If I had to guess, my take would be that she didn't want to have to bring along a fiddle player just for one song. Two of my favorites from those albums! She didn't play my favorite from either (This Is Me Trying, Gold Rush), but what a selection of songs from each! Yes. I have a feeling the surprise song will always be something from Lover, Folklore, Evermore or Midnights, that way she finds a way to play a lot of the songs that aren't in the normal set that will get played each night. Cornelia Street, like it was played at the Lover Paris show, seems like a certainty at some point.
Debut - 1 song played - I, too, thought Our Song would get played, but I admittedly don't know the album well at all, but that felt like a natural. Fearless - 3 songs played - Love Story and You Belong to Me were obvious, but if you had told me three would get played, I would have figured Fifteen was the likely choice, with Change having a shot. The title track surprised me a little. Speak Now - 1 song play - Even though she did play my favorite from it (and a top 3 Taylor tune overall for me), I love this album too much to rationally discuss what songs I wish had gotten played, lol Red - 4 songs played - I know some fans will quibble about only the big hits being played, but those four songs are all pretty iconic. I thought I had read that Begin Again had been played in rehearsals, so I was a bit surprised to see that left off. 1989 - 5 songs played - the five top 10 hits were played, so no surprise at all. Out of the Woods is another that was rumored to be getting played in rehearsals, but it might have been another that had to get the axe. Reputation - 4 songs played - I was hopeful that Look What You Made Me Do would be left on the cutting floor in favor of Getaway Car or Call It What You Want, but it was not to be. Lover - 6 songs played - The omission of Death by a Thousand Cuts still shocks me a bit, given how much she loved that song, but it was never a single, so it wasn't like it was a must play. She was wise to leave off Me!, which I am sure she has read that many fans are pretty ambivalent about. I stand totally corrected about Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince. It got played AND was the opener. I did not see that coming. Folklore - 8 songs - it makes me a bit sad to see that Mirrorball got the "one show and done" treatment as the surprise song, but it is hard to argue with the seven songs that will seemingly get the every show treatment. I didn't expect to see Exile (impossible to do without Justin Vernon) or This Is Me Trying (my favorite). Evermore - 5 songs - Marjorie was a pleasant surprise. Love seeing both Tolerate It and Tis the Damn Season in there. I would have loved Gold Rush, Cowboy Like Me and/or Dorothea, but it is what it is. Midnights - 7 songs - I am not surprised that she picked mostly the stadium-friendly songs, but no You're On Your Own, Kid is a bummer, and none of the extras from the 3am is a bit disappointing, but, again, hard to argue with a 44-song set.
I took a poll of the house hold and the consensus is seven songs from Midnight is waayyy too many. One song from Speak Now is waayyy too few. I love that Evermore got five. No "Holy Ground" . The two mega-Taylor Swift fans in the house are divided. The youngest, seventeen now, point blank said "To me Eras is Speak Now to Red with a little bit of Reputation and the first album." The Red tour was my two kids' first concert and we saw the Reputation tour. So is this is really the Lover,Folklore,Evermore,Midnights tour dressed up as a retrospective?
Wow! That is very Cure-esque and is very fan friendly in breadth and duration. makes me feel a bit better about the Tivketmaster fiasco and prices paid for two seats. Well done Taylor!
Taylor has never played more than 20 songs prior to this tour (if everything online is correct), and she usually hits her newest album pretty hard, so getting 18 songs from the debut through Reputation is a ton when considering her history. In the past, those 18 songs could have been the entire show, but hey now there are 26 songs as well from the four albums she has released since her last tour. It's a great balance. Opinions will always be based on personal preferences of course, and I will reiterate that Speak Now only getting one song is a bummer, but a 44-song set is a monster show.
That’s a fantastic setlist. While I wish she did more non single hits, the size of the setlist more than made up for it. What a show. I feel like secondhand tickets are going to go through the roof.
I agree and I'm not surprised. I was just sharing the house poll results. The two girls in the house where expecting a nostalgia-fest based on the tour title. Speak Now is my oldest kid's favourite Taylor album so she is disappointed by that first setlist. Will we go should the opportunity arise? Heck yes! lol
If she really does have a standard 43-song set list, plus one rotating song that’s different for each of the 52 shows on her US tour, that’s 95 different songs for the tour. I know it won’t happen, but I’d love to see a live album release with a 3-CD 44-song version and a 7-CD 95-song version… She might well be one of the last artists who could actually sell that kind of physical box set in decent volume.
For those interested, I caught several people doing tiktok lives last night streaming the entire show.
As most artists she has probably been dying to play her new songs live (basically Lover up to Midnights) in a proper concert setting. And I think it was the right approach My personal top five is Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Folklore and Evermore. And I while I really can’t be disappointed with the selections from Evermore and Folklore even though she skipped many personal favourites, she really didn’t pay the three others much attention, despite the fact they contain some of her finest writing
She has played ME! solo, but it is a duet and without Brendon Urie it becomes totally pointless. As soon as as I noted that Paramore was given a quite generous slot it kind of made it clear that she won’t bring up her opening acts on the main stage during this tour, probably not even HAIM and Bridgers (but who knows, I might be wrong) You’re On Your Own, Kid is classic Taylor and superior to both Lavender Haze and Mastermind (I never gonna mention those songs again, but it really does irritate me that a few lyrical twists made them impossible to connect to, especially the latter which had such a huge potential but where the last chorus ruins it. Had she just repeated the previous chorus it would have improved the song) Anyway, the show impressive and all I wrote above is just nitpicking. 44 songs… Who could have thought
I could see the surprise song at one of the HAIM shows being No Body, No Crime, with them coming out to do the harmonies, and Bridgers could easily come out and do Nothing New with her as the surprise song for one of the Nashville shows. I don't have a strong lean either way towards being in favor or against the practice, but time will tell.
"All the old Taylors came to the phone Friday night at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona." Great opening line.
I liked that review. (The 5 star review in the Guardian was just their usual rubbish, focusing on the wrong things)
Another rave review Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour Is a 3-Hour Career-Spanning Victory Lap – Rolling Stone
