The Eras Tour, Magical Evidence of Taylor Swift's Music and Persona
The Eras Tour Concert Review: Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour experience deserves to be called one of the concerts that anyone who claims to be a concert fan must attend. (AFP/Suzanne Cordeiro)
The Eras Tour deserves to be called one of the best concerts because of the impact of Taylor Swift's chemistry with her fans.
Since 2023, various reviews have described Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour as --one of or perhaps-- the greatest concerts of the current era. Now I understand why that review is true.
Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour experience deserves to be called one of the concerts that anyone who claims to be a fan of musical performances must attend.
Even if it's not possible because tickets are sold out, watching this concert in the form of a documentary on the streaming service which will be released next week might be somewhat entertaining.
The reason I agree to call The Eras Tour the best concert I've ever attended -- despite its shortcomings of course -- is the impact of the chemistry between Taylor Swift and her fans.
This has been felt since I was at Soekarno-Hatta Airport on March 2 2024, to go to see the concert on March 3 2024, or the second night of The Eras Tour Singapore.
Many passengers who fly to this country are accompanied by items that indicate they are a Taylor Swift fan: beaded bracelets or any T-shirts/clothing related to the musician.
As soon as we arrived in Singapore, the atmosphere of The Eras Tour was even stronger. I don't think it's an exaggeration to think that Singapore doesn't just 'monopolize' Taylor Swift, but that a country only the size of Jakarta is also celebrating The Eras Tour.
Almost in various shops, malls, even on planes and airports, you can find songs and all sorts of knick-knacks about Taylor Swift. Singapore's MRT stations, which were already densely populated, became even more crowded with Swifties from various countries.
Singapore has suddenly become the Swiftie capital. The area around the National Stadium, which for six days every night was the location for 60 thousand Eras Tour spectators, was also filled with Swifties.
The tents selling original merchandise were crowded with fans and those providing drop-in services. I myself queued for three hours to get merchandise, from getting hot because of the humidity, then getting wet because of the rain, then dry again because of the heat.
On the evening of March 2, I also saw thousands of people gathered in front of the stadium just to sing along to Taylor Swift's singing inside. They didn't come just to come, but to dress up and be creative like the ticket holders.
Until it was my turn to join tens of thousands of people entering the stadium on the afternoon of March 3 2024, I realized that the Eras Tour promoter not only needed capital, money, connections and manpower in large amounts to hold this concert.
Promoters who dare to hold an Eras Tour must choose officers who are alert and follow the rules. If something happens, for example rain, they have to be ready to organize more than 50 thousand people coming together so that the concert runs on time.
The atmosphere at MRT Stadium Station, Singapore, ahead of Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour concert on March 3 2024. (CNN Indonesia/Endro Priherdityo)
When I arrived, it was raining and all the ticket holders who had originally been divided into several accesses were gathered into one line. Imagine how dense it is. But what happened? The flow continues without stopping.
It took me less than 30 minutes to wait to enter the arena by showing my ticket, taking photos of the front of the stadium, undergoing bag checks, queuing to the gate, scanning the barcode, getting a bracelet, and looking for a seat according to the ticket.
With all that going smoothly, I was still free to enjoy the scale of The Eras Tour stage and wait for Sabrina Carpenter to open her session at exactly 18.00.
Are all concerts in Singapore really on this time?
Factory settings
Carpenter opened The Eras Tour by performing around 10 songs and accompanied the National Stadium to a full house of 60 thousand spectators, from the floor to the end of the stands. Sabrina performs until 18.45.
As the iconic Eras Tour clock appeared on the giant screen at 18.58, the entire stadium roared. Everyone took out their cellphones, waiting for the epic opening of the Eras Tour, and to welcome the owner of the dream, Taylor Swift, at exactly 19.00.
The Eras Tour Concert Review: Taylor Swift celebrates 18 years of her journey with fans who are Swifties from various eras and countries (AP/Natacha Pisarenko)
The Eras Tour deserves to be called one of the best concerts because of the impact of Taylor Swift's chemistry with her fans.
I don't think there's much need for an explanation of how Taylor Swift presents one era to another. It's all been spread on social media from various fancams, and there's also the concert film The Eras Tour which will be released later.
All the greetings, choreography, improvisation, are almost the same from one concert to another.
Initially, I felt that the similarities made Taylor look 'less creative'. However, after experiencing this concert and remembering his super busy schedule, I realized that was the only way to make this concert run optimally and efficiently.
Only one thing I caught was different from Taylor at that time. I felt like he wasn't fit enough, his voice was a bit nasal. I even saw him cough a few times, and he seemed to be coughing even more from the video captured by the audience on the third night.
I think Taylor's condition has declined a bit after the marathon concert in Tokyo, then on to Melbourne and Sydney.
In Australia, rain also flooded the Eras Tour concert like in Singapore. Singapore's humid tropical conditions and busy schedule seem to be logical reasons why Taylor Swift's immunity finally wavered.
Taylor also admitted that he would bring Champagne Problems that night. He said his hair returned "to factory settings" aka curly because of Singapore's humidity. I felt like saying, "What would happen if you went to Jakarta, where sometimes the humidity is beyond logic, Tay?"
However, as coughing and as nasal as Taylor Swift's voice is, she can still sing a 10 minute song with just a guitar accompaniment, choreograph around a stage half the length of a football field, deliver lots of high notes, and sing around 44 songs from 10 albums, most of which are hits.
The moment Taylor Swift announced at The Eras Tour Singapore, Sunday (3/3), about the final version of her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, which will be released April 19 2024. (CNN Indonesia/Endro Priherdityo)
He celebrated 18 years of his journey with fans who were Swifties from various eras and countries, with all the light effects, bursts of fire and smoke, booming sound, to grand confetti.
I was lucky to be given several Taylor Swift songs that were my favorite songs in the Surprise Songs session, namely Long Story Short from Evermore (2020) and Clean from 1989 (2014).
Plus, I witnessed the announcement of the final version of his latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, which will be released April 19.
Better in Singapore?
In the midst of a very vibrant celebration, in my opinion the sound and acoustics of Singapore's proud stadium are not quite up to par. Several times I felt that the sound from the speakers was not clear enough to the point that there were "echoes" which made my ears uncomfortable.
However, this weakness was covered by the screams and songs of the 60 thousand spectators who followed Taylor Swift. Surprisingly, I found my fancam recordings had better audio quality than what I heard live in the stadium.
Once the concert finished magically and lively after 3.5 hours, Singapore proved that they were worthy of being the home of the Eras Tour in Southeast Asia.
Tens of thousands of people left the stadium simultaneously, with most heading for the MRT. Station access is also open and closed to prevent crowding inside the station, even though the distance between trains arriving has been accelerated by less than five minutes.
The Swifties, who had been singing since they left the stadium, were actually invited to karaoke with Taylor Swift songs by the disjockeys in front of the station during the opening and closing phase. They are also big fans, as soon as they hear Taylor's song they automatically start singing without shame.
Uniquely, this moment of "celebrating Taylor Swift's music" was not only enjoyed by concert goers, but also crowd management officers and police on guard. Everyone enjoyed it, at least shaking their heads.
Finishing the concert with 60 thousand spectators at 22.30 and arriving at the hotel room in less than an hour, I consider it to be the sophistication of the promoter and Singapore in holding The Eras Tour. If this concert was at SUGBK, I think I would have arrived at my room in Kebayoran after midnight.
Finally, The Eras Tour is indeed the best stage to celebrate a phenomenon called Taylor Swift. And of course, big parties and celebrations for the Swifties.
It takes more than just a professional and qualified promoter to hold this concert considering the scale of the production and the masses who come, namely a government that cares and city infrastructure that is adequate to face The Eras Tour and The Taylor Swift effect.