13 of the Best Eras Tour Moments

After 149 concerts around the world, Taylor Swift concluded the Eras Tour on Sunday, December 8th in Vancouver.

From friendship bracelets to themed outfits, the tour has been a global phenomenon and a place for Swifties to make memories of a lifetime. To celebrate this milestone in Swift’s career, and in honour of her birthday, here are 13 of the best moments from the nearly two-year tour, in chronological order.

Speak Now TV Announcement

The first surprise announcement on the Eras Tour was in Nashville on May 5th, 2023. During the acoustic set, Swift announced the re-recording of Speak Now. She cheekily said, “rather than me speaking about it, I thought I would just show you,” before displaying the album cover on the screen. The Taylor Nation account even went live on Instagram for the big moment, so Swifties around the world tuned in for the long-anticipated announcement of a new Taylor’s Version album—it had been almost a year and a half since the re-release of Red.

Taylor x Jack

At the first show in East Rutherford, New Jersey on May 26th, 2023, Swift brought her friend and collaborator, Jack Antonoff, onstage to perform Getaway Car together during the acoustic set. Although they have written many songs together, one of their most infamous moments among fans is the clip from the Miss Americana documentary of them writing the song’s bridge. Swift and Antonoff later did a mashup of this song with Death By A Thousand Cuts at the final show in London this year, where they recreated that bridge moment for the whole stadium to see.

Speak Now Album Release Party

The only time that there was an Eras Tour show on the same day as one of Swift’s album releases was July 7th, 2023, when Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) came out. Naturally, something exciting happened to celebrate the “official Speak Now album release party,” as Swift called it. During the acoustic set, she premiered the music video for I Can See You, starring Joey King, Presley Cash and Taylor Lautner, who then joined Swift onstage to greet the audience. Lautner even did one of his signature backflips as he walked down the stage, before delivering a heartfelt speech to Swift. It was a wonderful throwback to 2010 and celebration of Speak Now in all its glory.

1989 TV Announcement

Fans had been hoping for the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) announcement for months when, on the last night of the original US leg of the Eras Tour in Los Angeles, Swift made the audience’s Wildest Dreams come true. Throughout the show on August 9th, 2023—”in the eighth month of the year on the ninth day”—she wore four new blue outfits to tease 1989. After appearing in a blue surprise song dress for the acoustic set, Swift announced the re-recording of her fifth album to a stadium full of screaming fans.

Surprise Song Mashups

The Eras Tour acoustic set was forever changed on November 11th, 2023 after the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Fans had been editing together Is It Over Now? and Out of the Woods on social media, and Swift brought that mashup to life that night in Buenos Aires. Little did the audience know that this first surprise song mashup would start a new tradition for the tour. After the Australian shows, almost every acoustic set featured mashups, which added a new element of excitement for fans keeping up with the tour.

The Tortured Poets Department

After Swift released her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, in April, fans eagerly awaited the return of the Eras Tour to see how she might incorporate these 31 new songs. At the show in Paris on May 9th, the audience was the first to witness the brand-new Tortured Poets Department set, as well as several never seen before outfits. With some cuts and changes to the original setlist, this day marked the biggest shift in the Eras Tour, reminding everyone that Swift is anything but predictable.

Crazier Live Debut

The acoustic set at the Eras Tour was an opportunity for Swift to perform songs from throughout her discography in new ways, and some even for the first time. One of the most surprising song choices was when she performed the live debut of Crazier in Edinburgh on June 8th. The song was featured in Hannah Montana: The Movie in 2009, and fifteen years later it was finally heard by a live audience. It was a real moment to remember for the longtime Swifties!

Castles Crumbling

The Eras Tour had a plethora of talented opening acts, quite a few being artists that Swift had collaborated with before. She took to the stage and performed with these artists on several occasions, but one was extra special in that it only happened once. Hayley Williams from Paramore, the opener on the European leg of the Eras Tour, sang Castles Crumbling with Swift during the acoustic set in London on June 22nd. The moment was made even more moving by Williams wearing a purple dress and having song lyrics written down her arm in a nod to the original Speak Now World Tour, where the two had performed together before.

Taylor x Ed

Another great surprise guest was Swift’s longtime collaborator and friend, Ed Sheeran. In London, on August 15th, they sang a mashup of Everything Has Changed, End Game and Thinking Out Loud. Sheeran opened for Swift on The Red Tour back in 2013, so it was a heartwarming moment for them to reunite at Wembley Stadium 11 years later.

Florida!!!

A shocking and impressive moment was when Swift performed Florida!!! with Florence Welch for the first time on August 20th in London this year. At the time, the song was one of the last remaining tracks from The Tortured Poets Department that had yet to be played on the Eras Tour since the album’s release in April. As Welch had already attended the tour in London, fans were hoping she might make a guest appearance during the acoustic set, but to everyone’s surprise, the two singers instead performed their duet with the full band and choreography. It appeared to be a teaser for the next shows in Miami, Florida where Swift and Welch fittingly reprised this number for the three shows, making the line “take me to Florida” very literal.

Reputation Bodysuit

Swift has been teasing the re-recording of reputation for what feels like forever, so every time something significant happened during a show related to that album, fans hoped for an announcement. The Eras Tour always had many variations in outfit colours and styles for each section of the show, with one exception: the reputation bodysuit. Swift had worn the same black bodysuit bejewelled with red snakes for every show until, after her final hiatus this year, she swapped it out for a new one with gold snakes. The change of this detail came on the first night in Miami, after 134 shows, in a potential reference to Daylight: “I once believed love would be burning red / But it’s golden.”

Taylor x Sabrina

Sabrina Carpenter opened for the Eras Tour in late 2023 and early 2024. Starting in September this year, she was on her own Short n’ Sweet Tour, so it was a big surprise for fans in New Orleans when she made an appearance at the Eras Tour on October 26th. They did a bit where Swift called Carpenter on speaker phone and then brought her out for a surprise song mashup of Espresso, Is It Over Now? and Please Please Please. Swift even got a chance to sing the iconic line, “I’m working late cause I’m a singer” and the stadium went wild.

Final Show

After almost two years of concerts, Swift performed her final Eras Tour show on December 8th. For the last acoustic set, she carefully chose songs from five different albums to sum up the experience: A Place in This World x New Romantics and Long Live x New Year’s Day x The Manuscript. In the first verse of the emotional piano rendition of Long Live, Swift changed the lyric from “it was the end of a decade” to “it was the end of an era”. Instead of descending into the stage at the end of the concert, she had a group hug with all the other performers, and they ran offstage together one last time. As for what eras the future might hold, Swifties will have to wait and see!