“It’s been a long time coming.”
For the past year, I've eagerly looked forward to Taylor Swift's highly anticipated tour to Indonesia. The concert, which is Swift’s first concert tour in five years, was very costly and difficult to get from the start. You had either be very, very lucky or fall within a certain income bracket to see the show. To make matters worse, Indonesia wasn’t even on the list of the countries she’d visit for the tour. Singapore was the closest stop for me to catch her live performance. However, Swift made the tour available to almost everyone in the form of a concert film. I got to watch Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour first at the cinema for Rp250,000, which was almost five times more expensive than a normal weekend movie ticket, but I guess it was close enough to see an irresistibly shiny and shimmering Taylor Swift.
Stepping into the world of the "Eras Tour" is nothing short of magical. Masterfully directed by Sam Wrench, the concert film opens with a breathtaking drone shot showcasing the massive SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Four months later, I guess luck was really on my side, I got to attend Swift’s second day of Singapore concert in the Singapore National Stadium. Taylor Swift played six nights in a row in Singapore with each show lasting for three and a half hours. Until now, it left me questioning how she managed to pull it off. I know, it’s been two months since the concert, but let me tell you why I’m still not over it and probably never will.
Before and during the show, thousands of strangers become instant friends. We would swap handmade friendship bracelets and compliment each other’s outfits. Quoting from Swift in between the concert, “It makes me feel so powerful.” The first set of songs – Swift kicked off the show with “Cruel Summer,” portraying the fragility and uncertainty of a relationship. Dancers adorned with colossal, parachute-like wings set the stage for Swift's grand entrance. Clad in a shimmering, crystal-studded bodysuit complemented by Louboutin boots. The outfit looked impractical, but on Swift it looked normal and even gorgeous.
The concert itself is autobiographical, in which Swift looks back at the seventeen years of her career, album by album, each of which she ascribes to a different “era” in her life. Thus, those “eras” constitute a segment of the show in a non-chronological order from the romantic Lover to the intense Reputation. Each act is a meticulously designed chapter, a visual and sonic journey through her musical evolution.
Source: cnbc.com
When she entered into the Fearless era, she stepped out in a mini dress of golden fringe, once again with boots to match. The Fearless era was a moment of flashback for me since it came out during middle school. Tracks like “Fearless”, “Love Story”, and “You Belong With Me” were my go-to songs during adolescence, and to see them live just brought me to tears, a lot, actually. Then she switched to the Red era, wearing her “Not A Lot Going On At The Moment” t-shirt from the “22” music video, paired with her classic fedora hat, which she gave to a lucky fan during the performance. Then the “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” was live with her red sparkly coat and a guitar. Best (and the saddest) 10 minutes of my life, I should say.
For the whole concert, the stage itself was a storytelling tool. Screens and stage props transformed from the intense and dark Reputation era to a folkore cabin and a forest seance for evermore, reflecting the shifts of each era. Swift came out in an asymmetrical, show-stopping black and red colored suit with sequins studded along the leg in the infamous snake pattern familiar to this era. Bringing my memory back from the “Reputation” concert she did back in 2018, this era was my personal favorite. During the folklore era, she brought out the infamous folklore cabin to the stage while singing “the 1”, “the last great american dynasty”, and many others. I was in a full awe throughout the show, like how did they do it? They transformed the whole ambience to match with each era with stage props. How did they make those trees sprout out of the ground during evermore or how did she come up with the idea of swan-dive into a hole after the acoustic set?
The outfits for both folklore and evermore era were beautiful. The dresses were magical and they really evoked the theme of both albums. In the evermore era, the stage was set with trees along with a foggy backdrop. The sorcery, moss-covered grand piano sat on stage and Swift started to sing “champagne problem” and got a more than three-minute of cheer and applause. After the era, we entered her acoustic set, where she would play surprise songs each night to give every fan a unique experience during the show they chose to attend. Day two of the Singapore show got a live version (and a mashup) of “Evermore” and “Clean” on piano as well as “The Story of Us” and “Long Story Short” on guitar. I couldn’t get any happier than that night.
Swift continued the tour to the 1989 era which was full of moves and fun acts from the dancers as well with “Shake It Off” and “Style” on the setlist, who wouldn’t wanna dance to them? The last ride of the concert was the Midnights era, where she opened the segment with “Lavender Haze”, “Anti-Hero”, and ended the concert with exploratory hit, “Karma.” With her last bow to the audience and the colorful confetti, I finally bid goodbye to the concert of my dreams. A definite tick off my bucket list!
Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour showcases not only her skillful dancing and singing, but her way to communicate with her fans through her theatrical repertoire of walking, gesturing, and even glancing. Her voice and power throughout the show amazes me so much to this day. How come someone performs so beautifully and consistently for three and a half hours, without missing a single beat? Well, the fascination of her performance is personal, but her songs, lyrics, and how she conveys that all on stage should be agreed by everyone who attends her concert.
On the crowded walk back, I forced my already hurt feet to a bus stop slightly far away from the stadium to avoid the overcrowded buses. In the end, Taylor Swift healed the teenager in me who couldn’t attend her previous concerts and gave me what was, quite possibly, the best night of my life.
