Taylor Swift's world domination has now made its way to the movie theater. After she embarked on The Eras Tour, fans have been eagerly awaiting the chance to watch a professionally recorded version rather than seeing it through grainy live streams. What people did not anticipate, however, was that she would release the movie, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, in theaters rather than having it go straight to streaming. This has two key benefits: getting to see it on the big screen, and having it be a communal experience. The tour has stunning visuals, costumes, and choreography, so being able to see it all up close and personal makes for a very different experience to seeing it in person.
Of all her tour movies, the fact that The Eras Tour is the one that made it onto the big screen is perfect as it encompasses her entire career so far. It's broken up into sets dedicated to each of her albums — or "eras" — so, no matter what your favorite of her music is, there's a bit of everything. Clocking in at just under three hours, the experience flies by and has endless rewatchability, so it's no wonder that the movie has been topping the charts. Here's a definitive ranking of each of the concert's sets.
10 Red
In last place, with no competition, is the Red set. As one of her older albums that had its own tour, it only gets four songs here. Red is an album with some really incredible songs and some not-so-great ones, and unfortunately, Swift chose wrong. It's unlikely that there are that many people out there who would complain if "22" had been swapped out for a deeper cut like "State of Grace" or "Holy Ground." Additionally, the stage visuals for this portion of the show are nothing special, and the costumes aren't hugely exciting, so it doesn't even have that to lean back on.
With that being said, it does earn points for the performance of the 10-minute version of "All Too Well," which is a great centerpiece for the concert. The song stands as a representation of what makes her who she is as an artist, which is her ability to distill raw emotion into a story.
9 Midnights
Swift's most recent album, Midnights, is the tour's closer, and it fits well there. There are some really fun visual moments in this set, from the giant clouds in "Lavender Haze," to the dancers becoming human dominoes in "Mastermind." As her latest body of work, it makes sense to end with it, and "Karma" makes for a lot of fun as the very last song.
Similarly to Red, however, this section is let down by its songs. Out of Swift's pop music, her work on Midnights is on the more subdued end of the scale, which works well for late-night brooding, but not so much for filling a stadium. The aforementioned "Karma" and "Bejeweled" are the best moments of this section, but other than that, the other four songs are more plodding than prancing.
8 Surprise Songs
A sweet tradition that Swift has had for many years is choosing a new song, or songs, to sing at each show as a way of honoring her back catalog. While this section has landed relatively low in the ranking, it's important to note that, from here onward, everything is top-notch. Now, the surprise songs are at a slight disadvantage because of how short the set is, with only two songs. It also doesn't translate so well into the movie version because there's not much of a surprise going on.
However, where these songs shine is in being stripped back and intimate. It's astonishing to watch one person with a guitar and a piano dominate such an enormous stage. For the movie, we get the songs "Our Song" and "You're On Your Own, Kid," from Midnights. The former is a certified classic, and it's a great choice since her poor old first album isn't given its own set. The latter creates a full-circle moment as it's a retrospective look at Swift's journey through her career so far.
7 Speak Now
The Speak Now set is also hindered by its brevity. It's the only portion of the show that only has one song, which is "Enchanted." If she was only going to perform one song from the album, she chose well, but it's a huge shame that, for an album so theatrical, it only got one slot. However, if it's only got one problem, being too short is a good one to have.
Everything else about this section is perfectly done. Swift enters in a cloud of smoke, sporting one of her many giant ballgowns with a stage lit up with purple flowers. As she sings, she's joined by dancers in beautiful complementary gowns who twirl around her. This treatment is not even close to being over-the-top and is precisely what a song like "Enchanted" deserves.
6 Lover
Opening the show with Lover is an excellent choice; the songs are summery and high energy. Most importantly, this is where we get to hear the one and only "Cruel Summer," which (pretty much) kicks off the whole thing. Visually, this set is also stunning, with dancers sporting huge sunset colored Loie Fuller-esque wings out of which Swift bursts to begin the show.
Despite the great aspects of this portion of the show, it's also weighed down by some of Swift's lesser songs — see: "The Man." Also, she cut out her performance of "The Archer" from the movie, which was a moving moment that involved a wonderful transition from the Lover era into Fearless. So, there are a number of positives and negatives going on here, which lands this section right in the middle.
5 Fearless
Entering into the top five, we have Fearless. This is the earliest album that gets its own set during the show, and it's full of nostalgia. Before singing her hit "You Belong With Me," Swift asks the audience, "Are you ready to go back to high school with me?", which is a startling reminder of the passage of time. With Swift spinning around in a shimmery dress and the boots to match, it's a lot of fun to lean into her country roots, for both her and the fans.
The set is only made up of three songs, so it's over all too quickly. There is truly nothing to complain about other than the fact that there are so many other songs on Fearless that would have made great additions to the show.
4 Evermore
Arguably, the most emotional portion of the show is Evermore's set. It features the tearjerkers "Marjorie," "Tolerate It," and "Champagne Problems." A lot of attention is given to "Champagne Problems," but a moment of recognition must also be given to "Marjorie." It's difficult to not get misty-eyed as Swift sings about her grandmother's "backlogged dreams" and then hearing her vocals echo through a stadium of such huge proportions.
A special mention must also go to the witchy and almost sinister — in the best way — performance of "Willow." Swift leaning into the theatrical nature of her songs always has incredible results. Evermore is another section without much to complain about, but the fact that she didn't perform "'Tis the damn Season" for the recording is enough to knock it down a few pegs.
3 1989
In third place comes the 1989 set. With so many smash hits from this album, it was bound to be a fun performance. From "Style" to "Shake It Off," it's banger after banger, which is great for a set that comes toward the end of the show. There are really fun nods to the era itself with things like the golf club prop during "Blank Space," and her costumes being so similar to those of the 1989 tour.
1989 also suffers from some unjust cutting of songs, with "Wildest Dreams" being removed from the movie. But at least this one has been immortalized in the 1989 tour. The choices of what to cut really force you to wonder what's going on in her mind, but that's for her to know and us to find out.
2 Folklore
Distinguishing between the top two is incredibly difficult, but, here, we have Folklore at number two. Everything about this section of the show is just breathtaking. Swift's floaty dress gives her wings as she frolics around on the stage, and the stage design and dancers' costumes both feed into the Victorian woodland fantasy she wants to project.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the set once again suffers from having one of its best songs removed. In this case, it's "Cardigan" — why she would leave out the album's lead single is baffling, especially since the album never got its own tour. All we can do is hope it gets put back in when the movie finds its streaming home.
1 Reputation
Saving the best for last, we have Reputation in the top position. Having spoken of Swift's theatrical albums, this one takes the cake. It's just perfect for performance, with Swift really embodying the vengeful version of herself that she is portraying, and having a blast doing it. For once, every song choice is perfect: beginning with "Ready For It" is a no-brainer, and the transition from "Don't Blame Me" to "Look What You Made Me Do" is delicious.
There's no other set in the show that will get your blood pumping like this one, it's electric, energetic, and ecstatic. This is Swiftie church, and if that's not what The Eras Tour is all about, then what is?
Taylor Swift: The Eras Touris currently playing in theaters.
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