A year of the Eras Tour: A look back at Taylor Swift’s record-breaking show

One year ago, 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 lead to a billion-dollar enterprise, Time magazine person of the year and an inundation of friendship bracelets. I didn’t know the behemoth success following the Eras Tour star would send me packing from Phoenix to Nashville, Tennessee, to become the 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.

Eighty three shows later, here’s a look back at the unprecedented tour that set a Guinness World Record. And fair warning, like her tour this article is an extensive rollercoaster.

Oh, hi!
Swept up in the hype, the world became Taylor Nation. Glendale, “Erazona,” was renamed “Swift City.” Las Vegas lit up its arches in all 10 era colors. Arlington, Texas, dubbed one of its streets “Taylor Swift Way.” Tampa, Florida, gave Swift a key to the city and invited her to be an honorary mayor. Houston renamed its venue “NRG Stadium (Taylor’s Version).”

Nashville, Tennessee, dedicated a bench in Centennial Park to the hometown singer. A Philadelphia radio station, 96.5 FM (WTDY), renamed itself Ninety-Swift-Five W-T-A-Y. Gov. Philip D. Murphy dubbed the “Taylor Swift ham, egg and cheese sandwich” the “state sandwich of New Jersey.” Chicago lit up the top of Willis Tower in her album colors. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey renamed his city “Swiftie-apolis,” and Santa Clara, California, Mayor Lisa Gillmor switched the city’s name to “Swiftie Clara.”

It’s a cruel summer with you
All four seasons met the fifteen dancers, four backup singers, six bandmates and hundreds of production and crew members, adding unpredictable weather to the mix. Mother Nature danced in a lightning storm to “Fearless” in Tampa and made the song “Midnight Rain” a reality in Nashville. Rain poured through the open-roofed stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where Swift pushed puddles forming on her piano. The Swiftie fandom created its own natural phenomenon in Seattle after a seismologist registered a 2.3 magnitude earthquake on her Richter scale.