The Eras Tour
Before embarking on her arena tour in support of Short n’ Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter got to learn firsthand from the mastermind herself: Taylor Swift.
And in a new Vogue cover story published Tuesday (Feb. 11), the “Espresso” singer revealed exactly how the 14-time Grammy winner’s billion-dollar Eras Tour — on which Carpenter served as opener for 25 shows — inspired her own trek. “Her stadiums make my shows look like clubs,” the Girl Meets World alum added.
“Watching her keep their attention as if she’s playing in their living room, it was like — and I told her this — ‘Your tour enabled me to do mine,’” she added.
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Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Tour kicked off in September, with its North American leg ending in November. The vocalist will resume the trek in March with a monthlong run of European dates.
Her stint on the global Eras trek came to an end just about a month before she released breakout single “Espresso” ahead of Coachella 2024. The track would propel her into superstar status and lay the groundwork for August’s Short n’ Sweet to become her first ever Billboard 200-topping album — but according to Carpenter, she originally wasn’t supposed to release the tune when she did.
In fact, she says her label, Island Records, had wanted future Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Please Please Please” to be the first song she dropped from Short n’ Sweet — but Carpenter felt strongly that “Espresso” should go first, and that she should debut it live during her now viral Coachella set. “There’s something about this song that, if I’d never heard it before, and I heard it live for the first time, I would understand it,” she told Vogue.
“I was definitely being swayed in another direction, but I knew deep down that it was this song,” she added. “I was afraid of disappointing people for, like, five minutes. And then I was like: ‘No.’”
Things eventually came full circle in October, when Carpenter returned to the Eras Tour for a surprise performance of “Espresso” alongside Swift. About three months later, the track won the singer-actress her first Grammy, taking home best pop solo performance moments before Carpenter won best pop vocal album for Short n’ Sweet.
See Carpenter on the cover of Vogue below.
Travis Kelce might be an NFL superstar, but he’d probably argue he isn’t the only pro athlete in his relationship with Taylor Swift.
At a pre-Super Bowl press conference Thursday (Feb. 6), the Kansas City Chiefs tight end praised the “remarkable” physical and mental stamina his superstar girlfriend demonstrated for nearly two years straight on her global Eras Tour, which kicked off in March 2023 and ended in December. “To see that week in, week out, traveling from one country to the next, how excruciating it is on her body and her mind … ” Kelce said at the New Orleans junket.
“Her work ethic, what I saw on that tour last year, was pretty remarkable,” he marveled. “It was the dancers, the band, the singers, it was everybody involved, and it was an absolute machine. It was something I could admire watching and take a lot of notes from.”
The Ohio native’s comments come just three days ahead of the Chiefs’ ultimate game against the Philadelphia Eagles, which will find Kansas City attempting to make history as the first team to ever win three consecutive Super Bowls. The “Fortnight” singer is expected to attend the showdown at Caesars Superdome in NOLA.
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The venue also happens to be one where Swift stopped last year on her Eras trek — and during one of her Louisiana shows, she appeared to “bless” the stadium by doing one of Kelce’s signature dance moves and holding up three fingers to welcome a “three-peat” for her boyfriend’s team.
The New Heights podcaster was asked about the gesture in another press conference this week. “We both, we love to manifest things,” he said, smiling. “Whatever she was doing, I’m sure it helped.”
The 14-time Grammy winner has also been open in the past about the amount of training she had to do to get in shape for such a demanding tour, for which she spent more than three hours onstage each night for a total of 149 shows. “Every day I would run on the treadmill, singing the entire set list out loud,” she told Time in December 2023. “Fast for fast songs, and a jog or a fast walk for slow songs.”
She also revealed at the time that she followed a program specially designed for her by her gym focusing on strength, conditioning and weights. “Then I had three months of dance training, because I wanted to get it in my bones.”
See Kelce talk about Swift’s athleticism below.
Katy Perry couldn’t be more thrilled about her experience attending Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which she caught during a brief trip to Sydney in February 2024.
In a new interview, the 40-year-old pop star shared her excitement about being part of the historic stadium tour and her emotional reunion with Swift.
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“I actually went and did a show in Australia very quickly and I had one day off before the show and I was like, ‘Hey girl, I’m gonna come to the show,’” Perry revealed in a TikTok video shared by U.K. radio station Capital on Friday (Jan. 17).
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“And [Swift] was so excited and I was so excited,” the “Dark Horse” singer added, showing a photo of the two stars embracing at the show.
Perry also took a moment to praise the fans at Sydney’s Accor Stadium, describing them as “an adorable, sweet community.” She fondly remembered exchanging friendship bracelets with some of the Swifties in attendance, with some even gifting her their handmade creations.
“I was so excited. People gave me bracelets, and I think Rita Ora gave me a bracelet. I loved it. It’s just like a big community,” she told Capital.
Beyond the concert, Perry and Swift had a chance to catch up, with Perry expressing her deep affection for the singer. “I love her so much,” Perry said.
After attending Swift’s Eras show in 2024, Perry also shared several photos and videos from the concert on Instagram, including a joyful backstage selfie with Swift.
Swift’s Eras Tour, which grossed $2 billion, concluded in December 2024 after an extensive run across the globe. The tour marked an incredible year for Swift, which also saw her win 10 Billboard Music Awards in December, including the coveted Top Artist honor.
Perry’s comments come after the two pop stars mended their relationship following a highly publicized feud. The pair reconciled in 2018, and a year later, Perry made a memorable cameo in Swift’s music video for “You Need to Calm Down,” where they appeared together in matching hamburger and French fry costumes.
Perry has also expressed gratitude for how their friendship evolved. In a 2020 interview with Howard Stern, the singer said, “What I’m so grateful for is we did get to make up publicly and got to be an example of redemption for young girls.” Perry added, “I always wanted the best for her and now we can talk about the best we want for each other.”
Travis Kelce and Caitlin Clark relived some of the magic of Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour on the latest episode of New Heights Thursday (Jan. 2), nearly a month after the global trek ended Dec. 8 in Vancouver, B.C.
While serving as a special guest on the podcast hosted by the Kansas City Chiefs tight end and his brother, former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, the women’s basketball superstar gushed about the “electric” experience of watching one of Swift’s performances at Lucas Oil Stadium in November, which Travis also attended.
“It’s just a great show and a lot of fun,” Clark said of the pop star’s three-hour-plus show as the Grotesquerie star affirmed, “Ugh, that was so much fun.”
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“My mom was begging me to take her,” the Indiana Fever guard continued. “She’s like, ‘I gotta go, like, everybody’s talking about it.’ I’m like, ‘OK, OK’ … Full Swiftie, turned my mom into a full Swiftie now. Good time, good time.”
Clark added that the show she saw with Travis had been her third Eras Tour concert total, having attended another Indy show the night prior as well as a June 2023 stop in Minneapolis. The Chiefs player previously opened up about hanging with the WNBA star during his famous girlfriend’s Lucas Oil stint in a November episode of New Heights, revealing, “Saw Caitlin Clark there, got to meet Caitlin, she’s awesome … she’s a Swiftie through and through.”
“I wanted to see Tay one more time before this thing got closed up,” Travis also said at the time. “I’ll tell you what, man. The American crowds, they did not disappoint. I heard that it was a lot more rowdy this time around, knowing she was coming back to stop through America one last time before the tour was over with, and I’ll tell you what, man, that thing was rocking. Absolutely rocking.”
Clark also previously shared details about her Indy Eras experience in her TIME athlete of the year cover story. According to the athlete, Swift gifted her with four bags of merch along with a note saying that she and Travis planned on catching a Fever game in the future.
Watch Clark and Travis gush about the Eras Tour on New Heights below.
Nikki Glaser paid a pretty penny to follow Taylor Swift on 22 Eras Tour shows these past two years — but she has no regrets.
In an interview with People published Thursday (Dec. 19), the comedian revealed that she spent “close to $100,000” on nearly two-dozen Eras concerts since the trek kicked off in March 2023, “including travel expenses, hotels, and me also flying and putting up everyone that I would invite to go with me, plus tickets, plus merch.”
“All well worth it,” Glaser continued. “I would’ve paid even more.”
Though the amount she spent might be eye-popping to a lot of people, the Trainwreck star has long been open about her diehard love for the “Anti-Hero” singer. By October 2023, she’d already spent $25,000 on Eras tickets, telling Kelly Clarkson at the time that she’d originally planned on using the money to freeze her eggs, but decided to use it on Swift’s trek instead.
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In July, Glaser’s show count had gone up to 17. “I know, I know! I’m addicted,” she said on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, revealing that she would consistently fly all over the world to catch various Eras stops while on breaks from her own Alive and Unwell comedy tour. In August, she was supposed to see Swift perform in Vienna, but the performances were canceled due to a terrorism plot.
It’s a so-called addiction that Glaser now has no choice but to kick, with Swift wrapping up her blockbuster run after two years and 149 shows with a final performance in Vancouver, B.C., Dec. 8. The 14-time Grammy winner finished with a historic $2 billion+ in grosses.
While speaking to People, Glaser said that she can justify the fraction she contributed to Swift’s haul because she doesn’t have kids on whom to spend the $100,000. “It’s something that I consciously decided not to do, and it was something that I struggled with,” the stand-up said of becoming a mom. “It wasn’t the easiest decision.”
“There was a part of me that was like, ‘I would like kids,’ but it just doesn’t fit in my life,” she continued. “In order for me to make myself feel better about the decision, I did look up how much it cost to raise a kid. And so once I saw that number, I thought, ‘It’s no problem for me to spend this on Taylor Swift.’”
12/13/2024
In honor of the singer’s 35th birthday, Billboard is looking back on the tour that changed everything.
12/13/2024
Since Taylor Swift kicked off The Eras Tour on March 17, 2023, the global trek has dominated the touring industry and given fans endless moments of joy, from surprise guests (from openers like Gracie Abrams to a certain NFL star named Travis Kelce) to rerelease announcements — Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) — and so much more. As Swift said of the tour’s impending end during a June stop in Liverpool, England: “[It] feels so far away from now, but then again, it feels like we just played our first show on this tour because you have made this so much fun for us.”
And yet, on Dec. 8, 2024, the outing did indeed come to a close, after 149 shows that spanned five continents. While the night included no major surprises, she did, of course, sprinkle some special moments for fans throughout the set, especially during the acoustic surprise song “era” of the show.
For her final surprise song of the tour, Swift performed a mashup of “Long Live” and “New Year’s Day” with an added bit of “The Manuscript,” singing: “I re-read the manuscript, but the story isn’t mine anymore.”
And yet, it was a lyric from “Long Live” that mustered up the most emotion, as Swift sang: “It was the end of an era, but the start of an age,” cleverly changing the words from the recording, on which she says “end of a decade.”
And while there really was no way to sum up such an experience into words, Swift tried her best, saying earlier in the show while she introduced “All Too Well”: “The lasting legacy of this tour is that you’ve created such a space of joy and togetherness and love…. You’re why this is so special, and you supporting me for as long as you have is why I get to take these lovely walks down memory lane every single night — because you’ve cared about every era of my entire life that I’ve been making music.”
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/TAS23/Getty Images
Onstage with Ice Spice in East Rutherford, N.J., in May 2023.
Image Credit: Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images
A June 2024 concert at Wembley Stadium in London featured Gracie Abrams.
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/TAS24/Getty Images
In May 2024, while in Paris, Swift debuted the Tortured Poets Department section of the show.
Image Credit: John Shearer/TAS23/Getty Images
In May 2023, she announced the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) in Nashville.
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/TAS24/Getty Images
While performing in Inglewood, Calif., in August 2023, she announced 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
Image Credit: Gareth Cattermole/TAS24/Getty Images
With Travis Kelce at Wembley Stadium in June 2024.
Image Credit: John Shearer/TAS23/Getty Images
Phoebe Bridgers joined her onstage in Nashville in May 2023.
Image Credit: Mat Hayward/TAS23/Getty Images
Swift rocked out with HAIM during a July 2023 Seattle date.
Image Credit: TAS24/Getty Images
In October 2024, Florence Welch guested during a show in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/TAS23/Getty Images
Jack Antonoff also shared the stage with Swift in East Rutherford in May 2023.
Image Credit: TAS Rights Management/Getty Images
In April 2023, Aaron Dessner handled the keys in Tampa, Fla.
Image Credit: Kevin Winter/TAS23/Getty Images
Swift contemplated “Champagne Problems” during an August 2023 Inglewood show.
With Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour finally coming to a close over the weekend, Travis Kelce is one of countless people celebrating his girlfriend’s massive feat — but there’s one place he says he definitely won’t take her for a date night now that they have more free time.
On the latest episode of New Heights posted Wednesday (Dec. 11), the 35-year-old Kansas City Chiefs tight end commemorated the Dec. 8 finale of the 34-year-old pop star’s two-year global trek in Vancouver, B.C., by saying, “Shout out to Tay.”
“The unbelievable Eras Tour has come to an end,” he continued as his brother, retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, nodded. “Shout out to everybody that was a part of that show. Obviously, it’s her music, her tour and everything, but that was a full production, man. That thing was the best tour in the world because of a lot of people, but mostly because of Taylor.”
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When Jason asked how many shows Swift had in the books following the summation of her $2 billion tour — which kicked off in March 2023 — Travis replied, “149 or 152. I forget which one it was. Somewhere in there. A f–k ton is how I sum it up.”
The athlete’s first instinct was correct — Swift performed a total of 149 shows over the course of the Eras Tour‘s run. Throughout the multi-continent stretch, the “Anti-Hero” singer released two new “Taylor’s Version” re-records — Speak Now and 1989 — and dropped her 15-week Billboard 200-topper The Tortured Poets Department. At one point on the trek, Travis joined the superstar on stage for a surprise cameo, playing a small part in the “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” sequence.
The tour also brought the pop star closer to millions of fans, who came out in droves with friendship bracelets and homemade costumes — two of which the Kelce brothers reacted to on New Heights. While watching a video of two Vancouver concertgoers dressed up as them — complete with football jerseys and faux facial hair — Jason and Travis couldn’t help but crack up.
“I wonder if Tay saw them in the stands,” the latter said, laughing. “You can’t keep it together if you see that. There’s no way you’re in the middle of a song and you see them walking around …”
Elsewhere in the episode, the co-hosts answered questions from callers, one of whom asked them to name a first-date spot that would guarantee there’s “no way in hell you’re getting a second date.”
“Maybe don’t take her to the strip club,” the Grotesquerie actor replied. “Although some strip clubs do have really good wings I have heard. Don’t know anything about it.”
Watch New Heights below.
On Sunday night (Dec. 8), Taylor Swift played the last of 149 shows on The Eras Tour. As reported earlier Monday, the record-setting trek grossed more than $2 billion and sold over 10 million tickets: $2,077,618,725 and 10,168,008, respectively, to be exact.
The news was first reported by The New York Times.
Without qualification, The Eras Tour is the highest-grossing tour of all time, by artists of any genre, and from any era in music history. If compared to data officially reported to Billboard Boxscore, it is the biggest tour ever by an unthinkable distance of more than $900 million, blasting past Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour (2022-ongoing) – the only other tour to gross more than $1 billion – by a margin of almost two-to-one.
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Even before The Eras Tour was announced, Swift was one of the most successful touring acts of her generation. Dating back to her first reported solo headline show at Sovereign Performing Arts Center in Reading, Pa. (April 6, 2007), she has grossed $3 billion across her career, when adding The Eras Tour’s sum to officially reported data for her prior tours to Billboard Boxscore.
Previously, her biggest tour – according to Billboard Boxscore – came when Swift brought in $345.7 million and sold 2.9 million tickets on 2018’s Reputation Stadium Tour, marking a 38% leap from the earnings on 2015’s The 1989 World Tour. The Eras Tour multiplies her prior best more than six times over.
The Eras Tour kicked off in Glendale, Ariz. on March 17, 2023. If the tour hadn’t already made a seismic impact just via its announcement, the actual performances sent Swift from superstardom to the stratosphere. The friendship bracelets, the surprise songs and all of Swift’s eras took over, sparking major economic booms in every city she visited and hysteria among Swifties around the world.
By August 9, 2023, Swift had released her re-recording of Speak Now (July 7), announced the re-recording for 1989 and wrapped the tour’s first U.S. leg. Quickly after, she played her first shows ever in Mexico with four nights at the capital’s Estadio GNP Seguros (then known as Foro Sol), followed by nine shows in South America.
In February 2024, Swift took her talents to Asia and Australia, but not before she won her record-setting fourth Grammy for album of the year for Midnights and announced her next new studio album during an acceptance speech. That one – The Tortured Poets Department, released April 19 – arrived while on break from tour, and once again, set a new career-peak with a debut week of 2.61 million equivalent album units earned in the U.S., according to Luminate, and the entire top 14 on the Hot 100. On the current, Dec. 14-dated edition of the Billboard 200, the set returns for a 16th week at No. 1 on the back of a physical release of the album’s deluxe Anthology version, sold exclusively at Target.
In May, Swift took on Europe, with 48 shows across the continent. While Tortured Poets spent most of the summer atop the Billboard 200, The Eras Tour continued its blistering pace, including eight nights at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Finally, Swift returned to North America for three shows each in Miami, New Orleans, and Indianapolis, plus six in Toronto and one last weekend in Vancouver.
“Long live all the magic we made.” This line, from Taylor Swift’s fan-favorite Speak Now track “Long Live,” is plastered on a giant mural outside of Vancouver’s BC Place this weekend (Dec. 6-8). It’s one of the first things fans see before scanning their tickets and stepping foot inside the stadium, and there is no […]