“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version)” is finally on Disney Plus and fans have been "Ready For It" for ages. While the movie is fun for hardcore Swifties and Taylor Swift tourists alike, the show is filled to the brim with Easter eggs from past tours, music videos, songs, fandom moments and traditions from the past 15 years.
"Taylor Swift Eras Tour (Taylor's Version)" is streaming on Disney Plus
You can certainly enjoy the movie without knowing all of the intricacies of the costumes and sets, the significance of friendship bracelets, the ever-evolving surprise songs, and the “Long Live” tea, but the concert takes on a whole new meaning when you dive deep into the lore — but there’s a lot of it. Rather than taking a self-guided tour through the waters of Swift’s expansive career, we’re here to fill in the Blank Spaces you may have after watching the movie — or clue you in on things to look out for when you watch (or rewatch).
She wears short skirts, Swift wears T-shirts
The Eras Tour spans 10 albums and a career of 15 years comprising dozens of costumes, tours, music videos, fan traditions, sets and songs. That’s a lot to cover. And as most people know, Swift is the Easter egg queen. She just loves hiding little details and callbacks for fans to find. Tours are no different. Though it would take eons to work through every relevant set and outfit, there are quite a few standout references that non-Swifties may not get.
First, let’s talk about the massive stage, which shifts between the Eras house from the “Lover” music video and the “Folklore” cabin from “Cardigan.” Anyone who was around for the “Fearless” days will probably recognize Swift’s bedazzled guitar when she performs the title song during the Eras movie. That guitar is actually a recreation of Swift’s original “Fearless” guitar superglued by her parents the day before the Eras Tour kicked off. Celebrities are just like us. They also have their parents do their science projects the night before the fair even though they could easily outsource that activity. You’ll also notice her patented heart-shaped hand gesture that’s become another tour tradition.
Taylor Swift has earned her Big Reputation and she wants fans to know it. If you recognize her snake body suit in the “Reputation” portion of the film, that’s because it’s a recreation of the exact outfit she wore during the “Rep” tour. The massive special effects snake also pays homage to the iconic stage design of that larger-than-life tour. Also, make sure to pay attention to the glass boxes in “Look What You Made Me Do.” The dancers wear a bunch of Taylor outfit dupes throughout the Eras — between her “Red” ringmaster look and her alter-ego’s cheerleading uniform from “You Belong With Me.”
Swift did a bunch of photoshoots when “Red” was released. One of the most popular (and easily recreated) looks was a white T-shirt with the phrase, “Not a lot going on at the moment.” Swift puts a spin on that look during her “Red” section of the tour with her opening song, “22.” The revamped shirt pokes fun at how busy the singer is these days with the sentiment, “A lot going on at the moment.”
If you’ve ever wanted to see Swift swing fluorescent golf clubs while she beats the crap out of a fake car, pay attention to “Blank Space.” She and her dancers recreate the iconic scene from the OG music video in the self-parody song that mocks how people view her dating history.
Moving onto “Midnights,” the entire floor graphics are reminiscent of Swift’s “Lavender Haze” music video topped off with a similar fuzzy purple coat. When it comes to “Karma,” you might catch that all of the dancers’ fringe jackets are Eras colors.
Long live 'Long Live'
Don’t bring up the song “Long Live” to any Swifties who went to the Eras Tour prior to the release of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).” We will genuinely cry. “Long Live” is the quintessential Swiftie song because Swift wrote it for fans to illustrate how Swifties are just as integral to tours as the singer. It’s basically a love letter to the fan base, so we all feel like everyone else got a Valentine’s Day card from Swift while we got shafted.
There are a whole lot of logistics around Swift rerecording her albums and owning her own music, but both “1989” and “Reputation” are heavily represented in the tour and neither of them were rerecorded by the time of the first show. In fact, she announced the re-records of “Speak Now” and “1989” during tour. So it’s hard for the bulk of Swifties who survived the original Great Ticketmaster War to watch everyone else get the tour song we were all desperate to hear. We did not have the time of our lives fighting dragons with you, Ticketmaster.
Moping aside, everyone watching on Disney Plus gets to see this joyous masterpiece. Though the bulk of the surprise songs play after the credits, “Long Live” was added in after “Enchanted” — where it would have been during the concert. Spurned Swifties from the tour were pretty salty when the live version of the song didn’t play in theaters, either, but at least we have it for streaming. Also, make sure to take a look at the guitar Swift uses for the number. The blue koi fish guitar is the very same one she used during the “Speak Now” World Tour when she performed the song “Last Kiss.”
“Our Song” makes it an actual Eras Tour
Swifties collectively have one major gripe about the Eras Tour: It’s not actually an Eras Tour because it doesn’t feature every era unless you’re lucky with the secret songs. While “Speak Now” got pretty shafted in the original lineup with just “Enchanted,” Swift’s first self-titled album (known in the fandom as “Debut”) is nowhere to be found.
Luckily for us watching at home and anyone in the crowd during night two of the LA show, the song “Our Song” makes it a full Eras experience. It’s one of the most beloved jams from Swift’s debut album, and it would have been a perfect song to have on the regular set list to honor every era. But at least we have it in streaming form (like the rest of the surprise songs, it wasn’t featured in the theatrical release).
1, 2, 3 ... Let’s go b****!
Taylor Swift and Swifties have an array of long-standing traditions together — between drawing 13s on their wrists and lyrics on their arms — concerts are a collaborative experience. Sometimes, tour traditions come from a single person in one brief moment of time that‘s captured forever. Fans will pretty much do anything to get noticed during shows, which is why a Swiftied named Emily Valencia yelled, “1, 2, 3 ... Let’s go b****!” at the “Reputation” tour during the slow ballad “Delicate” (which is kind of a weird choice for that hype sentiment). But back in those days, Swift and her team would pick out fans from the crowd to meet her after the show.
After posting her unnoticed chant on TikTok, the video went viral and it’s since become a tour tradition any time Swift performs “Delicate.” You’ll even notice Swift counting down to the crowd after the lyric “But you can make me a drink” to kickstart the chant. And don’t worry, Valencia got her IRL moment with Swift when the singer invited her to the “Lover” secret session (which were pre-release listening parties Swift hosted for fans pre-”Folklore”). Swift even parroted the chant to Valencia when she met her. So, mission more than accomplished.
You’re not on your own, kid
At this point, the Taylor Swift friendship bracelet phenomenon is pretty well-known, but not everyone is hip to its origin. Bracelet swapping at Swift concerts and events is a new post-”Midnights” tradition that started as somewhat of an internet joke and became something of a do-or-die sensation (as is the case with most Swiftie traditions).
Swift’s song “You’re On Your Own, Kid” inspired the crafty bracelet swapping with the line, “So make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it, you’ve got no reason to be afraid, you’re on your own, kid.” Swifties took the tradition and ran with it.
Among those bracelet-loving Swifties is Travis Kelce, Swift’s NFL boyfriend. He tried shooting his shot with Swift by putting his number on a friendship bracelet, but never got a chance to give it to her. Yet his “call me” plea went viral, and Swift finally got her “Fearless” football moment with her now-boyfriend. Kelce isn’t the only celeb to play into the ritual. *NSYNC presented a rather pretty set of friendship bracelets to Swift at the VMAs.
So, when you’re watching the Eras Tour movie and you notice a ton of people wearing friendship bracelets, just know that there’s some pretty deep (folk)lore that goes along with it. Just don’t try deciphering some of the long acronym bracelets if you want to keep your sanity. Pay attention to the credit sequence, too, as names are written on friendship bracelet beads while “Long Live (Taylor’s Version)” plays in the background.
Hats off to Gianna Bryant
Swift picks someone to give her classic hat to at every tour stop during her opening “Red” number “22.”. Gianna Bryant gets that honor during the Los Angeles concert shown in the movie. L.A. was the perfect place to honor Kobe Bryant’s daughter, as the acclaimed basketball player once presented a banner to Swift for the “Most sold out shows” at Staples Center in 2015. While Swift has since graduated from basketball and hockey arenas to massive stadiums, it was still a special moment between the two.
Just don’t ask L.A. Kings fans how they feel about the banner. Los Angeles hockey fans were convinced that the banner was bringing bad luck to the team during a rough rebuild period, demanding that it get covered up during Kings games. The organization acquiesced, but shockingly enough, the team didn’t magically start winning. The bizarre one-way feud (some) Kings fans had against Swift (who’s been to games before!) was so widespread that the Arizona Coyotes trolled the Kings with a replica banner over the Kings’ tunnel. Of course, the Kings then congratulated them on winning their first banner.
Sufficed to say, there’s a lot of lore attached to the infamous banner, and Swift and the Bryants have a long LA-based history of supporting each other. It’s only fitting that Swift would return the banner gesture with a sweet gesture of her own. There’s a whole lotta love between Swift and Gianna in that moment, which goes well with Gianna’s sequined “Lover” vibes.
Half-moon eyes, no bad surprises
When it comes to the theatrical release of the Eras Tour movie, quite a few songs didn’t make the final cut: “The Archer” from “Lover,” “Wildest Dreams” from “1989,” “Long Live” from “Speak Now,” and “Cardigan” from “Folklore.” While the former three made it into the digital rented version of the show, “Cardigan” was absent — until now. Unfortunately for “Evermore” fans, “No Body, No Crime” is missing from all three iterations of the movie. Fans have often teased Swift about “Evermore” being her forgotten child. She may deny it but the evidence is pretty sus. However, if “Evermore” is forgotten, then “Debut” is marooned at sea.
Of course, the regularly scheduled tour songs aren’t the only bonuses in the Disney Plus iteration. Swift performs two surprise songs at every show before the “Midnights” set — one on piano and one on acoustic guitar. She tries to play each song only once before recycling them unless she messes one up. In that case, she throws the song back in the pile. Disney+ viewers aren’t just being treated to songs from one night. Nope, we’ve got all six from the first three stops on the LA tour.
“Our Song” (aucoustic guitar) from LA night two and “You’re on Your Own, Kid” (piano) from night three play after the “1989” set like the surprise songs do in the actual tour. Yet we get six of them after the movie’s credits in a section labeled “The Acoustic Collection.”
First, Swift performs the “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” vault track, “I Can See You” on guitar. Fun fact: She teamed up with ex-boyfriend (and current friend) Taylor Lautner and “Speak Now” music video alums Joey King and Presley Cash to carry out the heist sequence for the music video.
The Acoustic Collection is separated into guitar and piano sections rather than the order she performed them in during the shows. So she continues with “Death by a Thousand Cuts” from “Lover” followed by “Our Song” from “Debut.” For the piano portion of the Acoustic Collection, Swift plays “You Are in Love” from “1989 along with “Maroon” and “You’re on Your Own Kid” from “Midnights” to honor one of the tours most iconic new traditions. The line “You’re on your own kid, you always have been” may be a little bit of a bummer lyric to end the movie on. But then we get a cute little bow, so it’s perfectly fine.
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