On Oct. 13, little girls and middle-aged women were spotted walking through theater doors wearing glittery dresses and sequin jackets with sparkly makeup and gemstones on their eyes. Lines to concessions were out the door, and nearly every seat in the theater was taken by a colorfully dressed human.
These people, primarily middle school girls, had gathered to watch “Taylor Swift: the Eras Tour.” I have attended many movies in my lifetime, especially at the local Tivoli Theater in Downers Grove, but I have never seen the Tivoli or any other theater as packed as it was on Oct. 13. Swifties are truly the most loyal fanbase of any artist.
“Taylor Swift: the Eras Tour” was an extraordinary experience. The movie has been a hit all over the U.S., with domestic ticket sales topping $95 million and becoming the highest-grossing concert film released domestically. It’s no surprise that the movie was a hit – it was so good that I had to see it twice in one weekend.
Filmed at Taylor Swift’s Aug. 4, 2023 show at SoFi Stadium, the movie is solely composed of footage from her performance. It’s 2 hours and 48 minutes of Swift singing her hits, beginning with the upbeat “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince.”
As someone who tried extremely hard (and failed) to get tickets to the Eras Tour, the movie allowed me and other fans to artificially attend the concert and sing our little Swiftie hearts without spending $500 or more on concert tickets. I will say, though, that the $19.89 movie ticket charge, however iconic, was rather extreme.
During the first few songs, the movie theater audience was quietly singing along and bobbing their heads to Swift’s “Lover” era. However, as she moved into her “Fearless” era and sang “You Belong With Me,” the whole theater rose to their feet and started belting out the lyrics.
As Swift moved through her “Evermore” era and into “Reputation,” I noticed that the audience was truly treating the movie like it was a real concert. People were clapping after each song and cheering as if Swift could actually hear them. Little girls had “13” written on their hands and some were even exchanging friendship bracelets like concert attendees had been doing for the entire Eras Tour.
As Swift sang her way through her “Speak Now,” “Red” and “Folklore” eras, I noticed that the audience also participated in the fan-made Eras Tour chants. As Swift sang through her “1989” era, the crowd cheered “You forgive, you forget, but you never let it (beat) go,” during the bridge of “Bad Blood” and clapped three times during the bridge of “Shake It Off.”
Some fans were frustrated, as the movie had to cut songs from the original concert set list as it would’ve been over the three-hour mark. The cut songs included “no body, no crime” and “Wildest Dreams,” both of which are some of my favorites and I was sad to see cut.
By the time Swift neared her last and most recent era, “Midnights,” I noticed just how much of an impact the movie had on its viewers. Most of the little girls had climbed up on the stage to feel closer to Swift and many in the audience were taking videos of the screen like they would at a concert. People truly felt the full impact of Swift’s music through the screen.