The Eras Tour: the Canadian Leg
Updated: 2 days ago
Goodbye Miss Americana
I do no not understand the luck I had when it came to Eras Tour. When Taylor Swift added announced a North American leg including Canada (though, only Toronto dates), my bestie and I knew that we had to at least try to win the chance to be in line for the potential opportunity to pay for concert tickets (the demand for tickets to this thing was next level and so was the ticket acquiring process). We'd watched for months as many fans left empty handed in the queue even after winning a Ticket Master code to enter it so our hopes were certainly not up. We signed up for the Ticket Master lottery for Toronto - I got a code. I got into the queue - 900-something-th in line, incredible. The next bit was pure hunting instincts and I'm an Aries so there's no way I was going to fuck that up. I proceeded to score the most perfect seats for us (albeit, for a show on the other side of the country).
"Cruel Summer" in the orange bodysuit
Some time later, it was announced that the Eras Tour would be coming to Vancouver. Again, bestie and I entered the lottery. And again, with whatever luck we apparently possessed at the time, we not only got a code but scored tickets. We debated which one to attend but then, after my bestie's dog (who was the only big dog I ever ever trusted) passed away, we decided to splurge on a girl's trip to Toronto. We decided to see how it went before deciding to also go to Vancouver. And then my dog of fifteen years, Peanut, also passed. It was a dark time for both of us, whose twenties had been largely defined by our roles as dog moms. Fuck it, we said - we're going twice. Crying is better with glitter.
Toronto
It was a bit strange
We wore the friendship bracelets (and comfy shoes because no performer is worth standing and walking in heels for hours on end, sorry not sorry).
It's been a long time coming
I regret to inform anyone who couldn't get tickets or who hates Taylor Swift that show was incredible and that I will be subjecting readers to the visuals that are permanently etched into my retinas from the lower bowl of Rogers Arena in Toronto, Ontario Canada.
As someone who doesn't listen to much country music, "Red" was obviously the first Taylor Swift album that caught my attention - but even then, it was nowhere near my favourite heading in to the Era's Tour. However, the second I experienced the "Red" Era live, I understood why that album - and that tour - was such a catapult in her career. It was potentially my favourite era live - so full of energy and "All Too Well" really and truly is worthy of the songwriting praise that it has received from critics. And of course, there in nothing quite as powerful as a stage full of red.
Keeping the "Speak Now" Era to Enchanted was perfect (for me) - I have the sweetest video of a little girl in front of me singing and dancing her heart out to it. (Taylor Swift is known to always make a point of stopping to say hi to younger fans and this moment felt like the musical version of that.)
And of course... the era that arguably became the centrepiece of the show over the course of it's run: the Reputation Era. When the album was originally released, it came to answer the question: Can a pop star come back from cancellation in an era where we dispose of women like tissues? The Reputation Tour proved that recovery was possible and Taylor's career continued on, potentially fuelled by vengeance, and she eventually returned to and even surpassed the heights that she had fallen from during cancellation. But the level of renewed interest and celebration for Reputation wouldn't have been possible without a full circle moment like the Era's Tour.
And then... Folklore and Evermore. The era that made me what I would consider to be a fan of Taylor Swift, the singer (and apparently a musician and producer named Aaron Desner). As you may have guessed if you peeped my outfit for the night - I was even thrilled by the outfit.
1989. Not pictured: pyrotechnics that came close to burning off our glitter. A moment that many fans would affectionately refer to as the point in the show when we became "rotisserie chickens". But he heat from those flames paired with what is arguably an Aries anthem (Bad Blood) was something that my soul needed - desperately. I'll light more candles, I guess. Ironically, 1989 was hands down the coolest Era and had me dancing and singing to every single song.
I loved everything about the addition of the Tortured Poets Department to the list and I'm so thankful that it was there for all of the Canadian shows. It is probably my favourite Taylor Swift album but I would also include the anthology in my favourite albums overall in this world so far. I could attempt essays but I'll spare you and get to the visuals that so many found to be personally cathartic and more reflective of this point in history. The tour felt like the perfect lead up to the first ever woman president of the United States, but many fans in Canada were singing "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" not about any individual ex boyfriend, but a monster to the collective.
My favourite vignette, and what I believe to be the best transition of the whole show, came after "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me" - though I may be biased as I love most things space. When Taylor Swift dropped down to her knees and sang about being Down Bad about someone who teased her with space exploration before leaving her to bleed out all alone, I felt that.
Midnights was quite successfully a Lavender Haze and the perfect end to the show. I was surprised to, even after three and half hours of eye and ear candy, be left still wanting more.
Vancouver
It's difficult to describe what I returned to after Toronto- Vancouver had become Swiftcouver. It wasn't just that it was finally the lower mainland's time to be taken over by thousands of women and girls enjoying the tourist attractions and partaking in Swiftified menu items at local eateries and bars- it was more than that. The Eras tour was an economic phenomenon due to it's record-shattering commercial success and it's impact on the local economies of tour destinations (referred to as "Swiftonomics"), but it was also a global cultural phenomenon. And you could feel it even in places where there weren't led bulbs adorning normal words that had since become Taylor Swift's.
The show itself? Incredible, again. And I was surprised by how entrancing it was even from higher up and further away. I was beginning to understand why so many people had gone several times - I caught so many things that I hadn't the first time around and it was felt like a completely different experience.
On closing night, as I was enjoying an evening downtown, I couldn't help but feel thing small pang, thinking about how much I wished I could be in a stadium full of people who weren't afraid to wear the friendship bracelets, listening to the very last surprise songs. And I found myself checking my phone, watching the last moments of ticket sales as desperate scalpers started dropping their prices by the hundreds by the minute. You only live once.
I know that it's common for people to go to multiple shows for an artist's tour, but that has never been me- I've barely gone to even one night for big concerts, in general. Part of it was obviously the pet deaths (my sweet hedgehog Henry ALSO decided to pass just months after Peanut)... but it also felt like a goodbye for now to "Miss Americana" in general. Kamala Harris' win had felt all but guaranteed, despite the odds, after what seemed to be an enormous swell of support for change. The Canadian shows were less than a month after the devastating election results and being part of a stadium full of women singing "Fuck the patriarchy" felt necessary for emotional survival.
While in line for the bathroom before the show very last show of the Eras Tour started, I chatted with a mom who was telling me about how she'd had to go no-contact with some members of her family after Trump's reelection. We didn't know at the time, but The United States would come to meet all the criteria for an authoritarian regime before the following summer was coming to an end.
The end of an era
Having watched the show itself multiple times, been engaged in the online discourse, and been old enough to have had as many chapters in life as the woman performing it, I want to share the biggest lessons that I've taken away from this phenomenon (music concert):
Women don't become obsolete at 30. Not even pop stars. Wear the bodysuit.
Sometimes your work doesn't get the credit it deserves right away. Be patient and continue doing what you love regardless.
Learning to love yourself is the most important part of romantic love and there is no love that compares to kind of love of female friendships.
It can be so much fun being part of something bigger than yourself. And important. In fact, the Eras Tour may have served as a mere warm up to the largest group project known to man.
