Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Movie Review

“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” is a juggernaut of joyful noise in a sea of mediocre movie madness. Ms. Swift has already single-handedly boosted the U.S. economy with the live Eras Tour. So what better way to deliver another punch in the gut to naysayers and curmudgeons everywhere. Talk bad about Taylor, and she will just “Shake It Off”…

In case you have been living in a cave for the past twenty years or so — Taylor Swift is a musical artist. She has had amazing career beginning with signing up with a music label at a young age. She has had many Top 10 singles and several Platinum albums. A very faithful group of followers who call themselves Swifties have grown ever larger. Swift has changed her musical styles over the years, and she is not afraid to expand her horizons and her musical scope.

Taylor Swift has hit stumbling blocks in her business relationships. But she has managed to overcome most everything that has come her way. To get control of her music catalogue again, she has rerecorded every album. When people thought it was a goofy idea to come out with a World Tour where she would feature a few songs from each of her prior records — she simply said “Welcome to the Eras Tour”.

From the opening concert in Glendale, Arizona — to the final U.S. performance at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California — Taylor Swift has ‘Enchanted’ fans with the show. The rush to get concert tickets was overwhelming. The individual venues for each concert have been swamped with mobs of Swifties just standing outside, hoping to hear just a little of what is going on.

Having the business smarts that she has, Taylor Swift always planned to film one of the concerts and release it as a theatrical movie.  She has worked with major studios to make that happen. But they were a little pokey and thought the best thing was for Swift to finish the World Tour. Then the studios could help to make the final movie, and plan out the release date and marketing.

“Thanks, but No Thanks”, was the reply back from Swift. She instead got a deal put together with the CEO of AMC Theaters. There had never before been a theater chain that operated as a movie distribution company. The studios had been left in the dust. But the theater owners and AMC, along with the Swift organization got to split up the proceeds.

So, what is the result? This is now a nearly three-hour experience of what the Taylor Swift concert was like at the SoFi Stadium. Swift has ten albums released, and the show is split into ten different acts. Each act features a few of the songs released on a specific album. There is a wealth of material that Taylor Swift can call upon. The styles range from soft country, to modern hard-edge dance music, to folk song type melodic tunes.

Taylor Swift is always front-and-center in almost every minute of the movie. She sings and dances and uses her facial expressions to carry each song. The back-up band are sometimes holed-up at the sides of the main stage. But they also will occasionally come out with (wireless) instruments to dance around with Swift. She also has several backup vocalists. They also split time between staying on the stage and being  next to Taylor Swift.

This is not to mention the group of dancers that will mostly stay around where Taylor Swift is singing at the moment. The dance choreography is complex and very exciting to watch. The stage itself is a technical marvel. There is runway that juts out to the audience. It has a middle section that widened into a diamond shape. The end has a Tee type space. Every panel of the floor of this extended stage is a video LED monitor. It can change with colors and images according to the mood of each tune being played.

The stage also has some hydraulic system built in that smaller sections can be raised and lowered. It makes for an impressive display when there are tiered steps of platforms where Taylor Swift can be at the top, and there dancers on either side at various levels. There are some interesting things they do for some of the songs. Some are designed like little vignettes, like one that uses a long table with chairs on either end. There is another song that has a story about a wealthy woman who has a house on hill.

“But I don’t know any Taylor Swift songs”, you might say. Guess again, because there a number of Taylor Swift songs that have been used in other movies or even commercials. You might say, “I know a couple of these songs, but I don’t know all of them”. Or you don’t like a few of them. Don’t sweat – because even if there is a Taylor Swift song in this movie that you don’t like – There will be a different one in a couple minutes. It could be a song from a different ‘Era’ (different album).

But for all of the excellent band members, dancers, backup vocalists and stage crew staff — the audience is there not to see only them. The Swifties are there to see Taylor Swift. And, boy, they get to see a full performance. She gives them a performance full of precision and poise. Taylor Swift has an unstoppable reservoir of energy and goodwill. She knows that the audience is paying all the bills, and she makes sure the customer is satisfied.

“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” is a unique concert movie that captured a recent moment in time. The recent Taylor Swift tour has been a social phenomenon. Ticket sales have sold out everywhere. Friendship bracelets are a thing again. This movie does all that it can to capture the polished skill of Taylor Swift, and her dedication to giving the audience a flawless show.