And in the end, the love Taylor Swift took from Swifties at the last-ever U.S. Eras Tour show on Sunday night (Nov. 3) in Indianapolis was more than equal to the love she gave. There were tears of joy and glitter galore, elation and wonder at being the last ones in the room as Swift brought a close to 141 shows on the tour that spanned the globe, and her career over the last 20 months.
And while Sunday’s was, by most accounts, a standard Eras show — none of the surprise guests or big announcements fans buzzed about before the gig — the 69,000-plus attendees at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on night three went home secure that they saw the same type of over-the-top musical masterpiece as the Swifties who attended the tour kick-off in March 2023.
But, also, the last Eras gig ever in the U.S.
Swift, of course, treated them to one more magical mash-up of favorites during the surprise song segment near the end of the show in the city that, like all the others, gratefully gave itself over to the sparkling, happy-to-spend Swiftie mobs. The singer, literally, strode like a Colossus over the Midwestern town better known for its thirst for professional and college sports, via a 330-foot mural of the pop icon plastered on the facade of a downtown hotel just blocks from Lucas Oil Stadium.
It was a fittingly way-larger-than-life image for a spectacle that was all-encompassing, touching everything from the mundane — the check-in clerk with a flowing weird beard manning the desk at a hotel near the stadium who had Swift’s favorite number (13) drawn on the back of his hand above one of the tour’s ubiquitous friendship bracelets — to the sublime: a burly cop with an wrist-full of colorful bracelets signing a little girl’s white Tortured Poet’s Department dress as she skipped her way into the venue.
For the final curtain before the tour finishes up for real in Canada with eight more shows later this month, as in other cities on the Eras Tour, Indianapolis rolled out the red carpet for the singer. The state capital was transformed into TaylorTown for the weekend. Everywhere Swifties went, there Taylor was.
More than 30 streets around downtown were temporarily transformed into Eras avenues, including The Man Dr., London Boy Ln., So High School St., … Ready For It? Rd., Bad Blood Blvd, and, of course, Cornelia St., which also happened to be one of Sunday night’s surprise songs.
The Indianapolis Zoo declared itself “In Our Wildest Era,” local vendors threw “Taylor” terrarium building parties and there were Tay-themed drink at bars all over town (Sun King Brewery’s ‘1,2,3 Let’s Go B*tch” Cherry Limeade Ale and an Eras Cider Box from Ash & Elm Cider Co. As well as snacks in Lucas Oil (Back to Decemberger Basked, Fearless Fries), a “Sweat Stretch Simmer” Swift-themed hot yoga class and even an “Era Sparkle Party for Voter Registration” at the Easley Winery in the lead-up to Tuesday’s (Nov. 5) presidential election, in which Swift has endorsed Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
It was all in honor of the singer whose tour created its own ecosystem, with new traditions (trading themed friendship bracelets, dressing in different Eras costumes) and a radiant joy that kept event the youngest fans staving off yawns as they danced in their light-up shoes and sequined skirts well past their bedtimes.
“The fact that you would do that for us, for me, for my band, my crew, my fellow performers. You have just completely confirmed that we chose the right 69,000 people to spend our last night with,” Swift told the capacity crowd on the third night in a row that she set attendance records at the stadium.
Check out our eight best moments from the final Eras Tour U.S.l show below.
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The Shirts
So many beloved traditions were born on this tour, with one of the most entertaining and creative being the custom T-shirts Swifties wore night-after-night. A few became canon: “A Lot Going On at the Moment” and “Me, I’m the Dad, It’s Me,” among them. In Indy some fresh ones caught our eyes, including “The Tortured Wallets Department,” “Swiftie By Marriage,” “Spending a Lot of Money at the Moment,” “This Great Grandpa Loves Taylor Swift,” F**k It If I Can’t Have Him/Her” (couples shirts), “Dad Swiftie By Choice” and the grandpa proudly holding his wide-eyed granddaughter’s hand while wearing an “I Don’t Know About You But I’m Feeling 22+50” shirt.
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The Last Time
Even while adding new set pieces along the way, Swift’s tour created a handful of iconic moments that Swifties will likely never forget. And on Sunday they loudly, and lovingly, lost their minds at the final bow of some of the scenes that will live on in their feeds and memories forever. From the mesmerizing 10-minute solo acoustic run through “All Too Well” to the final, adorable “22” hat giveaway, the swan dive into the on-stage “pool” after the surprise set, the umbrella dance during “Midnight Rain,” the “Blank Space” neon bike ramble and the extended, heart-filling extended ovation after “Champagne Problems.”
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The Longest Champagne Toast
Speaking of “Champagne Problems,” one of the signature moments of the Eras Tour was the extended ovation Swifties give the singer after she performs this Evermore favorite on piano. As the tour went on, the nightly foot-stomping, chair-slapping, full stadium freak-out kept getting longer and longer. On Sunday night it appeared to reach its apex, clocking in at just over four minutes, as Swift bathed in the adoration one last time in the Lower 48. As it pushed past the two minute mark, Swift put her hands on her cheeks while mouthing “Oh My God!,” then bugged her eyes out when the stomping escalated and she laughed, mouthing, “so loud it’s crazy” before things finally quieted down.
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The Kam Scram
One of the fan-favorite performers on the tour was dancer Kam Saunders. The beaming back-up hit the trifecta of ad libs on Sunday when he barked “Scram!” into Swift’s mic during “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” to the elation of the crowd. On the previous two nights in Indy, Saunders had spotlighted a couple quintessentially Midwestern ways to say “no,” during his brief trip to the mic, including “No, yeah, no” on night one and “Ope, no” on night two.
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The Evermore Glow
As we noted, Swifties found so many ways to make the Eras shows unique. On Sunday night they busted out yet another fan jam when dozens of crafty die-hards brought their own props for the witchy Evermore ballad “Willow.” As Swift’s dancers twirled around the stage holding glowing orbs, fans in the stands blew up orange balloons and illuminated them with their camera lights to create eerie pockets of dancing globes eerily bobbing in bunches around the stadium.
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The Surprise Songs Pt. 1
The first mash-up on the final night kicked off with the Lover favorite “Cornelia Street” — in the third appearance on the Eras tour, mixed with “The Bolter” from her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department,” for just the second time ever, both on guitar.
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The Surprise Songs Pt. 2
Moving over to her flower-covered piano, Swift busted out another Lover song, “Death by a Thousand Cuts,” which she weaved in and out of the Midnights track “The Great War,” both of which had been played before on the tour, but never together.
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The Final Bow
After more than 140 shows on five continents, an endless amount of glitter on the ground and more than 450 hours on stage, Swift bid adieu a little before 11:30 p.m. on Sunday not with tears, but with the same joy she began her Eras journey with last year. “Indy, I love you so much. That was the perfect last American show of the Eras tour,” she said as confetti rained down all over Lucas Oil stadium. Dressed in a rainbow fringe jacket, Swift introduced her dancers and band and asked Swifties to give them a hand during the final notes of show-ender “Karma.” There were no major set switch-ups, no special speeches or reminders to vote on Tuesdsay and no grand gesture to close thing out .So with that, a final bow, a wave, a last look over the shoulder and the end of a truly remarkable era.
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Indianapolis Night 3 Setlist
“Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince”
“Cruel Summer”
“The Man”
“You Need to Calm Down”
“Lover”
“Fearless”
“You Belong With Me”‘
“Love Story”
“22”
“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
“I Knew You Were Trouble”
“All Too Well”
“Enchanted”
“… Ready For It?”
“Delicate”
“Don’t Blame Me”
“Look What Yo Made Me Do”
“Cardigan”
“Betty”
“Champagne Problems”
“August”
“Illicit Affairs”
“My Tears Ricochet”
“Marjorie”
“Willow”
“Style”
“Blank Space”
“Shake It Off”
“Wildest Dreams”
“Bad Blood”
“But Daddy I Love Him/So High School”
“Who’s Afraid of Litttle Old Me?”
“Down Bad”
“Forthnight”
“The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived”
“I Can Do It With a Broken Heart”
“Cornelia Street/The Bolter”
“Death By a Thousand Cuts/The Great War”
“Lavendar Haze”
“Anti-Hero”
“Midnight Rain”
“Vigilante Sh*t”
“Bejeweled”
“Mastermind”
“Karma”
