The end of an Eras tour approaches, marking a bittersweet moment for Taylor Swift fans

Taylor Swift performs during the opening show of the Toronto dates of The Eras Tour on Thursday, November 14, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

After more than 150 shows across five continents over nearly two years, the global phenomenon that is Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is coming to an end.

There is no simple way to encapsulate the effects of Swift’s decision to put on a 3 1/2-hour concert, showcasing 44 songs representing 10 different “eras” of her career — a feat she kicked off in March 2023 and will end Sunday in Vancouver, Canada. The tour shattered sales and attendance records and created such an economic boom that even the Federal Reserve took note.

But for many who attended the concerts, and the millions more who eagerly watched fan-broadcasted livestreams on their screens, the tour also became a beacon of joy — a chance not only to appreciate Swift's expansive music career, but also celebrate the yearslong journey fans have taken with her.

Savoring the time remaining

“Right now we have this special designated time to be together, talk about the show and hang out,” said Tess Bohne, a stay-at-home mom of three turned content creator dedicated to livestreaming Swift’s concerts — by attending herself or coordinating with others to highlight their streams. “For some, it’s their therapy.”

Bohne, who has earned the title among the Swiftie community as the “livestream queen,” says she often interacts with fans hosting parties to watch an Eras concert live at home with their closest friends. People have also made lasting friendships as they geek out together watching the show from afar.

Swift has long been known for leaving Easter eggs for her fans to pinpoint and decipher, a quirk that quickly took on a life of its own during the tour as eagle-eyed devotees began analyzing the possible meaning of her outfits, surprise songs and subtle lyric swaps. The buzz has been so large that multiple mobile apps were launched so fans could guess and track all the various changes. There’s even a game that gives out prizes for correctly predicting various particulars of a show, including what color guitar Swift uses while playing “Lover.”

“Imagine your favorite sports team,” Bohne said. “They’re still a team, but they’re not going to play any games for the foreseeable future. That’s going to leave a hole for some folks.”

Swift herself appeared to struggle that the end was near while performing at her 100th Eras show in June at Liverpool.

“This is the very first time I’ve ever acknowledged to myself and admitted that this tour is gonna end in December,” she said, stressing that “this tour has really become my entire life.” Late last month, in Toronto, she briefly broke down at the thought of the tour's impending end.

A record-breaking tour in retrospective

Swift kicked off the Eras tour in Glendale, Arizona, the first of many sold-out stadiums as the tour progressed first in the U.S. and later into South America, Asia, the United Kingdom and Canada.

By the end of 2023, it had become the first tour to ever gross over $1 billion and saw hundreds of millions of dollars spent on merchandise. She is likely to bring in over $2 billion by the time the tour wraps on Dec. 8, according to concert trade publication Pollstar.

Throughout the tour, Swift was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. Apple Music named her its artist of the year and Spotify revealed she was 2023’s most streamed artist globally. She dropped a box office-topping concert film and helped send NFL viewership skyrocketing when she began dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Toward the end of the tour, she released a coffee table book.

And if that wasn’t enough, she released re-recordings of her Nashville-era 2010 record, “Speak Now ” and 2014's record “1989,” as well as released her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”

“I think it’s perfect in these times to have somebody like Taylor to kind of give us distraction, give us inspiration, give us hope,” said Ralph Jaccodine, an assistant professor at Berklee College of Music and a former concert promoter who has worked with Bruce Springsteen and others. “And this is a woman that owning it, she’s come a long way. And now she can talk about artist rights and women’s rights and equality. And really, just her work ethic is relentless."

Even the word “era” has become ubiquitous, with fans and casual observers using the term to explain both frivolous and transformative phases — are you in your “villain era” or a “healing era”?

“I think this tour really solidified her position as a legend,” said Kayla Wong, an influencer who runs the popular Swift-focused Instagram account @headfirstfearless. “Whether or not you like her music, whether or not you think she’s talented, the numbers really speak for themselves. The tour broke so many records and was such a global phenomenon for so long that I think she’s achieved a level where it’s undeniable as to how everlasting her impact is.”

Yet the tour did experience its own dark moments. In Brazil last year, one concertgoer — 23-year-old Ana Clara Benevides — passed out and later died of heat exhaustion. In July, British police charged a 17-year-old with murder over a stabbing attack during a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance and yoga class that left three little girls dead. News outlets reported that Swift met with some of the survivors backstage in London.

And in August, all three of Swift's concerts in Vienna were called off after officials announced arrests over an apparent plot to launch an attack on an event in the city. Tens of thousands of Swifties from around the world had traveled to Vienna for the shows.

“Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating,” Swift later wrote in a statement. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.”

Swifties stronger than ever

Through the hardships and celebrations, Swift's connections to her fans has only ballooned and deepened throughout the tour. After the Vienna cancellations, many fans flocked to the streets to sing Swift's songs and placed friendship bracelets — which also became an iconic feature of the shows — on a nearby tree.

Over the past two years, the fandom has welcomed new audiences — both old and new.

“I feel like years ago, we were kind of all the same age and fans for the same reason,” Wong said of Swifties. “Now the fandom has people from all kinds of backgrounds, all ages, all different reasons for following her in the first place.”