Taylor Swift performs onstage during “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” at Johan Cruijff Arena on July 04, 2024 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images
In the blink of a crinkling eye, Taylor Swift‘s global Eras Tour trek has concluded after two years on the road, spanning five continents, 51 cities and more than 10 million audience members.
Ending just five days before the pop superstar’s 35th birthday Friday (Dec. 13), the two year run was the culmination of nearly two decades of musical and cultural dominance, with the singer-songwriter spending more than three hours each night on stage dazzling city after city with selections from all 10 of her albums — which turned into all 11 following the release of her The Tortured Poets Department in April. Countless celebrities made appearances in the audience — Stevie Nicks! Paul McCartney! Flavor Flav! Prince William! — while fans from all over the world made friendship bracelets by hand, painstakingly put together costumes and started their very own grassroot traditions, from DIY-ing “Willow” orbs to match those held by Swift’s dancers during the Evermore set to holding up their phone flashlights to pay respects to the musician’s late grandmother every time she sang “Marjorie.”
The Eras Tour will go down in history for multiple reasons, from being anchored by Swift’s ongoing Taylor’s Version re-recording project to its effect on local economies, its impact on the discussion surrounding ticket pricing and its status as the first concert tour to ever gross more than $1 billion. But at the heart of the trek will always be how it made Swifties feel just to make memories and sing along on the stadium grounds, from opening night on March 17, 2023, in Glendale, Ariz., to closing night on Dec. 8, 2024, in Vancouver, B.C.
In honor of Swift’s birthday, Billboard has rounded up the 25 best moments from the superstar’s historic trek. Reflect on the Eras Tour highlights as we say goodbye to the Eras Tour, in chronological order, below.
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Opening Night
Date: March 17, 2023
Venue: State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
One of the most exciting 24 hours in Swiftie fandom history, opening night was an adrenaline-filled rush of Which songs will be on the setlist? What will she wear? How can she possibly fit all her eras into one show?
When the star popped up on stage in her sparkly leotard for the first of 149 shows that evening, Swift took fans on a truly unpredictable wild ride that answered all their questions and more, delivering a three-hour-plus show full of glitter, musical catharsis and eye-popping visuals that was beyond their wildest dreams. It was rare, Glendale Swifties were there … and it officially set into motion one of the most historic concert tours of all time.
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The Janitor Cart Mystery
Date: April 2, 2023
Venue: AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex.
It didn’t take long for Swifties to figure out how the pop star was covertly traveling from the wings of each stadium to the backstage area without being spotted. Three weekends into the Eras Tour’s first leg, a fan was able to snap video evidence of Swift exiting a suspiciously large custodial cart after being wheeled in by two crew members — something that made looking out for the cart’s entrance minutes before show starts a fundamental part of the Eras experience.
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The Hand Injury
Date: April 22, 2023
Venue: NRG Stadium in Houston
There were several bloopers throughout the two-year tour that proved Swift can handle any unexpected obstacle onstage — honorable mentions go to the broken high heel and malfunctioning piano — but her gnarly hand injury in Houston has to be the most impressive case. The star didn’t even flinch when she had to perform her Reputation set with an exposed gash on her palm, which she covered with bandages later on in the night, something fans couldn’t believe in the moment.
Shortly afterward, Swift explained on Instagram, “PS for those asking how I cut my hand, I’m totally fine and it was my fault completely – tripped on my dress hem and fell in the dark backstage while running to a quick change – braced my fall with my palm.”
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“Nothing New” With Phoebe Bridgers
Date: May 5, 2023
Venue: Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn.
While serving as an opener for Swift on a limited run of Eras stops, Phoebe Bridgers also got to sing “Nothing New” — the pair’s melancholy Red (Taylor’s Version) duet — with the headliner at a select few shows. The first crowd to experience it, though, was the May 5 group in Nashville, for whom the emotionally charged live music moment was anything but nothing new.
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Taylor Defends a Fan
Date: May 13, 2023
Venue: Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia
Swift proved that she doesn’t play about her fans when she sternly scolded a security guard for giving concertgoers a rough time during “Bad Blood.” “She’s fine! She wasn’t doing anything!” the musician yelled, coming to the fan’s defense in a now viral moment that fans still quote on the regular. “Hey! Stop!”
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The “Rainiest” Rain Show
Date: May 20, 2023
Venue: Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
Rain shows have become a sacred experience for Swifties over the course of the star’s career, and the Eras Tour had several where the skies poured on fans for some or all of the 3.5 hours Swift was on stage. But the “rainiest rain show that ever rain showed,” as the “Karma” artist described it, went down in Foxborough, after which she wrote on Instagram, “This was a full on deluge that never let up, I just want to thank that iconic crowd!!”
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“Karma” With Ice Spice
Date: May 26-28, 2023
Venue: MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
Ice Spice was present at all three of Swift’s shows in New Jersey — right next to the “Munch” rapper’s native New York — to help perform their remix of “Karma.” And, given that the Midnights anthem serves as the finale song on the Eras setlist, Ice coming out on stage to close out the show those nights was extra thrilling for those at MetLife.
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“Getaway Car” With Jack Antonoff
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/TAS23/Getty Images Date: May 26, 2023
Venue: MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
Fans at the first night of MetLife got an extra special surprise song performance when Jack Antonoff came out on stage to duet on Reputation‘s “Getaway Car” — for which he and Swift also paid homage to a fan-favorite video of the pair creating it with rapid speed in the studio years prior. The collaborators would perform the song again in August 2024 at Wembley Stadium in London, fully recreating the beloved clip.
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“You All Over Me” With Maren Morris
Date: June 3, 2023
Venue: Soldier Field in Chicago
Swift and Maren Morris treated fans at Soldier Field to the first-ever live performance of “You All Over Me,” a Vault track from Fearless (Taylor’s Version) featuring the “My Church” singer. The duet made for a gorgeously delicate moment accompanied by both women playing guitars, after which Morris wrote on Instagram, “We finally got to play ‘You All Over Me’ and I won’t ever be shutting up about it.”
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“I Miss You, I’m Sorry” With Gracie Abrams
Image Credit: Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Date: July 1, 2023
Venue: Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati
Gracie Abrams’ set may have been rained out earlier in the night July at Paycor Stadium, but Swift made sure the opener got her moment. During the surprise song section, the pop star invited the star on stage to perform Abrams’ breakthrough track “I Miss You, I’m Sorry” with the Pennsylvania native on guitar and Abrams on piano.
Abrams and Swift would later release a duet together titled “Us,” which they have performed at two Eras Tour shows since: June 23, 2024, at Wembley Stadium in London and Nov. 16, 2024 at Rogers Centre in Toronto. At the penultimate Eras show in Vancouver on Dec. 7, the pair performed Abrams’ “I Love You, Im Sorry” and Swift’s “Last Kiss.”
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The “I Can See You” Video Premiere
Date: July 7, 2023
Venue: Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Miss.
Fans who witnessed the “I Can See You” music video premiere in Kansas City are in rarefied air. Not only did they get to be the very first people to see the action-packed video, but they also got to see Swift’s costars Taylor Lautner — who backflipped down the catwalk — Joey King and Presley Cash join the singer on stage.
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“No Body, No Crime” With HAIM
Date: July 22, 2023
Venue: Lumen Field in Seattle
Similar to “Nothing New” with Bridgers, “No Body, No Crime” was temporarily incorporated into the Eras Tour set list while the HAIM sisters were serving as a supporting act during Swift’s first U.S. leg. Those who got to revel in the boot-stomping tongue-in-cheek ode to small-town murder live can count themselves lucky — and expect a lot of envy Evermore stans — especially those who were there for the first performance of the song July 22.
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The Swift-quake
Date: July 22-23, 2023
Venue: Lumen Field in Seattle
Seattle Swifties made headlines when Western Washington University geology professor Jackie Caplan-Auerbach found that the seismic activity at Lumen Field during Swift’s performances there was on par with a low-grade earthquake. The “Swift-quake,” as it’s been called, clocked in at a 2.3 on the magnitude scale.
Almost a full year later, scientists again documented comparable seismic activity from Swifties at Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh.
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The First “Karma Is the Guy on the Chiefs”
Date: Nov. 11, 2023
Venue: Estadio River Plate in Buenos Aires
Unofficially, Travis Kelce is a core part of the Eras Tour. After all, it was his attempt at meeting Swift during a show in Kansas City — where he tried and failed to give her a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it — that sparked their romance in the summer of 2023, and the tight end was a consistent presence at many performances later that year and the first half of 2024 when his football schedule allowed it.
He’s so much a part of it that Swift even started implementing a lyric change whenever he was in the audience: “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs,” as opposed to the original “Karma is the guy on the screen.” When she first made the switch, the tens of thousands of people in the crowd exploded with joy — shortly after which Swift was spotted running into Kelce’s arms and planting a big kiss on his lips.
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The “Labyrinth” Sorcery
Date: Nov. 13, 2023
Venue: Estadio River Plate in Buenos Aires
In a moment of supernatural timing, a large aircraft descended right over the heads of the crowd at Estadio River Plate during a surprise-song performance of “The Labyrinth,” right when Swift was singing the lyric, “Thought the plane was going down/ How’d you turn it back around?”
Later sharing a video of the moment on TikTok, Swift wrote, “Never beating the sorcery allegations.”
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Christ the Swiftie
Date: Nov. 17-20, 2023
Venue: Estadio Nilton Santos in Rio de Janeiro
Swifties in different cities all over the world executed some of the biggest fan-led movements ever to celebrate the Eras Tour coming to town, but the one that takes the cake is arguably Rio’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue sporting a projected Swift-themed “Junior Jewels” T-shirt to welcome the pop star to Brazil. To see a global landmark — and a 98-foot one at that — welcoming Swift’s to the area was truly a thing to behold.
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The Mashups Begin
Date: Feb. 17, 2024
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne
The surprise song section changed forever when Swift started mashing up her own songs, combining tracks so that fans were no longer limited to two acoustic songs per show. Though “Out of the Woods” / “Is It Over Now?” in Buenos Aires was technically the first combo deal Swift served up, the mashups didn’t start in earnest until she performed “Getaway Car” / “August” / “The Other Side Of The Door” in Melbourne.
Soon after that, the mashups would become an expected part of the Eras program.
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“Coney Island / White Horse” With Sabrina Carpenter
Image Credit: Don Arnold/TAS24/Getty Images Date: Feb. 23, 2024
Venue: Accor Stadium in Sydney
Like Abrams, opener Sabrina Carpenter joined Swift for the surprise song section on more than one occasion. Her first time was in February when she assisted the headliner in singing “White Horse” and / “Coney Island” on piano, eight months after which the “Please Please Please” artist returned for a surprise appearance to sing her smash hit “Espresso” with Swift.
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The ‘Tortured Poets Department’ Debut in Paris
Date: May 9, 2024
Venue: La Défense Arena in Paris
All eyes were on Paris night 1 in May, with Swift finally returning to the Eras Tour stage after a break — and for the first time since she dropped her Billboard 200-topping album The Tortured Poets Department. Fans knew that they were about to see an entirely different set of songs performed live for the first time, but no one was fully prepared for the majesty of Swift debuting the UFO abduction-inspired “Down Bad” visual, the levitating platform for “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” and the high-energy “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” sequence.
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“Castles Crumbling” With Hayley Williams
Date: June 22, 2024
Venue: Wembley Stadium in London
After Paramore opened for the very first Eras Tour show (in Glendale, Ariz.), as well as supported Swift all throughout the European leg, it was only right that Hayley Williams join her longtime friend on the surprise song stage. On piano, the pair finally performed their Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) Vault track “Castles Crumbling” at Wembley Stadium on June 22, with the rock band frontwoman’s signature vocals commanding the entire stadium.
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The Travis Kelce Cameo
Image Credit: Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Date: June 23, 2024
Venue: Wembley Stadium in London
Fans couldn’t believe their eyes when a tall guest in a suit on stage during the “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” sequence turned out to be Kelce, who joined Swift’s backup dancers in “forcing” her to get back to performing even after she’s collapsed following the emotional turmoil of “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” another Tortured Poets track. At one point, the New Heights podcaster picked Swift up from the floor and effortlessly carried her over to a couch upstage, after which the Grammy winner wrote on Instagram, “I’m still cracking up/swooning over @killatrav’s Eras Tour debut 🥰.”
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The Hilltop Crowd
Date: July 27-28, 2024
Venue: Olympiastadion in Munich
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“Everything Has Changed / End Game” With Ed Sheeran
Date: Aug. 15, 2024
Venue: Wembley Stadium in London
One of the biggest surprise-song moments came when Ed Sheeran joined his longtime friend and duet partner on stage at Wembley Aug. 15, performing a mashup of two of their collaborations — “Everything Has Changed” and “End Game” — and “Thinking Out Loud,” Sheeran’s 2014 smash.
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“Florida!!!” With Florence + The Machine
Date: Oct. 18-20, 2024
Venue: Hard Rock Stadium in Miami
They had to do it. Florence + the Machine was on hand for all three of Swift’s shows in the Sunshine State to perform their aptly named Tortured Poets duet, “Florida!!!” — a uniquely personal touch for the many Florida natives in the audience.
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The Final Bow
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Date: Dec. 8, 2024
Venue: BC Place in Vancouver
For one last time, Swift took the stage and closed out the biggest undertaking of her entire career, soaking in the glory as tens of thousands of fans thundered with applause. When the show was finally over — complete with a tear-jerking surprise-song mashup of “Long Live” and “New Year’s Day” — she and her dancers went in for an emotional group hug while Swift took one last bow. It was the end of an era … but the start of an age.