyone’s schedules to learn choreography. 

“We all tried to go off of our knowledge of what we had seen in the videos as best as we could and tried to put it together,” she said.

Biehl’s nerves were high before the performances — as a Swiftie, she said, she knows the fan base is notoriously protective of its favorite artist. 

“People are either going to think that it is really, really cool,” she said, “or really, really stupid.”

Luckily, one of Biehl’s online friends volunteered to help moderate the comments section during the livestream, answering fan questions and looking out for hate comments.

“I’ve had some people say some stuff that’s not OK, and they do it over and over,” Biehl said.

Still, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, she said. 

Some viewers have even nicknamed her “Chelsea Swift.” Many have commented on her other videos to tag “Taylor Swift” and “Taylor Nation,” Swift’s official management team, to help draw attention to her. 

“I was front row!” a Swiftie commented. Another fan said Biehl’s performance helped her deal with the “drought” of Eras Tour content now that Swift is between legs of the tour. 

“Eras Tour Living Room N1 was epic! Thank you, Chelsea Swift for putting on a 3.5 hour show for us,” another creator wrote in the caption of a screen recording of the live show posted to TikTok.

A TikTok creator posted a video reacting to Biehl’s performance as if it were a recap of the actual Eras Tour.

So far, no word from Swift herself — but Biehl’s still living out her wildest dreams. She and her family held another performance of their tour on TikTok on Friday. 

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Each night of Taylor Swift’s blockbuster Eras tour, superfan Tess Bohne gets dressed up in her best Swift-themed outfit, paying homage to a beloved song, a red-carpet look or an album’s anniversary. By then, she’s already researched the projected set time, along with the exact minute Swift is expected to play her much-anticipated surprise songs that are unique to each concert.

But as the onstage countdown clock approaches zero, signaling Swift’s entrance, Bohne, 32, isn’t cheering from a stadium. Instead, at home in Salt Lake City, she fires up her husband’s laptop, searches for feeds from fans holding up their phones in the crowd and begins to broadcast a livestream of Swift’s three-hour-plus set on TikTok to her 160,000 (and counting) followers.

Night after night, thousands of Swifties are gathering to watch the superstar perform their favorite songs through their 5-inch phone screens. For some with tickets to future shows, it’s a chance to preview the set list and better prepare for the big day. For others who enjoyed an earlier stop of the tour, it’s a way to relive cherished memories and keep in touch with the community.

And for fans who can’t afford the lofty ticket prices or live too far from a destination city, these unauthorized TikTok livestreams are the only way to get a glimpse of her billion-dollar-grossing, Ticketmaster-crashing tour.

Bohne, the unofficial “Eras tour cruise director,” has become a one-stop shop for fans looking to watch from home.

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After attending the second show of the tour in Glendale, Ariz., Bohne watched livestreams on TikTok night after night, looking to recapture the magic of seeing Swift in the flesh. Often, the experience paled in comparison to the real thing — choppy feeds would cut in and out or drop entirely, or an overly eager fan’s earnest singing would drown out the notes from the stage. But instead of giving up, Bohne resolved to curate and improve the livestream viewing experience.

She first went live on TikTok when the tour stopped in Atlanta at the end of April. At one point, her control center included multiple iPads, allowing her to track down alternate streams and switch back and forth when videos cut off midset.

“We called it the iPad Shuffle,” Bohne said. “In the beginning it was just a place where people could see where to find these streams. It wasn’t a great concert experience. But then it turned into a seamless watching experience.”

These days, Bohne goes live from her husband’s work computer while using an iPhone and iPad to scour TikTok, as well as sites like swiftstream.gay and various Twitch accounts, for backup streams. As her reach has grown, a number of brands have reached out seeking collaboration opportunities; she’s typically more excited to hear directly from Swift fans expressing their gratitude for her work.

“I had two different people message me and say they had panic attacks during the shows, and sitting down to watch the stream has been healing for them,” Bohne said. “Others had really bad anxiety trying to track down these streams, and I’ve been able to alleviate that for them. It makes me feel like I’m doing something worthwhile.”

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An essential part of the ersatz Eras-watching experience is Swiftball, a Taylor-fied fantasy football game started by Twitter user @reckedmaserati , in which fans attempt to predict outfits, surprise songs and other goings-on. Winners have received prizes ranging from Swift CDs to merchandise to handcrafted art, all of which are donated by other Swiftball players.

The most recent Swiftball on July 29 received more than 11,000 submissions on Twitter, and on a typical TikTok stream, you’ll find a jumble of fans erupting with digital cheers or boos each time an answer is revealed.

“TikTok is the pinnacle of this,” said Russ Crupnick, managing partner at marketing research and industry analysis company MusicWatch and a professor at New York University. “It helps to magnify everything that’s going on around a tour. In the old days, if you didn’t have a ticket, you didn’t get to participate. Now you can.”

At the outset of the tour, it was harder to avoid the Swift livestreams on TikTok than it was to find them. In its quest to push the most engaging live videos to its For You page, TikTok’s algorithm boosted bootleg streams of the concert nearly every night, as Swifties locked in for hours and commented away.

Eventually, TikTok removed streamers while they were live and suppressed them from the For You page.

“I feel like it’s become a lot harder to find streams,” Bohne said. “I got suspended once by TikTok, about two weeks ago, for intellectual property. That’s what’s been a little bit frustrating. I can have permission from someone who’s at the show to [use their stream], but if they’re not supposed to be streaming, I don’t know.”

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, created in 1998, protects platforms from being held liable for content that infringes on copyrighted material, as long as the platform has a mechanism for rights holders to report and take down the offending content. During the internet’s early years, it was easier for copyright holders to locate and remove such items. Now, the proliferation of content has made that game of whack-a-mole virtually impossible.

“There are dozens if not hundreds of these videos popping up,” said Tatiana Cirisano, senior music analyst at Midia Research. “There’s a sentiment that this law was built before social media really existed, and it was meant to allow for creativity, and allow platforms to host things other people had made, without worrying about liability. But this was before there was so much content posted all the time, so now, it doesn’t really work.”

Representatives for Swift and TikTok did not return a request for comment.

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Since the pandemic shuttered live music in 2020, authorized concert livestreams have grown in popularity. Just about every major festival streams the majority of its sets on platforms such as YouTube or Twitch, and according to a report from Midia Research, the amount of people watching shows from home nearly doubled in the past two years, from 9.3% at the end of 2020 to 17.7% at the end of 2022.

Fans who consume the raw, user-generated streams on TikTok typically skew younger than YouTube audiences drawn to professional-quality recordings, but Cirisano believes that livestreams, whether authorized or bootleg, won’t cannibalize ticket sales.

“There’s obviously overlap between [ticket-buying and livestreaming audiences],” Cirisano said. “But there’s nothing that can replace the in-person concert.”

Crupnick argues that labels and music publishers shouldn’t prioritize filing copyright strikes against fans who are providing free promotion for their favorite acts. Instead, he says, the growth of user-generated livestreaming could become another negotiating chip in the copyright owners’ fight to extract more money from the social platform.

“At some point, they could take it all down, but fans will put it back up just as fast,” Crupnick said. “I think what the labels really want is fair compensation from TikTok.”

For Bohne, the TikTok livestreams are another way to feel connected to Swift.

“If I could talk to Taylor, my message to her would just be a giant thank you,” Bohne said. “She’s given us a community where we can find people who understand one another.”

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Kenan Draughorne is a former reporter at the Los Angeles Times and was a member of the 2021-22 Los Angeles Times Fellowship class.

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The Power of TikTok on a Tour

By Jared Naylor

Jared Naylor

Note: This article relates to the VIP+ special report “ Peak Performance: The Live Music Business ,” for subscribers only.

TikTok’s impact on the music industry cannot be overstated. It’s created hits and cemented stars out of the artists that make them. And if you’ve amassed a catalog of songs, the platform is even more beneficial, because nothing trends on TikTok like a tour.

No one knows this better than Taylor Swift, whose Eras Tour catapulted her into a stratosphere of stardom unseen since Michael Jackson moonwalked across the stage at the Motown 25 show 40 years ago.

The success of Her Swiftness seems preordained now, but just a few years ago she was struggling to keep up with her contemporaries.

In 2020 when TikTok was taking off, Taylor wasn’t the singular artist topping the trending list, but rather Harry Styles. That year, the British pop star filled TikTok for You Pages across the globe with over 7 billion views, almost four times what Taylor had over the same period.

But a raw deal turned into a golden opportunity.

Taylor’s TikTok fortunes turned around when she began to re-record her music. Each release was a middle finger to the man and only served to ignite the passions of Swifties across the globe.

When she released the 10-minute version of “All Too Well” in November 2021, interest in the empress of sound skyrocketed. In two days, views on TikTok content related to Taylor jumped from a previous high of 80M to over 260M as her fans discussed the new lyrics and tried to uncover the easter eggs in the short film she directed starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien.

Taylor topped that daily views number with 331M less than one year later when she released “Midnights” (Oct. 21, 2022), her tenth studio album.

Having released new music and re-introduced the world to her classics, #SwiftTok was primed to pop when she announced her latest tour on Instagram 10 days later.

The Eras Tour promised to chronicle Swift’s career from up-and-coming country singer to bonafide superstar, and it didn’t disappoint. The tour launched on March 17th in Glendale, AZ with a whopping 3-hour+ performance that included 44 songs, 15 backup dancers, 13 costume changes, and 1 crashed ticketing site.

Night after night, Taylor gave her fans the concert of a lifetime, and in return, they’ve given her the best marketing vehicle for a tour a musician has ever seen.

Since the first date of the Eras Tour, Swifties have flooded TikTok with 1.9 million videos and flocked to view them; Taylor content has averaged 380 million views per day with no one day going under 200 million.

As a point of comparison, content related to Beyoncé has averaged 90 million views per day since the start of her Renaissance Tour (May 10, 2023) and only two days have surpassed 200 million views.

No disrespect to the BeyHive. Those numbers are phenomenal and only underscore the unprecedented power of Taylor Swift to move markets.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the disparity in views between Bey and Tay on TikTok mirrors the difference in resale prices for tickets to the Renaissance and Eras tours ($1,096 to $3,801), and could give an indication for what we can expect from the box office of their concert films.

Right now, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” concert film is expected to open to $100 million to $125 million at the domestic box office, making it the highest grossing concert film of all time and one of the biggest openings of the year.

If TikTok views predict box office, Beyoncé stands to have a massive opening of her own at $25 million-$35 million when “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé” is released later this year.

Of course, if the Swifties have taught us anything, it’s to respect their influence. I wouldn’t put it past them to push Taylor past the other blonde at the top of the box office.

Jared Naylor is vice president of Audience Development at Vobile, a digital content protection software and analytics provider for the world’s largest entertainment companies, sports leagues and publishers. In his role, Naylor helps media companies maximize the value of their IP across the largest social platforms.

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From a mystifying stage dive to a delightfully distracted security guard named 'Pocket,' these are the most viral moments from Taylor Swift's Eras Tour

• Standout moments from the long-awaited Eras Tour are making the rounds on TikTok. 
• Swift has also gone on a 'liking' spree, giving her approval to several viral clips from her fans.
• Swift's stage dive has particularly captivated people, with some puzzled by how it was done, and others saying she took the idea from SZA.

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour is five days old, but the 44-song extravaganza  is already dominating certain corners of social media. 

Standout moments from the show, both planned and not, are being dissected on TikTok — including one mind-bending moment where Swift appears to dive under-stage.

The singer herself has gone on a TikTok "liking" spree, bestowing her stamp of approval to a handful of viral videos, including one of an attendee who appears to enter a fugue state after the show, her face stained with mascara tears and awaiting an encore in the empty stadium.

Here are some of the tour's most  hair-raising moments  on social media so far: 

1. A confounding and visually mesmerizing stage dive

@popculturefreakk THE PRODUCTIONN #taylorswift #theerastour #tstherastour #fyp ♬ original sound - ★

Following a piano performance during the show, Swift, wearing a flowy gown, appears to dive into the stage as we hear a loud splashing sound. It's an effect that has left many mystified: "The way she resorted to straight witchcraft for this tour," one commenter joked.

Some fashioned hilarious memes out of the moment, showcasing the singer's exquisite diving skills over the years. Others, however, raised a critical eye, noting that SZA employed a  similar effect during her own tour in which it looked like she was leaping off of a ledge and into the ocean.

But users mostly tried to figure out how the effect was achieved. One creator unearthed a video from Swift's 2018 "Reputation" tour, where she showed viewers a cushioned pad called a " rocket sled " quickly transported her to different locations under the stage. Some conspiracies even surmised that she used a stunt double for the dive.

Related stories

Insider has reached out to Swift and her team to inquire.

2. Swift actually did the viral "Bejeweled" dance

@mikaelarellano I BARELY SLEPT!!! #taylorswift #swiftie #swifttok #theerastour #bejeweled ♬ Screaming crying throwing up Blank Space edit - Cowboy Han

Many Swifties have a soft spot for Mikael Arellano, whose signature TikTok dances to tracks like " Bejeweled " have gone viral for their articulate miming and unbridled joy.

When it came time for Swift to perform "Bejeweled" at "Eras," many fans — including Arellano — were stunned to see that she incorporated his signature dance. The pop star was seen doing the iconic strut to the lyric, "I can still make the whole place shimmer."

Arellano shared a video of himself reacting to the moment that's gained 9.4 million views. Commenters hoped he could get a shout-out for it on the tour, and some even suggested that Swift bring him onstage at a future stop.

"You better have choreographer for Taylor Swift on your resume my king," one person wrote. Another added: "You need to be payed [sic] I'm serious."

3. TikTokers are smitten by 'Pocket' the security guard 

@jayandyevans Our security guard named Pocket gave hugs and is a 1989 girlie through and through. #glendaletstheerastour #theerastour #glendaletstheerastour #taylorswift ♬ original sound - Jay

The "Eras" tour is apparently so enrapturing that even event staff are shirking their responsibilities. An elderly security guard at one of the Glendale, Arizona shows was captured dancing up a storm singing along, with barely an eye to crowd management. One fan's viral video of the staffer (which has been viewed over 11.6 million times) said her name is Pocket. 

People have been absolutely delighted by Pocket. Attendees who said they were seated near her reported that she "gave hugs and is a 1989 girlie through and through."

Many fans called the staffer "iconic," and others joked that they, too, wanted to apply for a security job on the Eras Tour. "When Ticketmaster fails you and you apply to work at the stadium," one Swiftie commented.

4. An unfortunate but relatable moment for the singer's hair

@gerrrrrry27 her hair lol💀… No its Ashley 😹 @Taylor Swift #theerastour #taylorswift ♬ original sound - Gerrrrrrald

Swift is typically the picture of perfection and composure, without so much as a hair out of place. That made it all the more shocking when, at one point during the tour, Swift's blonde mane stood on end due to static electricity, jutting eerily out of her head. 

Static frizz  is caused by dry conditions when little water is in the air to absorb excess electrons. When these electrons can't be discharged, the hair strands repel one another, which is what causes the static frizz. One can only assume that's what's happened here — and when she's been performing in dryer climates in Arizona.

One fan's shot of her hair has been viewed over 13 million times. "I think her hair just realized she was Taylor Swift," a top commenter wrote.

Some joked that the effect made Swift look like an axolotl, which are adorable amphibians that have feathery gills sticking out of their heads.

"She's never been more relatable," one commenter wrote. "I cackled," added another, "with respect for mother though."

• Main content

Taylor Swift Expert Tells Us How to Stream 'Eras Tour' Live Shows Online

By Crystal Aminzadeh

July 24, 2023

Taylor Swift is wrapping up the US leg of her Eras Tour in the next couple of weeks. But if you weren't able to get tickets, you can still catch the last few shows she has this year! Reagan Baylee is a Swiftie online that has been guiding other Taylor Swift fans on how to watch each show online.

She starts her Taylor videos with “It’s another great day to be alive at the same time as Taylor Swift!”

So how can you watch the Eras Tour live shows from your home?

Reagan says although all the streams are fan-created, there are some great spots she recommends:

• SwiftStream.gay
• Search “Taylor Swift Eras Tour” on TikTok and the choose the live option. From there, you can see dozens of audience members going live on TikTok, livestreaming the show.
• @TessDear on TikTok posts other people’s TikTok Live’s on her account and puts a countdown on the videos to important moments of the show, notably the two acoustic and piano surprise songs Taylor does every night that people like to tune in for.

Listen to what Reagan has to say below and try using these for her shows this weekend and her final US stops in Los Angeles!

© 2024 iHeartMedia, Inc.

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TikTok has transformed the concert experience

Fans are creating new concert traditions for a new age.

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It started with simple nostalgia. In the wake of the pandemic, Craig Powers, a 38-year-old researcher from Tacoma, rediscovered his love for his favorite bands and albums. But as Powers dove deeper and deeper into the music world, he found himself not only returning to beloved artists, but discovering new music and albums. This was largely thanks to TikTok , which constantly served him concert clips of stylistically adjacent musicians via his feed, a broad swath of emo, metalcore, and post-punk artists.

At the peak of this new/old obsession, however, Powers realized a grim truth about social media: Watching bands on TikTok didn’t put money in those artists’ pockets, and streaming residuals are so paltry that listening to albums on Spotify or YouTube wasn’t enough. If Powers wanted to support all the new bands he was into, he couldn’t just watch concert clips on his feed: He needed to go to the concerts themselves.

So Powers, who tells me he never does “anything half-assed,” started out 2023 with a goal of seeing 30 concerts before the end of the year. The journey he embarked on led him to recapture his love of live music, discover even more bands, and hit his goal far earlier than he expected: He took in concert number 30, Weezer, last month. And of course, he documented it all on TikTok , where it all began.

Powers isn’t the only person whose relationship to live entertainment has changed profoundly in recent years. The age of streaming media has brought with it increased access to concert footage, front-row fancams, and highly mobilized fanbases who approach everything about the concert season like it’s their job. From buying tickets (good luck) to prepping for the big night by carefully planning the perfect concert outfit, these fans do it all — and many of them do it on camera, sharing the whole experience with other die-hards online.

Clearly we’re in a new era of concert media — and as with all eras, we’ve both gained and lost a little along the way.

These aren’t your mom’s bootlegs

Across a huge range of genres from K-pop to hardcore, streaming and sharing platforms like TikTok and Instagram are changing the way people think about streamed concert footage and viral moments from a live event. The savviest artists not only know that their audience will have their phones out, but anticipate it. Last year, Rosalía and TikTok jointly earned a Latin Grammy nomination for a music film full of bite-size, clippable moments, all filmed on mobile phones, that aired live on the platform. And Taylor Swift just announced the release of an entire movie of her already-legendary Eras tour — conveniently dropping before the European leg of that tour kicks off.

Livestreamed and social media-boosted concert clips have become so ubiquitous that it’s jarring to look back and remember that for most of the internet’s history, filming concerts at all was verboten. Blogs like NYC Taper and BB Chronicles , alongside an endless rotation of torrent servers, specialized in sharing concert clips and archiving bootleg recordings of vintage concerts. The website Relisten specializes in curating much of the live concert footage shared on the Internet Archive across decades — everything from the Grateful Dead to bluegrass band Trampled by Turtles. The undertone of all these websites boils down to “please don’t sue us”; many of these blogs include disclaimers stressing that their collections are meant to supplement, not replace, the live concert experience.

This shamefaced, don’t-ask-don’t-tell approach to bootlegging concerts has long since been obliterated by the seismic shift created by the era of smartphones. Though some artists still attempt to ban phones and recordings of live concerts, that ship has largely sailed. The order of the day is selfie sticks and vertical zoom. “Put down your phones and dance!” one TikTok user opined earlier this year, only to be met with a chorus of users responding that they could hold their phones and dance at the same time.

The mass mainstreaming of pop music fandoms has also profoundly changed the audience’s approach to concerts. In particular, K-pop stan culture , with its extremely structured process for the concert experience, has profoundly impacted the way fanbases across the world approach live performances: They are to be filmed, micro-analyzed, edited into fancams and bite-size, social-ready clips, and spread across the internet.

Fans come to these concerts dressed to the nines, armed with fan chants, merch, lightsticks , and other shows of support like Swifties’ friendship bracelets . Whether it’s through chants, sing-along, or call-and-response, many concerts are also more interactive than ever, and the expectation for audience engagement is high. Fans who show up for Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour better come prepared to carry their half of the performance. Meanwhile, Swifties now have so many fanchants they require explainers . “Eras tour is becoming more and more like the rocky horror picture show and i love it,” one fan commented on a viral fanchant video from April, referring to the cult film whose famously interactive screenings have become a pop culture staple.

@.hilarycortez Tonight was phenomenal #renaissancetour #renaissanceworldtour #santaclara #beyonce #fyp #foryou #renaissance ♬ original sound - Lily

“Because of social media, in the last 10 to 12 years I’ve seen a shift from people just wearing jeans and a band T-shirt to concerts to curating looks wholly designed to be pictured on social media,” Sara Sirignano, a 23-year-old fan from Cleveland, told me. Sirignano and her friends “ritually plan[ned] out our outfits for weeks [and] months ahead” of shows, she said.

“Genuinely would rather skip the show than not have a good outfit planned for it,” she joked. She’s seen multiple concerts this year, but the highlight, she told me, was catching the Lumineers in London and Harry Styles in Frankfurt, Germany, while on a backpacking trip through Europe.

When she wasn’t seeing the shows in person, she was glued, like millions of other fans, to livestreams of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour — a production so regimented that multiple fans told me they knew the setlist and knew exactly which time to tune in every night during the tour to see which “surprise” song Taylor would be singing that night. Powers’ friends would tune in from the local bar and inform their bar mates what the surprise Taylor song was. Sirignano would bond nightly over the livestream with her sisters, who live in other states.

Concert livestreams, in essence, have become an extension of the live event for millions of fans. This hybrid experience is uniquely defined both by this era of streaming and this era of fandom . Liz, a 22-year-old BTS fan from Los Angeles, traveled to multiple cities across the US and Canada to see BTS rapper Min Yoon-gi (a.k.a. Suga and Agust D) on his solo tour this year, and still livestreamed most of the concerts she didn’t get to see in person.

“I was hunting down livestream links so I could watch every stop,” she told me. In privately recorded footage she shared with me, she and her friends watched the livestream of the final concert of the tour. There’s a dramatic moment when the stage goes dark unexpectedly, right before Suga brings out a special guest. Because they all knew the setlist so well by that point, Liz and friends start screaming excitedly before anything has even happened onstage.

“There’s a super special type of joy when there’s a surprise on tour like a special guest or a new song,” Liz said. But, she stressed, “Even without the surprise, we were having a great time watching the same setlist for like … honestly the 20th time probably.”

This seems to prove all prior hesitation about allowing fans to record and share the artist’s copyrighted material extremely wrong. There’s a tangible benefit to encouraging this level of fandom and even this remote form of the live concert-going experience. Indeed, many fans expect that they’ll be able to view concert streams and clips in advance as a form of homework and engagement with the concert and the music itself. Multiple fans I spoke to described learning the setlists for bands they were going to see on popular sites like Setlist.fm , which has over 7 million setlists contributed by fans. This allows them to both familiarize themselves with the music and plan their arrival and departure times.

For some, fans uploading concert footage and giving tips can also help alleviate anxiety around the logistics of concert planning. TikTok’s #concerttips tag is full of vital information like when and how to buy tickets, where in the venue you want to sit, and how to prep for hours of concert activity. Phone etiquette is a big subject as well: Reminders to bring your charger or a battery pack, free up storage for concert videos, and tips for how to get the best-quality concert footage when you record.

The assumption that audiences will be recording is striking: No one I spoke with had any issues with the abundance of phones at concerts; not even the recent spate of unruly concert disruptions seemed to dampen fan enthusiasm. At this point in the life of the modern live event, there’s a built-in acknowledgment that the “live” part has already been mediated in multiple ways before the fan even arrives at the venue: By the concert clips you’ve already seen, by the setlists you’ve already memorized, by the big screens that help you see the singer, and by the phone you already have in your hand.

That shift has been hard for some artists to adjust to. “When I’m on stage and look to you but you are gazing into a screen, it makes me feel as though those of us on stage are being taken from and consumed as content, instead of getting to share a moment with you,” the artist Mitski wrote last year in a since-deleted Twitter thread. “Concerts are weird now,” Mashable opined in January, arguing that the so-called TikTokification of concerts reduced elaborate stages to short viral clips and ruined their spontaneity.

All this anxiety invites the question, then: If we already know what we’re getting before we roll up to the stadium, and if we’re not present in the moment because we’re on our phones filming, is there anything left to the “live” experience beyond what social media has already provided?

Livestreams can tap into the experience — but live performance still retains its power

In a word, yes.

“It started from the moment we got out of our car in the parking garage and started walking toward the arena,” Morgan Strehlow, a 33-year-old literary agent from Pennsylvania, told me about seeing Harry Styles in concert. “It did feel like a really powerful experience to be there among kind and joyful people and experience the unifying force of a passionate fandom.”

For Strehlow and her sister, who live in different states, bonding over first Swift and then Styles had been a major post-pandemic highlight. Like Powers, Strehlow fell into her latest fandom obsession because of her TikTok feed. “I was indifferent before his tour went viral on TikTok,” she said. Once he was on her feed regularly, however, she said she realized: “His music and messages he spreads are really deep and meaningful and soulful. I loved that. I loved the inclusive fan base and concert environment he fostered and how he creates spaces to celebrate all kinds of love. So I wanted to go experience that, too.” She gifted her sister with tickets to one of Styles’s Austin shows last year. The two of them also saw Swift’s Eras tour and had kept up with the livestreams as well — but Strehlow stressed there was no substitute for the live experience.

“So much of the concert experience for both Styles and Taylor Swift was about experiencing the stadium/arena full of shared joy and delight and love,” she said, “love for the music and the artist, and love for what they represent.”

Some social media users have expressed concerns about being spoiled for concerts. On TikTok, Sirignano admitted, she’d had to try to avoid being spoiled for the Eras tour. “The Taylor concert and Harry concerts are always everywhere online,” she said. “Clips are unavoidable.” She recalled failing to avoid a major “spoiler” for one of Styles’s surprise performances — a Halloween cover of Britney Spears’s “Toxic” — after fans found out about the song in advance and “ruined it” by spreading it online.

For Taylor, she said, “I was able to keep a lot of it a secret by consciously deciding to avoid it. But it is something you have to work hard to do.” Some artists try to maintain secrecy for as long as possible. When Beyoncé promoted her Renaissance tour on Instagram in May, she posted footage without sound , leaving fans excited to learn what songs accompanied each clip.

Still, no one I spoke to felt like the presence of online streaming ultimately detracted from the main event. Fans also stressed that the little things all add up to make a huge experience. “I think getting ready with each other, listening to music, eating, drinking, taking photos, talking about what we’re most excited about for the show, etc., is almost half the fun of the show itself,” Sirignano told me. “I’ve been to Declan McKenna, Maisie Peters, Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, [and] Sabrina Carpenter, in the last few months alone, and we went through that ritual for each show.”

“If it’s a good moment, it’s gonna feel exciting no matter what,” Liz told me. “Yes, knowing that a song is coming is one thing, but experiencing it live is still magical. Plus the stage mix always hits different, and live vocals are fire.” And after all, she said, “You go because live music is good .”

Plus, there’s one thing that no amount of livestreaming can replicate: Community in a shared space, a.k.a. “ collective effervescence .”

“I have gained a greater appreciation for the work the artists put in, and I’ve rediscovered my love of live music,” Powers said. “I’ve also developed new friendships and deepened those with friends that attend shows with me.”

“I remember in 2020 having a conversation with my sister about we would probably never go to another concert ever again and just kind of accepting that as the future,” Strehlow said. “But when we got the chance to finally go to one, and for an artist we loved, we were certainly not going to take it for granted.”

As for whether livestreaming detracts from the experience in any way, she said it was all yummy apples to delicious oranges.

“Livestreaming makes concerts more accessible to those who can’t buy tickets or travel for whatever reason,” she said. “A gift! Gathering with tens of thousands of delighted fans to see our favorite artist perform our favorite songs live and in person … A gift! Having the option to log off TikTok until my show … or having the option to stay home but still not totally missing out on the tour? Gifts!”

In other words, if you’re feeling put off by too much social media in your concert-going habits, maybe it’s time for a reset — or time to broaden your horizons and learn to appreciate the many new ways fans are adjusting and expanding what it means to “attend” a concert in 2023.

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• Mar 18, 2023

The Best "The Eras Tour" TikToks from Taylor Swift's Opening Night

If you're bummed out you can't make it to "The Eras Tour," Swifties across TikTok are capturing the best moments from opening night in Glendale, Arizona.

Taylor Swift has returned to the stage, this time with "The Eras Tour." After a long and arduous ticketing process, which included Ticketmaster getting tons of hate, the singer and songwriter finally kicked off the opening show of her tour in Glendale, Arizona. While many Swifties were bummed out to not get tickets, social media accounts across the nation began reassuring their followers that they would capture photos and videos in real time, and conduct live streams of the opening show of "The Eras Tour." So if you're wondering where to watch Taylor Swift's performance on her tour, then look no further.

Here are the best TikToks of the opening night of "The Eras Tour" in Glendale, Arizona.

The Tour Opener

After a giant clock concluded its countdown, announcing the start of "The Eras Tour," a group of dancers emerged onto stage with giant petals that resembled jellyfish. They all gathered in the middle of the stage, where after bowing down and covering the center, they revealed Taylor.

Taylor Sings "Cruel Summer" at "The Eras Tour"

A Swiftie favorite, Taylor performed "Cruel Summer" by herself on stage. It was quite a special moment, with only her amazing vocals and a few digital screens that captured every angle so fans across the stadium could see regardless of their seats. Check out this video from the floor of Taylor performing "Cruel Summer" in Arizona.

Taylor Sings "You Need To Calm Down" at "The Eras Tour"

Wearing a bejeweled blazer, Taylor Swift was joined by an incredible ensemble of dancers in suits to perform her iconic song, "You Need To Calm Down." The stage lit up with a rainbow of colors, and the giant screens captured every moment so fans could see from anywhere in the stadium.

Taylor Sings "...Ready For It?" at "The Eras Tour"

From her iconic album "Reputation" Taylor wore a unique, glittery jumpsuit to perform "...Ready For It?" alongside an ensemble of dancers. This is one of the few songs she performed from her "Reputation" album.

Taylor Gets Emotional at "The Eras Tour"

Inspired by thousands of fans screaming her name, Taylor got emotional in between songs during the opening night of "The Eras Tour" in Glendale. Throughout the night, Taylor made sure to express how grateful she was to her fans for coming to the show, and also admitted to missing tour.

Taylor Sings "Enchanted" at "The Eras Tour"

When Taylor announced her tour would honor the different eras of her career, fans were definitely excited to hear some of her older songs. This is why listening to Taylor sing "Enchanted" live was such an emotional moment for Swifties who attended opening night in Glendale.

Taylor Sings "August" at "The Eras Tour"

When Taylor announced she'd be dropping two albums during the pandemic, Swifties were incredibly excited to say the least. One of those albums was "folklore" which constains some of Taylor's most beloved songs to date. Here is a video of Taylor singing "August" from "folklore" during opening night in Glendale.

Excited for "The Eras Tour?" Follow MUD on Instagram for the latest news and tour content on Taylor Swift's anticipated return.

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• Entertainment

Taylor Swift live updates: ‘How does she smell?’: Project host’s weird question to TikTok star

TikTok star Oliver Mills shared a special moment with Taylor Swift at her concert. His appearance on The Project aftewards got weird.

Music Tours

Don't miss out on the headlines from Music Tours. Followed categories will be added to My News.

Swift-mania has officially engulfed Australia, with nearly 200,000 lucky fans witnessing the first two nights of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour at Melbourne’s MCG.

Welcome to our rolling coverage of Taylor Swift’s Aussie performances.

‘Love of my life’: Swift blown away by Melbourne

Another 96,000 fans packed into the MCG on Sunday night for her third show during her time in Melbourne.

“Some stadium girl math for you,” Swift told the crowd.

“96,000 people the first night. 96,000 people the second night. 96,000 tonight. Those are all the biggest shows I've ever played on tour. And you did it three times.

“The math is that it’s 288,000 people in three nights. Melbourne, you’re the love of my life.”

How does she smell?’: Host’s weird question

Kiwi TikTok star Oliver Mills shared a rapturous moment with Taylor Swift during her Melbourne concert on Saturday night, hugging her and being gifted the hat off her head.

He appeared on Sunday night’s edition of The Project to talk about the moment only to be asked a bizarre question about the encounter with comedian Susie Youssef unable to resist asking how the pop star smelt.

But Mills took the question in his stride saying, without skipping a beat,Swift smelt of “Hope and dreams”.

Mills continued to gush about Swift even describing her as the “most powerful woman in the world”.

“To go on stage and be close to someone so lovely and kind and beautiful was absolutely incredible,” he said.

“I forget it was me. I watch videos now and I’m like, that dude is so lucky. Then I’m like, hang on, that was me, I have the memory in my eyes. I can’t fathom that, it’s insane.”

Mills, who is based in New Zealand says he wasn’t sure how he was going to get through New Zealand customs with the hat.

“I don’t know where it’s supposed to go, in a room somewhere a locked cell,” he joked.

“With five or six security, we’ll see.”

‘Waste of a ticket’: Swifties blast ‘black out drunk’ fans

A few Swifties have called out some “rude” and “inconsiderate” fans who attended Taylor Swift’s concert in Melbourne last night.

Meg Hargraves says there was a group of people standing next to them at the show who were being disruptive and “not respecting” others who were around them at the gig.

“I would like to say, as I coming home from the Eras Tour, a big old ‘karma is a b**ch’ for those four humans standing next to me tonight,” Meg said.

“They were very very highly intoxicated, waving a flag around in everyone’s faces and not respecting other people’s space and personal boundaries.”

Meg added that one of them got so drunk that they all ended up having to leave the concert due to intoxication, missing a huge chunk of the show.

This sparked a warning from Hargraves to “drink responsibly” at the Eras Tour so it can be enjoyable for everyone.

“They were being really loud and inconsiderate to those around them. They missed most of the show tonight because one of them got too intoxicated and had to leave,” Meg said.

“So, all the friends left after that and they missed the best part of the show.

“A good portion of the show actually, from 1989 onwards. So if you’re planning on drinking at the Eras Tour, do so responsibly please. Don’t ruin everyone’s night.”

Another Swift fan Katie Parrott shared that she had the same experience with people around her simply drinking too much to enjoy the show.

“Melbourne night two, Eras Tour, literally amazing,” she told her audience on TikTok.

“But a slight gripe of concert etiquette. If you have a ticket to the Eras Tour and your plan is to get black out drunk, not be able to stand up properly, spill your drink down the back of other people, hit other people in the hand.

“And just generally touch them and invade their personal space, maybe sell your ticket and just get drunk in your living room listening to Taylor Swift.

“Because there are a lot of people who wanted to go to this and didn’t get tickets. And to waste it on getting so drunk that you can’t stand properly just feels like an odd choice to me.”

Men blasted for booing Taylor Swift outside the concert

Swifties are up in arms after packs of men booed Taylor Swift in Melbourne.

Australian fan Jenna Barlosky filmed the shocking moment a group of alleged football fans started booing the superstar outside the MCG during her concert last night.

She uploaded the unbelievable act to TikTok, with Swifties around the world slamming their “embarrassing” behaviour.

Ms Barlosky even claimed that the police had to break up the commotion, however Victoria police told news.com.au they did not have a report relating to the incident.

This likely means it was police who were stationed at the concert already who moved things along.

“Football fans swarming Taylor’s concert to boo her,” she wrote on the video. “Even the police had to come get rid of them, as all the Swifties chanted Taylor’s name.”

The clip shows a huge group of people enjoying the concert from outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground and chanting Taylor’s name.

The camera then pans to groups of men donning football scarfs and beanies who begin to loudly boo and jeer.

“What the f**k? You guys are such losers,” she says, as they walk past her. “Why are you here? This is embarrassing. What the hell.”

Gross reason Taylor Seats were abandoned for two hours

Disgusting photos have emerged after a “drunk man” vomited on and around the seats of people waiting for Taylor Swift to come on stage.

News.com.au understands people seated in the area were waiting up to two hours for the mess to be cleaned up.

The incident reportedly happened at 7pm after opener Sabrina Carpenter finished her set, and was not cleaned until after 9pm.

“We had to stand in areas near the stairs for the majority of Taylor because they took two hours to find someone to clean it up,” said one Taylor Swift fan. “It stunk,” she added.

‘Gonna cop so much hate’

One Melbourne resident has put forth a bold pitch following the Taylor Swift ticket madness – which began with first release sales last year and continued right up until a final drop just days ago – claiming there should be a fairer system in place.

Earlier this year, Swift added two more shows to the Aussie leg of her popular tour following overwhelming demand for tickets during pre-sales in June.

“Probably gonna cop so much hate for this. But my opinion is that I think, you should be only able too (sic) see Taylor Swift once in Australia. I’ve seen like 10 people going again tonight after attending last night. Would give the other people that missed out a better opportunity,” wrote X user Mitch , sparking a furious debate in the comments section.

More than a million fans had flooded the Ticketek website in the hopes of securing one of just 450,000 tickets to the initial three Sydney and two Melbourne stadium shows.

Needless to say, many missed out – and they’re not thrilled to see people now boasting about their multiple tickets.

“I agree.. cause I tried everything in my power to get tickets and was unsuccessful and I know some people going to all Melbourne and Sydney shows I’m actually devastated I couldn’t go,” one person responded.

Another added: “I totally agree with you. Having tried everything I could to get tickets for my daughter, hearing stories of how people are going to every single show is disappointing and not the flex they think it is. How you police it, I don’t know.”

“I’m shattered that I couldn’t get tickets. I’ve been to all but one of her tours,” said someone else, while another fan wrote simply: “You’re pretty much spot on with this. You’d think with such demand they put something in place.”

Others shot the idea down completely.

“No. I went last night and going to Sydney, you snooze you lose,” one said bluntly.

“I understand what you’re saying and in an ideal world that would happen,” another weighed in. “But it should be up to the organisers of the shows to artificially limit tickets sold to one person. That way everyone gets a chance to buy tickets only once.”

“There’s no way to police it. Don’t direct your frustration to other fans, blame the fact they only put on 7 shows in Australia. Nowhere near enough to meet demand,” wrote a different fan.

It is estimated the Eras Tour will rake in an eye-watering $1.5 billion globally, making it the highest grossing tour of all time.

‘WTF is this?’: Swift fans erupt over Aussie show

It’s part of the highest-grossing tour of all time and a cultural phenomenon – but some Swift fans watching the Aussie leg of her tour unfold from elsewhere around the globe appear increasingly irritated by what they’re seeing.

Namely, the bonus extras that the megastar has been doling out across the first two nights of her sold-out run of shows – including previously-skipped tracks and the first reveal of a bonus version of her upcoming album.

Swift adds “surprise songs” at every stop on her tour – but her decision to gift Melbourne with a mashup of Getaway Car, The Other Side Of The Door and August into one song seemingly sent those who weren’t there spiralling.

does taylor owe australia money or something wtf is this https://t.co/73yBkp1I8b — Taylor Swift Wallpapers (@kubaswift) February 17, 2024

the rest of the world watching melbourne getting getaway car x august x the other side of the door mashup pic.twitter.com/i1LzFeTjYx — ivy (@ohhhhherewego) February 17, 2024

Clearly Australia is her favourite! — Taylor Swift Wallpapers (@kubaswift) February 17, 2024

WHAT WAS THISSS WHAT POSESSED HER TO DO THIS😭😭😭😭😭😭????????? GETAWAY CAR X AUGUST X OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR????? SHE KILLED MILLIONS TONIGHT pic.twitter.com/ZuYMsAOnMR — YJ💭(TTPD💌) (@miapudding) February 17, 2024

MASHUP DI GETAWAY CAR/ AUGUST & THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR + THIS IS ME TRYING?!?!?!?!?!! I’M DONE WITH TAYLOR SWIFT! pic.twitter.com/hmFvpKsSOJ — 𝓳𝓮𝓷𝓷𝔂⸆⸉ poeti torturati era🤍🖋️ (@controsensooo) February 17, 2024

"taylor swift performs getaway car from reputation as the first surprise song" pic.twitter.com/cXN9ko9Eqr — sude â™± (@maggiecult) February 17, 2024

It came after fans on the first night of Swift’s Melbourne show went wild as she announced that the special edition of The Tortured Poets Department would feature a new song called The Bolter.

The singer then shared the heartbreaking reason the album was so special to her, confessing it was a “lifeline” during a particularly difficult period.

“I’m very excited for April 19th. I can’t wait for you to hear all the songs. Tortured Poets is an album I think, more than any album I’ve made, is one I needed,” Swift told the crowd.

“It was a lifeline for me. It reminded me why songwriting is something that gets me through life.”

Americans shocked at surprise Aussie detail

As Swifties share their best footage from Swift’s epic Melbourne concerts, some Americans have been surprised by one interesting detail.

One fan from Las Vegas commented on a clip from TikTok user @swiftiealyce who posted some of Taylor’s performance and wanted to know “what phones Aussies are using” to capture the magic.

“What phones are Aussies using? All the videos I’ve seen are so crisp and clear,” she wrote.

Her comment attracted dozens of likes and replies, with others from overseas seemingly wanting to know as well.

One theory is that the air quality in Australia is simply better than in other parts of the world.

“I feel like the air quality makes a huge difference,” one said. “When I was in the USA my videos looked grainy, while in Aus it’s perfectly clear even in zoom.

“I have an iPhone and there was a huge difference in quality of videos I took in the USA vs elsewhere.”

Others stated that perhaps having the show in an open-air stadium helps, while others say that it could possibly be that some are using Samsung phones instead of iPhones, some with a better zoom.

Swiftie’s haunting final moments before crash

The final moments of a teenage girl who was killed on the way to see Swift has been revealed.

The last thing Mieka Pokarier looked at on her iPad before the fatal car crash was a Spotify playlist she had created, which was full of all her favourite Swift songs.

The teenager had taken hours to create it and had filled it with all her favourite Swift songs to keep the trio entertained on the 17-hour journey to see the pop superstar.

The 16-year-old was on the “trip of a lifetime” with her mum Kim Litchfield and her little sister Freya, 10, when their car collided with a semi-trailer near Dubbo just before 6pm on Thursday.

Mieka died at the scene while Freya was flown to Westmead Hospital and is fighting for life in a medically included coma, with the girl suffering from brain injuries, a damaged pelvis and broken leg, according to the family’s GoFundMe page.

Their mother Kim, who was driving, was taken to Dubbo with minor injuries and has since been reunited with her youngest daughter.

Fans scream over pitch-perfect Aussie gag

Following the well-established trend of global artists throwing in a local reference during their shows – Harry Styles’ shoey, anyone? – Swift offered up her own little Aussie offering on Saturday night.

The crowd was left screaming with delight during her mega-hit song, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together , when she personalised the track with the help of one of her back-up dancers.

“This is exhausting, you know? Like, we are never getting back together,” Swift said into the microphone, before handing it to the dancer, who immediately dropped a very Kath and Kim -esque “nauuuuuur”:

🚨| Taylor Swift's dancer, Kam, during "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" at Night 2 of 'The Eras Tour' in Melbourne, Australia! #MelbourneTSTheErasTour "Like NAUR!" pic.twitter.com/AAkhEEaLo3 — The Eras Tour (@tswifterastour) February 17, 2024

‘Trying to wrap my mind around’

Earlier, a clearly jubilant Swift had opened the second night of her Eras Tour in Melbourne to a 96,000-strong crowd – matching the numbers seen the night before, which marked her biggest audience to date.

“What a joy and what an honour to say this words to you tonight, Melbourne, welcome to the Eras Tour,” she gushed.

“I am standing here on the stage, trying to wrap my mind around the fact that there are 96,000 people that wanted to hang out with us on a Saturday night.”

More Coverage

Swift added: “I feel like a contest winner, like I won a contest to get to have this memory of looking at you an singing with you … I’m having a very strange experience in my head.

“I don’t know if you know how many 96,000 is – like, if we were to start counting, we’d never get there.

“I am so grateful to you for wanting to spend this time with us, and just the passion I’m feeling from you already, I promise you – we are going to give you absolutely everything we have tonight.”

Originally published as Taylor Swift live updates: ‘How does she smell?’: Project host’s weird question to TikTok star

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Will Taylor Swift add 'Tortured Poets' to international Eras Tour? Our picks.

A double album. Thirty one songs. Two hours and two minutes. In the spaces between the international, record- breaking Eras Tour, Taylor Swift released her 11th era: "The Tortured Poets Department." But will the behemoth tour make room for the newest addition to Swift's vast catalog and how?

"The Tortured Poets Department" showcases the singer's mastery to connect words like puzzle pieces seamlessly depicting the human experience and complex themes of false wedding promises, relationship imprisonment, break-ups and drug escapism, religion versus rebellion, childhood retrospection and the duality of internally suffering while externally performing. It would be a surprise for her not to push this body of art into the spotlight.

But how it fits into the 44-song three hour and 15-minute Eras tour is anyone's guess. And we won't find out until she resumes the tour on May 9 in Paris. I'll be there.

Read Melissa Ruggieri's review Taylor Swift's 'Tortured Poets' is hauntingly brilliant, even the 15 surprise songs

Whether or not she's incorporating the era has already been decided. Swift is 13 steps ahead . She plans her moves years in advance. There is a two-month break from the tour and she has been spending time in Los Angeles. Her team of dancers have not been as active on social media possibly because they're rehearsing a new set. Or maybe it's a coincidence?

The simplest path would be to absorb some of the the 31 songs into the acoustic set that comes after "Bad Blood" during the "1989" era. Swift has used the 2024 surprise songs to play mash-ups on the guitar and the piano. It's when she makes announcements and it's a custom gift to concertgoers and fans watch in envy on livestreams from around the world.

'Tortured Poets' release live updates What to know as Taylor Swift's new album debuts

More likely, she will add a "Tortured Poets" set. The show is segmented, allowing a new era to squeeze in. She could open the show with the new era, although "Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince's" opening line is a perfect opening for an artist who has released seven albums and hasn't seen fans: "It's been a long time coming." She could end the show with the set, but "Karma" is a good show closer.

Cue the confetti. If she ends the tour with "Tortured Poets," I'm guessing "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart" is the closer.

The writing shines bright like Swift's glittering sequin stars which is reminiscent of and relative to "Folklore" and "Evermore." For the flow of the concert, it makes more sense to not place "Tortured Poets" next to these albums. The show flows with a narrative that spans almost two decades with highs and lows of energy. Two areas that could be good: after "Reputation" and before "Speak Now" or after the secret songs and before "Midnights." Maybe she dives into the stage to swim to the an asylum of typewriters and tormented thoughts.

The four eras with the most amount of songs are the latest records she owned that aren't re-records: "Lover" (six songs), "Folklore" (seven songs), "Evermore" (five songs) and "Midnights" (seven songs). Will she follow that flow? Will she cut songs from these eras?

I could see her performing the lead single "Fortnight," title track "The Tortured Poets Department," Eras Tour song "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart," "Down Bad," "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me," "thanK you aIMee" and "So High School."

Swift holds the answer key. Sixty-nine shows are left on the recording shattering magnum opus for 2024.

Don't miss any Taylor Swift news; sign up for the  free, weekly newsletter "This Swift Beat."

Follow Taylor Swift reporter Bryan West on  Instagram ,  TikTok  and  X as @BryanWestTV .

Is Taylor Swift Teasing ‘Tortured Poets Department’ Additions to the Eras Tour?

By Jon Blistein

Jon Blistein

Taylor Swift ’s Eras Tour was already a marathon — three hours, a 45-song setlist on average — and now, ahead of the European leg of the trek, she has 31 more tracks from her new album , The Tortured Poets Department , to choose from.

Swift returns to the stage in just under two weeks, with a four-night run in Paris, May 9 through 12. And in anticipation she shared a video of her preparations on YouTube Shorts that some fans think may be teasing some TTPD editions.

To start, the video is set to “Fortnight” — the album’s lead single and, well, the European tour does start in a fortnight — but eagle-eyed viewers have also picked up on a quick shot of her background dancers in top hats and canes, an ostensibly fresh addition to the wardrobe. 

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Even still, it feels reasonable enough to guess — without forensic dissection of a YouTube Shorts clip — that the new era of the Eras Tour will feature some tracks from The Tortured Poets Department because, well, that’s what artists do when they go out on tour: Play their new album. It’s probably just a question of whether this puts a few songs on the chopping block, or Swift truly says, “Fuck it,” and adds another 30/45 minutes to the show. 

The European leg of the Eras Tour will run through the summer, wrapping with a five-night stand in London in August. After that, Swift will play a final round of shows in North America , with concerts scheduled in Miami, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Toronto, and Vancouver.

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Taylor Swift fans mean business with Tortured Poets soap, Eras yarn, Kelce cookies

Chloe Veltman

Sparta Candle Co. soaps inspired by Taylor Swift's Eras tour and The Tortured Poets Department album. Sparta Candle Co. hide caption

Sparta Candle Co. soaps inspired by Taylor Swift's Eras tour and The Tortured Poets Department album.

The official Taylor Swift online store is chockablock with earrings, hoodies, vinyl and other merchandise promoting the star's latest record-breaking album, The Tortured Poets Department .

But there's also a parallel industry devoted to selling crafty products inspired by Swift's music and style — and it's thriving.

"We've made soaps inspired by all of Taylor Swift's albums. So of course we're excited to introduce this one: Tortured Poet !" says Duane Swenk in a TikTok video . It's been up for about a week, and has already been viewed more than 1.4 million times.

Swenk is the spokesperson for his family-run soap and candle business, the Sparta Candle Co. — and a big Swiftie. Wearing a beard, beret and The Tortured Poets Department T-shirt, he's showing off a soap in the shape of a cup of Earl Grey tea. It comes with a detachable saucer.

"This soap has notes of black tea, bergamot and lemon," Swenk goes on to say in the video. "It's a perfectly moody scent to pair with Taylor's incredible new album."

@spartacandleco #cuttinupwithduane #ttpd #taylorswift #soapcutting #teacup ♬ Soft,slow,cinematic background.(1302336)-Art Music Style

Months before The Tortured Poets Department dropped, Duane Swenk's daughter, Jennifer Swenk — who serves as the Sparta Candle Co.'s CEO and founder and is also a devoted Taylor Swift fan — was hunting for hints about it to turn into potential product concepts. When she browsed through the upcoming song titles, she saw one called "So Long, London."

Jennifer Swenk said the combination of London and the overall poetry theme of the album gave her the idea for the soapy tea cup.

"I felt like poetry goes hand in hand with having a cup of tea," she said.

Music and style inspire shapes, scents and colors

Taylor Swift's music evokes fanciful forms and scents for Jennifer Swenk. But Ashleigh Kiser is thinking in colors. Her company, Sewrella Yarn , has created a line inspired by Swift's Eras tour, in which the pop star performs songs from her entire catalog.

"Something that is more of a love song, like the Lover era, those were very light, very pastel, very kind of ethereal colors," said Kiser of matching Swift's hits with yarn hues. "While the Evermore era got darker, more moody, more complicated colors."

The company also just released a yarn collection based on The Tortured Poets Department .

The Tortured Poets Department yarn collection from Sewrella Yarn. Sewrella Yarn hide caption

The Tortured Poets Department yarn collection from Sewrella Yarn.

Kiser said she loves the way Swift inspires a sort of virtuous circle of creativity in fans.

"There were customers of ours who were buying the yarn that was inspired by the tour. And then they were going and knitting a sweater or a top or whatever their project was. And then they were then wearing that to Eras tour concerts," Kiser said. "So it's like the music informs the yarn which informs the project. And it just keeps going."

Communal feeling

This communal aspect of creating merchandise inspired by Swift appeals strongly to baker Emily Henegar. The Nashville, Tenn.-based entrepreneur's one-woman business, Cookie in the Kitchen , makes intricately decorated cookies incorporating details from Swift's work and life.

She said she sometimes incorporates other artists' designs into her own. For example, Henegar said she decorated a cookie with an image she found on social media of a beanie hat a fan made for Swift, which the star then wore to a football game.

Cookie in the Kitchen's cookie collection riffing on Taylor Swift's relationship with football player Travis Kelce. Cookie in the Kitchen hide caption

Cookie in the Kitchen's cookie collection riffing on Taylor Swift's relationship with football player Travis Kelce.

"I'm just scrolling Instagram, getting to pull inspiration from many different places," said Henegar.

Henegar said she doesn't mind when other makers incorporate her artistry into their own Swift-inspired products. "It's nice if they can just credit me on their Instagram posts," she said.

While Cookie in the Kitchen, Sparta Candle Co. and Sewrella Yarn mostly serve customers through their websites and/or brick-and-mortar stores, many small businesses focusing on Taylor Swift-oriented products look to Etsy and other arts ands crafts-focused online marketplaces to reach fans.

"I mean, talk about bringing people together, and talk about really amplifying creativity," said Etsy trend expert Dayna Isom Johnson of Swift's impact on the platform.

Johnson said entrepreneurs on Etsy aren't just coming up with sales concepts ahead of the artist's album releases and tour dates. They're also quickly responding to what Swift sings, says and wears.

For instance, Swift's lyric "So make the friendship bracelets" in her 2022 song "You're on Your Own, Kid" created an unprecedented demand for friendship bracelets on Etsy. (According to company data, while Swift was touring across the U.S. in 2023, it saw a 22,313% increase in searches for concert-inspired friendship bracelets.)

A selection of Taylor Swift-oriented friendship bracelets on Etsy. CustomBraceletWorld/Etsy hide caption

A selection of Taylor Swift-oriented friendship bracelets on Etsy.

Etsy witnessed a similar spike in searches after Swift wore an unusual choker necklace at this year's Grammys.

And this latest album, with its references to poetry — " You're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith" — has been turning Swifties into wannabe poets; suddenly everyone wants a blank journal.

"We've seen a 727% increase in searches on Etsy for poetry-related items," Johnson said.

Swift's response to fans' creativity

Swift herself seems to embrace her fans' creativity. She's been known to send notes and even homemade gifts to creative super-fans.

"They are constantly just showing me love in different ways," she said in a 2012 video for VEVO music network. "And I really appreciate it."

One small business owner making Swift-themed T-shirts and other items told NPR they have had products taken down from online marketplaces for possible copyright infringement.

But University of Pennsylvania law professor Jennifer Rothman said she is not aware of Swift launching lawsuits against small entrepreneurs, and she said that Swift's overall openness toward fan-based creativity makes good business sense.

"Taylor Swift only benefits, I think, from having all this fan enthusiasm," Rothman said.

The music industry trade publication Pollstar estimates Swift grossed close to $200 million in authorized merchandise sales last year. Rothman said most of these small scale, highly creative riffs on the artist's life and work often don't significantly impinge upon Swift's brand or bottom line.

"If anything, they boost it by boosting the positive feelings around her," Rothman said. "The fans still want the official merchandise and will wait in line for hours and hours to get it."

Jennifer Vanasco edited the audio and digital versions of this story.

• Taylor Swift
• The Tortured Poets Department