by | Salma Cano
Staff Reporter
Dropping a movie of one of the most successful tours in history on Oct. 13, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour hits theaters, becoming the highest-grossing concert film ever just within its opening weekend. It’s a high-quality recording of the outstanding concert that is predicted to make Taylor Swift several billions of dollars by the time it reaches its end, presenting 17 years of her original music.
At the top of the setlist, kicking off the concert is Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince from her album, Lover. Swift enters the stage appearing from under parachutes covered by her backup dancers in a bright gemstone-covered bodysuit. She also performs the songs Cruel Summer, The Man, You Need To Calm Down, and the track Lover itself from this era.
A bit farther into the concert recording is evermore, which I believe by far, has the best album presentation throughout the entire movie. During the opening track of this album, willow, the backup dancers toss around orange orbs that closely resemble pumpkins as Swift seems to ominously take control through imaginary witchcraft. After this is an extremely melancholy delivery of marjorie, a tribute to Swift’s grandmother and how she wished she took more advantage of when she was still around. After this is champagne problems, a well-appreciated fan-favorite, that is followed up by tolerate it, another heartbreaking ballad.
Several eras later, it’s every fan’s favorite part of the concert: surprise songs. In the movie, the country track Our Song from her debut album Taylor Swift and the emotional You’re On Your Own Kid from her most recent album, Midnights are the chosen surprise songs. Each surprise song is performed acoustically, with Our Song on the guitar, and You’re On Your Own Kid on the piano. Though these two songs were performed on separate nights in Los Angeles, I think this is a perfect pairing for both younger and newer Swifties because of the albums they come from.
Finally, the last era of the night is Midnights. She performs Lavender Haze and Anti-Hero in a purple T-shirt dress, later transitioning to a sparkly navy bodysuit during Midnight Rain, and throwing a fluffy jacket over it for the final song of the night: Karma. With this being Swift’s last album that happens to also have quite a few catchy upbeat tunes, this is a perfect note to end the night on.
Whether it’s country, pop, folk, or rock, there is something for everyone from Taylor Swift’s diverse discography, being a big contributor to Swift’s devoted fanbase. And since the Eras Tour is such a big moment in pop culture history, this movie gives an opportunity to all the fans who couldn’t make it to the concert itself. I have nothing negative to say about this movie other than that I wish more songs from Swift’s third album, Speak Now were added to the official Eras Tour setlist and performed in the movie in place of a few other songs from albums like Folklore and 1989 that have 6-7 songs included in the movie, while Speak Now only has one song in the movie out of the two that are performed in concert. Regardless, I would give this movie a solid 4.8 out of 5 stars.
