Following the record-shattering Eras Tour around the world with Taylor Swift’s most devoted fans
LEFT: Fans make a heart gesture with their hands as Post Malone opens the evening at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn�, Aug� 14, 2024� NICOLE HESTER / THE TENNESSEAN ON THE COVER: Fans show off their friendship bracelets in Melbourne, Australia, where Swift performed Feb� 16-18, 2024� BRYAN WEST / THE TENNESSEAN
On March 17, 2023, the crowd in Glendale, Arizona, erupted into a massive cheer in State Farm Stadium when Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me” began playing and the backdrop screen transitioned to a countdown clock starting at 2:24. None of the Swifties who traveled from all over the state of Arizona and the nation, dressed to the nines as one of her 10 eras, knew the tour would be three-plus hours. The fan screaming next to me from Pennsylvania who bought a ticket on StubHub.com for about $400 didn’t know that we would go era-by-era through a 44-song track list. I don’t think the singer,
herself, knew when she hid inside a cleaning cart wheeled backstage that her show would become a billion-dollar enterprise inundated with friendship bracelets.
I didn’t know the behemoth success of the Eras Tour star would send me packing from Phoenix to Nashville, Tennessee, to become the USA TODAY Network’s inaugural Taylor Swift reporter.
Swift’s dancers flowed onto the stage through fog with pink, purple and orange parachute flaps. A compilation of songs from Swift’s 10 albums — or eras — played as “it’s been a long time coming” boomed into the stadium. Goosebumps covered the arms of thousands and tears cascaded down cheeks as the flaps revealed Miss Americana rising to begin her “Lover” set.
Fans shrieked at the top of their lungs as she popped up on a center rise. “It’s you and me, that’s my whole world,” she sang after the coronavirus pandemic kept the singer on a five-year touring hiatus. Instead, Swift had churned out six albums since her 2018 Reputation Stadium Tour: “Lover,” “Folklore,” “Evermore,” “Midnights” and the rerecords of “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Red (Taylor’s Version).”
Her bandmates who have long toured with her joined her onstage, and a new cast of 15 dancers sashayed their way into the hearts of fans.
After confetti coated the floor of the first show in Arizona, the Eras Tour became an addictive elixir driving Swifties to save
up their paychecks, scour resale sites for cheap tickets and form a global community. The Eras Tour took me to Tokyo, Australia, Paris, Stockholm, Portugal, Madrid and London. The energy of each show palpitated through every corner of some of the world’s biggest venues. Swift danced a half marathon in high heels without any indication of reluctance, any hint of pain or any sign of slowing down.
The tour evolved and transformed every single night, thanks in large part to her surprise, acoustic set she customized in every city. Fans who didn’t attend the shows in person tuned into livestreams so they could watch parts, if not the entire show, from their mobile devices. Some Swifties coalesced outside of the stadiums to Taylor-gate, or enjoy listening to the show with other fans.
The unprecedented tour continued to evolve over two years incorporating her 11th era, “The Tortured Poets Department.” Fans looked for celebrities at the shows, especially after her relationship with Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce went public. The football player attended 13 international shows, and Swift dedicated some of her acoustic set mashups to confessing her love for him.
Swift set a Guinness World Record for highest grossing tour of all time.
Decades from now, fans will look back on the years of the Eras Tour, which will become a benchmark for future live shows. Luckily, the tour ends as Swift turns 35, meaning the performer who has been in the spotlight for half her life still has more eras left to unearth.
When the Eras Tour comes to town, it takes over. Fans in prismatic outfits flood the streets and swap friendship bracelets. Mayors rename their cities, and even world-famous landmarks adopt new looks for the occasion. Fans without tickets don’t let that stop them from joining the fun, and those inside the stadiums started a collection of Eras Tour traditions that only grew as the earth shaking — literally — show traveled the globe.
Taylor Swift’s eras don’t just encompass her different albums. Each of the 11 eras is an entire vibe with its own fashion aesthetic, which provides ample inspiration for millions of Swifties creating the perf ect concert look for themselves. “Reputation” fans donned snake accessories, “Fearless” girlies rocked fringe and cowboy boots, and everyone was “Bejeweled.” Men began wearing Travis Kelce jerseys, and rare was the wrist without a friendship bracelet. Best of all were clever costumes inspired by some of Swift’s more elaborate lyrics or the time she was coming off anesthesia for LASIK eye surgery and declared “my mind is alive” after crying over a banana. Enjoy the fashion sense of the Swiftie community in photos throughout this book.
RIGHT: Best friends Sophia Torres, 9, (left) and Ava Butcher, 10, stand for a photo before Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert near Ford Field in Detroit on June 9, 2023. “To be here and see Taylor Swift on the stage live, it means a lot,” said Torres, whose mom surprised her and Ava with concert tickets just minutes before.
SARAHBETH MANEY / USA TODAY NETWORK
OPPOSITE: Jakari Johnson, 25, of Wixom, Mich., stands for a portrait near Ford Field on June 9, 2023. “I just love making new friends. She has the best fan base and it‘s so welcoming,” Johnson said. “Everybody‘s always happy to just be here.”
SARAHBETH MANEY / USA TODAY NETWORK
Taylor Swift got a larger-than-life welcome from the Caesars Superdome ahead of her three sold-out nights of the Eras Tour there in October 2024.
Outside the arena hung four friendship bracelets that stretch 140 feet and read “Taylor Swift The Eras Tour.” Each letter was a circle with a sevenfoot diameter.
“Last month the head of marketing reached out to me from the Superdome,” says Shawn Kolodny, a contemporary artist and sculptor who designed the jewelry adorning the arena. “I built 3D models. We drew it all out, came up with sizing and scale that would fit on the side of the stadium. The Superdome gave it to Taylor’s team to make sure everything got approved, make sure colors were right, make sure everything was good, and then we went to fabrication
and production.”
The giant inflatable rolls were shipped by air from overseas and delivered outside the stadium. Through trial and error, Kolodny and the staff affixed the bracelets to the walls in a day.
“I’ve never strapped anything to the side of a stadium before,” he says. “So there were some learning curves.”
After securing the large inflatables, the staff put air blowers on the edges of the bracelets to ensure they stay taut. Kolodny, 53, was attending the three-hour-plus show Oct. 25 with his fiancé Jules Dudko. But he wanted to get to the Superdome early to watch fans interact with the beaded art.
“That’s the fun part for us,” he says, “to watch people take pictures and make it fun, the Instagram moment and the selfies and things like that. We like that part.”
Swifties sparkled their way by the thousands from airports, hotels and short-term rentals to Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium to watch Taylor Swift’s return to North America for the final leg of the Eras Tour in October 2024.
The droves of fans traveled with their friendship bracelets and mile-wide smiles by planes, trains and automobiles.
Swift said 61,000 concertgoers packed inside the open-roofed arena, meaning more than 180,000 tickets made their way into the hands of fans and through the metal detector lined doors. Although traffic bottlenecked on Interstate 95 in the hours proceeding and succeeding the three-hour show, nothing could wipe the contagious excitement off fans’ faces.
Southwest Airlines added Flight No. 1989 from Nashville to Miami on Oct. 17, 2024. The two-hour jaunt was not just packed to the brim with fans on their way to Florida, but songwriter and early eras collaborator Liz Rose.
Rose mentored and co-wrote many tracks on Swift’s debut, “Fearless” and “Red” albums. With a microphone in hand and guitarist by her side, Rose sang songs
including fan favorite “All Too Well.” The Nashvillian attended that Saturday’s show.
“Everybody sang, and it was really amazing,” Rose tells USA TODAY. “My daughter was on the flight, and I saw her and another girl start crying, and I was trying really hard not to cry.”
Southwest handed out friendship bracelets to everyone onboard, and Rose thanked every single person who got off the plane. Rose says she is in awe of how explosive Swift’s career has been.
“I’m proud of her,” she says. “I still look at her and go, ‘Wow!’”
All aboard the Swiftie train! Railway company Brightline ran a Swift-themed train from Orlando through West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale to Miami.
The singer’s music pumped through the train. Each railcar donned a different era. Quotes and lyrics lined the walls and backs of seats. Faux purple flowers and disco moons lit up the “Speak Now” car. Bright red lips and vibrant iridescent fringe curtains hung from the roof in the “Red” section.
“We got on at Fort Lauderdale,” says Sarah Stubblefield roaming the cars with her friend Taelor Cravey. “Everyone is singing and trading bracelets.”
“We got emotional looking at all of it,” Cravey adds. “It just kicks off our trip to the show in a great way.”
The car pulled up to the Aventura station about 20 minutes from the stadium. Shuttles took everyone on board to the arena on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Automobiles: in my Uber Shuttle era
Uber launched Uber Shuttle as a test to take travelers to New York’s LaGuardia airport. Users would reserve a seat in advance and ride from Manhattan. The ride-share app used the Swifties shuttle to take fans to and from the concert for $20 (cheaper than taking an Uber car).
The shuttles displayed a massive black banner with white text, “In my Uber era.” Fans loaded to find shiny tinsel hanging from the ceiling. Butterfly decals lined the windows. Swift songs played above.
After the concert, shuttles took fans to drop-off points in the Brickell, Bayfront and Fontainebleau neighborhoods of Miami.
Although the method of transportation was different for every fan, the final destination was the same.
LEFT: Swifties take a Taylor Swift–themed Brightline train from Orlando to Miami to watch the final night of the Eras Tour in Florida on Oct. 20, 2024.
LEFT: An Uber Shuttle in Miami takes fans to and from Hard Rock Stadium for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concerts on Oct. 19, 2024. BRYAN WEST / THE TENNESSEAN
Los Angeles is home for Lauren Lipman, a YouTube commentator with a bubbly personality.
Lipman is a savant at finding Easter eggs and posts decoded videos among others to her Taylor Swift Tuesday pop culture channel.
“It all happened on accident,” she says. “I made my channel pop culture from a positive light. Like my first videos were like: Who bit Beyonce? Let’s do Top 10 lists of Ryan Seacrest. And then my 15th or 16th video was a Taylor Swift reaction video to ‘Look What You Made Me Do.’ Swifties loved it. They descended upon my channel and they were like, ‘Make more Taylor Swift content!’”
The music video is riddled with props that have double meanings: a dollar bill in a bathtub of jewels, “Et tu, Brute” etched in a column, a Grammy Swift holds in the front seat of her car and a Nils Sjoberg tombstone. If none of this makes any sense, watch Lipman’s video or ask your Swiftie teen and they can explain the Easter egg phenomenon that drives fans mad and keeps them watching every piece of marketing the star puts out.
“She’s got the world in the palm of her hand,” Lipman says about Swift, “and we just do whatever she says.”
Courtney Johnston sells Eras Tour concert tickets to fans at close to face value.
“I got the inspiration after looking at the insane prices for tickets on StubHub,” Johnston says. “I tweeted that I was thinking about starting a page where you can only
sell your tickets for face value. And that blew up.”
Johnston — who lives in Long Beach, California — reached out to her followers to see if anyone would want to be a part of this huge undertaking. Angel Richards and Channette Garay, a couple who live in Bridgeport, Connecticut, answered the call.
The trio have been friends for years, bonding over their love of Swift since 2012. They’ve nurtured a corner of the social media fandom into a community that gushes over the singer’s music, performances, speeches and newsmaking events.
“I thought this was going to stay in our circle, but it’s gone beyond that,” Johnston says. “People are joining Twitter just to follow us in hopes of getting tickets, so it’s kind of crazy that it’s gone beyond our little family and is reaching a whole new audience.”
After doing this for more than a year, Johnston has the process down to a science and can spot scammers and price gougers immediately.
“We have them fill out a form, and then they have to send a screen recording going from our Twitter DMs into the Ticketmaster app,” she says. “They have to show the transfer button.”
She focuses on the minutiae of how the app scrolls, the font appears and the text fades in. Sellers are also asked to verify the ticket prices through a confirmation email. If one detail feels out of place, the deal is off. Johnston has a reputation to protect.
Once the tickets are authenticated, next is verifying the buyers. Anyone is able to submit a form on the Eras Tour Resell account, but only fans can walk away with a bejeweled pass.
Johnston posts when tickets are available. Users submit forms and cross their fingers.
“Everyone has a chance,” she says. “I use a random number generator and put in the amount of submissions. It picks a random number. I then go through the winner’s page to make sure they are a real person and a fan.”
A pair of two tickets to Miami had more than 15,000 entries.
“Sometimes I wake up and spend two to four hours scrolling through messages,” Johnston says.
Collectively, she and her cohorts spend about 40 hours a week weeding through sellers and buyers. They don’t make a profit, although users can make a donation to their full-time recreation.