[Intro + Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince]
TAYLOR SWIFT HAD HER SIXTH CONCERT TOUR, THE ERAS TOUR, AFTER FIVE YEARS HAD PASSED SINCE HER LAST ONE. THE ERAS TOUR IS HER MOST EXPANSIVE TOUR TO DATE WITH 146 DATES ACROSS FIVE CONTINENTS. THE TOUR BEGAN ON MARCH 17, 2023, IN GLENDALE, ARIZONA, WITH THE SHOW CLOCKING IN AROUND THREE AND A HALF HOURS.
SINCE SO MUCH TIME HAD GONE BY SINCE HER REPUTATION STADIUM TOUR, SWIFTIES WERE EAGER TO TRY TO GET THEIR HANDS ON TICKETS. BUT THE DEMAND FOR TICKETS GREATLY OUTWEIGHED THE AMOUNT OF AVAILABLE SEATS. PURDUE SOPHOMORE JULIA MORAN KNEW IT WOULD BE HARD TO SECURE TICKETS, BUT THAT STILL DIDN’T DETER HER.
[Julia Moran] One of my friends had a pre-sale code and her dad had a Capital One card so she had like both the pre-sales, but she still wasn’ t able to get tickets for us and I didn’t want to do the whole like sitting outside of the stadium thing because that just seemed like so much work.
BUT MEDILL SOPHOMORE AMANDA OLIVER WAS WILLING TO PUT IN THAT WORK TO SECURE HER TICKETS!
[Amanda Oliver] When I went home, I was trying for Philadelphia and I was trying for Pittsburgh. And then my mom was like, Okay, let’s just drive to Pittsburgh without having tickets. Just to see and I’m in the car like refreshing Ticketmaster trying to see like if we’re gonna drop five tickets here 10 tickets here like there’s possibly like a way that I can get tickets and so I managed to get tickets that way.
WITH ALL THAT EFFORT, LUCKILY OLIVER FELT THE CONCERT WAS WORTH IT.
[AO] I think I cried like three different times. But I was just purely in awe and really proud of her and everything that she’s been able to do so far.
HER SENTIMENT WAS ALSO SHARED BY ANOTHER SWIFT ENTHUSIAST, MOLLY MCGEE, WHO HAS PREVIOUSLY SEEN TAYLOR SWIFT IN CONCERT OVER 10 TIMES.
[Molly McGee] There’s no breaks. She never sweats. Like she’s just fully born to do this. And even over the past couple of years she has improved immensely in just performing in general.
THESE ACCOUNTS OF THE CONCERT MAKE IT A NO-BRAINER AS TO WHY THE CONCERT WAS IN SUCH HUGE DEMAND, SO MUCH SO THAT RESALE PRICES WERE INSANE. FORMER WNUR NEWS CO-DIRECTOR SARA KADOURA SHARED HER EXPERIENCE IN THE ERAS TOUR RESALE MARKET.
[Sara Kadoura] So I look at Ticketmaster for how much they’re reselling for. My eyes are like, oh my God, I resold these tickets for $800 apiece. I paid a hundred dollars for them, so that was a good day. That was a payday, let me tell ya.
KADOURA’S STORY IS NOT AN ANOMALY. HENCE WHY THE POP STAR IS EXPECTED TO MAKE BILLIONS FROM THIS TOUR. ACCORDING TO A REPORT BY THE WASHINGTON POST BASED ON ESTIMATES FROM PETER COHAN, AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT AT BABSON COLLEGE, SWIFT IS SUPPOSED TO MAKE ABOUT $4.1 BILLION.
[caching sound effect]
ASSUMING SHE KEEPS THE STANDARD SHARE OF 85% OF THE TOUR’S REVENUE, WITH TICKET PRICES AVERAGING ABOUT $456.
DESPITE BEING SUCH AN INCREDIBLY POPULAR TOUR, MANY PEOPLE UNFORTUNATELY COULD NOT ATTEND.
BUT FOR 20 BUCKS, THOSE WHO COULDN’T EXPERIENCE THE CONCERT IN REAL TIME CAN GET THE EXPERIENCE THROUGH TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR MOVIE.
[AO] The movie was very well done. They did a pretty good job at capturing everything. The angles were super good. They had really interesting camera shots.
[MM] It’s like the people who are in the theater with us. We’re like, got it. And they created an atmosphere that was similar to the one of the concert so it was cool.
HOWEVER, SOME PEOPLE ARE SKEPTICAL ABOUT WHETHER THE MOVIE CAN ACTUALLY BE A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO SEEING THE SHOW IN REAL LIFE.
[JM] It’s so hard to like, capture the energy of a concert, like on film, you know, like just having that like all those people around you and kind of that audience human connection aspect of it. It’s really hard to like replicate with a movie.
WHETHER SOMEONE DECIDES TO GO TO SEE THE MOVIE OR NOT, THE AMOUNT OF SUCCESS IT HAS GARNERED IS UNDENIABLE. THE MOVIE IS CERTIFIED ROTTEN WITH A ROTTEN TOMATO SCORE OF 99% WITH 68 REVIEWS AND AN AUDIENCE SCORE OF 98% WITH OVER TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED REVIEWS.
THE MOVIE PREMIERED IN THEATERS ON OCTOBER 13, 2023, AND AS OF OCTOBER 22 HAS GARNERED AN ESTIMATED $129.8 MILLION AT THE DOMESTIC BOX OFFICE. ALTHOUGH THE MOVIE’S THEATRICAL RELEASE IS SCHEDULED TO END ON NOVEMBER 5, THE ERAS MOVIE IS ON TRACK TO TOP THE $262.5 MILLION INTERNATIONAL HAUL OF MICHAEL JACKSON’S 2009 MICHAEL JACKSON’S THIS IS IT.
THIS IS A TESTAMENT TO SWIFT’S SUCCESS IN THE INDUSTRY.
[MM] She’s done a great job throughout her career, knowing her fan base. She was aware that her fan base was mostly young girls, so she catered to that and it was something that like young preteen early teen girls could relate to. She knows that her fan base is getting older and she is able to create music that is more mature and it’s like she’s growing along with her fan base.
WEINBERG SOPHOMORE VIVIAN CHEN ALSO GAVE HER THOUGHTS ON WHY SHE BELIEVED SWIFT HAS BEEN ABLE TO BE SO SUCCESSFUL.
[Vivian Chen] I think she just has really good music and her lyrics usually they tell stories, which I think is really interesting to listen to.
TAYLOR SWIFT HAS BEEN IN THE INDUSTRY FOR OVER A DECADE AND HAS CONTINUED TO BREAK RECORDS AND SET NEW ONES. WHEN ASKING HER FANS WHY THEY THINK SHE HAS BEEN ABLE TO STAY SO POPULAR FOR SO LONG, RELATABILITY WAS A BIG PART.
[JM] I love her song Mirrorball off of folklore.
[Mirrorball starts to fade in]
[JM] Because I remember the first time I heard it, I was like, finally, the way I view myself is being put into words, and like someone else gets it.
[mirrorball fades out]
[AO] I just was able to relate to her lyrics and to the messages behind her songs a lot of her songs are about relationships that I’ve never been in, the feelings and the messages are there. And the passion is there and it just felt like something that I could sing along to in my room in my pajamas and it was just fun for all of us.
FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M KARRAH TOATLEY.
[Long Live (Taylor’s Version) Instrumental]
