On October 18th, 2024, Taylor Swift initiated the final leg of her “The Eras Tour” at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. Containing approximately 61,000 attendees, Swift’s spectacle spanned over three hours and included 44 songs, along with two surprise acoustic performances toward the end of the night.
Having attended the first U.S. leg of the tour in the 2023 Tampa show, I was mesmerized by Swift’s increased stamina and augmented enthusiasm on stage. Despite Miami Night One being the tour’s 137th performance, the singer, along with her band, backup dancers, and fellow vocal artists demonstrated complete exhilarance and dedication throughout the entire night, never once dulling in their work. Era by era, here is a review of my music-filled night:
Lover
The “Lover” album, released in 2019, is the opening era of every Taylor Swift “Eras Tour” show. As her backup dancers flip their stage covers, previously covering the center of the stage, up, Swift emerges singing the record’s seventh track “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince,” a choice I viewed as fitting given the repeating lyrics “It’s been a long time coming” perfectly represent the singer’s comeback into the touring world after her five-year hiatus.
As the “Lover” era progresses, Swift travels to the main stage to perform her songs “The Man” and “You Need to Calm Down” in a wonderful mise-en-scene piece resembling an office building, a facet I found incredibly innovative and creative as a means of engaging the audience. In addition, Swift’s recital of the album’s title track as the era’s last song felt extremely full circle and meaningful; the performance’s acoustic sound along with the ballroom style choreography performed by the dancers truly emphasized the romantic nature of Swift’s 2019 record, thus formulating the perfect finish to the first set in the concert.
Fearless
The Fearless era commences with an immediate wave of nostalgia as Swift skips onto the stage playing an acoustic guitar to the album’s title track, dancing with her fan-renowned guitarist Paul Sidoti. One of the tour’s most heartwarming moments occurs during the “Fearless” performance when, after the song’s bridge, Swift raises her hands to form a heart, an action mimicked by almost every member of the crowd.
“You Belong With Me” and “Love Story” are the other tracks included in the Fearless set of the concert, songs which Swift introduces by asking the question: “Miami, are you ready to go back to high school with me?,” a rhetorical comment I found amusing and entertaining. Although short, the “Fearless” era marks one of the most upbeat and lively moments of the entire show and was definitely one of my favorite eras of the night.
Red
As the singer conducts her quick outfit change between “Fearless” and “Red,” a backup dancer entertains the crowd by repetitively opening and closing a box that blasts tracks from Swift’s fifth studio album that are not included in the setlist, such as the record’s title track. However, once Swift is on stage performing her hit song “22,” the crowd’s focus is shifted to a child placed at the very end of the stage, prepared for a sweet fan interaction in which Swift gifts the fan her hat and thanks them for attending the show.
As the “Red” era progresses, Swift sings the sensational track “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” During the song’s bridge, which features a speaking monologue in which Swift emphasizes that she and the male character are truly never reconnecting, the singer hands the microphone to her backup dancer, Kam Saunders, prompting him to state a variation of the phrase “like, ever,” which he customizes based on the tour’s location. For Miami, Saunders screamed “pero like, never,” including a funny and intriguing inclusion of Miami dialect into the show.
Of course, the “Red” era would be incomplete without the celebrated 10-minute version of the song “All Too Well,” a track Swift saved for last during this section of the concert. While screaming along with the lyrics, I could not help but internally commend Swift for her ability to perform such a long, lyrically dense song following various dances while also playing guitar. Furthermore, the layering of Swift’s vocals with her background singers’ at the song’s outro created an intensely melancholy aura in the stadium, a tone I felt perfectly encapsulated the essence of the “Red” album and thus effectively concluded the era.
Reputation
Miami Night One will forever be known by the Swifties as the night Taylor Swift finally debuted an alternative “Reputation” bodysuit, replacing the previous red snakes with gold ones. Swift’s entrance to “…Ready for it?” in this section of the show was entrancing; the severe sound of her heel stomping captured every viewer’s attention, with the background snake noises merely adding to the album’s harsh, formidable atmosphere.
While on the short side, including merely four songs, the “Reputation” era, similarly to “Fearless,” is one of the more lively and captivating sets of the concert. Specifically, Swift’s embodiment of anger and pettiness during her performance of “Look What You Made Me Do,” the era’s last track, greatly demonstrated the artist’s determination to her craft and, in my opinion, marks “Reputation” as the strongest era of the night.
Speak Now
To many fans’ dismay, the “Speak Now” section only contains one song: “Enchanted.” Nevertheless, the purple-themed era included fantastic stage visuals, beautiful choreography, and alluring outfits that characterize it as memorable. Swift’s graceful movements on stage perfectly encompass the song’s whimsical nature and elicit her familiarity with the spirit of each album and how to best translate those messages to the audience members.
Folklore and Evermore
Labeled as “sister albums,” “Folklore” and “Evermore” are combined into one long section in the concert, featuring five songs from “Folklore” and three from “Evermore.” Similarly to “Lover,” the “Folklore” and “Evermore” section features a wooden house covered in moss placed on the main stage, a set-design element I felt once more demonstrated Swift’s determination to capture the true essence of all her albums and visually presenting them to fans.
In the “sister album” era, the strongest performances by Swift were “illicit affairs,” from “Folklore” and “willow” from “Evermore.” While only singing the song’s bridge, Swift’s passionate and thrashing rendition of “illicit affairs” allowed every audience member in the stadium to swallow her emotions about the track, a powerful moment that completely moved me. On the other hand, the witchy, ritual-esque choreography executed during “willow” was an extremely fun and entrancing section of the show, reminding me greatly of the performances included in plays such as those on Broadway.
Lastly, one of the show’s more endearing moments occurred during the folk era as Swift sang the “Evermore” track “marjorie,” a record about her late grandmother, in which fans held up their phone flashlights in celebration of the singer’s family member, an act Swift’s heartfelt mannerisms indicated gratefulness toward.
1989
The “1989” era is, truly, for everyone. Singing five of the greatest hits in her career thus far, the “1989” section may be marked as one of Swift’s favorites as her joy and excitement beautifully radiate throughout every performance in the era. As an audience member, the most electrifying aspects of the “1989” set, aside from the insanely entertaining music, are the visual effects and dances included.
Specifically, during the performance of “Blank Space,” the background videos were entrancing as approximately eight different versions of Swift performed the same dance, simultaneously mimicking her actual on-stage movements. In addition, the work completed by the singer’s backup dancers during “1989” augmented the era’s playfulness. For example, also during “Blank Space,” a few of the performers appeared on stage riding bikes, leaving light-up traces as they moved along the diamond-shaped platform.
The Tortured Poets Department
Being the tour’s newest addition, “The Tortured Poets Department” made its American debut in Miami, unlike any of the other eras. Tied with “Midnights” for the longest single-album section, the “TTPD” era includes seven tracks, a variety of which are cut down to merely a verse and a bridge, however. Similarly to “Reputation,” the most fascinating facet of “TTPD” was Swift’s energized, profound performances.
The tour’s clipped rendition of “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me” in which Swift was navigated across the stage via a moving platform, constantly gripping the included handle as she thrashed herself around in an angry performance of the fan-favorite track, was extremely memorable. Moreover, the emulation of a marching band, with Swift as the leading man, during “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” solidified itself as one of my favorite performances of the night given the in-sync stomping of every stage member perfectly captured the enraged message behind the track.
Unlike the other eras, “TTPD” included a witty and amusing song transition between “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” and “I Can Do It with A Broken Heart,” in which two backup dancers pick up a seemingly destroyed Swift off the ground, unzip her dress to reveal a two-piece set, and ‘force’ her to perform the last song of the era.
Acoustic Section
For the acoustic section, as explained by Swift herself before the performances, the singer selects two different songs each night to recite, thus slightly customizing every night of the tour. However, since the Asian leg of “The Eras Tour,” Swift has begun performing mashups instead of two full songs, therefore resulting in a total of four tracks being sung during the ‘surprise’ section.
For Miami Night One, on guitar, Swift performed a mashup of her first single, “Tim McGraw,” with one of her latest vault tracks “Timeless,” from the “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” album. On the piano, however, a combination of the “Folklore” fan favorite “this is me trying” and “Lover” closing track “Daylight” was performed by the singer. While not playing any song in its entirety, I felt Swift did a wonderful job of integrating a significant section of each track during both mashups.
Aside from the complete thrill of finding out in the moment which song will be played, I also thoroughly enjoyed watching the wristband lights change colors as the singer alternated from one song to the next in each mashup, with the bracelets emulating the characterizing color of the album each song comes from as Swift sang them.
Midnights
Swift’s tenth studio album, “Midnights” is the closing act of every night on “The Eras Tour,” including seven songs from the 2022 record. Opening with the popular “Lavender Haze,” Swift appears on stage wearing a long, sparkly T-shirt dress and an overpowering purple fuzzy coat, which is later removed at the beginning of “Anti-Hero.” The T-shirt, however, is discarded during the amazingly autotuned song “Midnight Rain” after Swift falls into an umbrella-made barrier, reappearing in a blue leotard.
The last song of the night, “Karma,” perfectly demonstrates the fun, girly nature of “The Eras Tour,” making it a wonderful conclusion to each concert. The goofy dance performed by the singer along with the large, colorful jackets worn by her and her dancers during the track ensures that every show is completed on a light-hearted, warm note, a facet I greatly appreciated.
“The Eras Tour” will undoubtedly solidify Taylor Swift as one of the greatest pop artists of this generation. Her admirable stamina, complete dedication, and memorable embracing of each era’s essence mark her as a praiseworthy performer and industrious songwriter, traits many artists nowadays would benefit from embracing.