Taylor Swift is in the middle of her most expensive and extensive world tour yet, paying homage to her 10-album discography on the Eras Tour.
There are 152 shows across five continents, featuring 10 albums and more than 44 songs. Each performance takes at least three hours, and the whole thing will have stretched out over two years by the time she's done.
It's a massive undertaking and a production of epic proportions.
There are nonstop costume changes, large-scale set swaps and stunts that are reminiscent of a Las Vegas residency.
Oh, and it's estimated to have around a $157 million budget.
Watch Taylor Swift announce her new album at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Post continues after video.
The best part? It's not even close to being over. Nope, The Eras Tour has three more shows in Singapore before Swift takes a small break and starts back up again on May 9 in Paris, France (she has 62 more arena performances, BTW).
So with all of THAT going on, we wanted to know more about what happens behind the scenes on the tour, from the impressive sets to the challenging choreography routines.
How Taylor Swift avoids getting sick on the Eras Tour.
It might have been a goal for many Aussies to meet the singer but millions of people were left disappointed because Swift's team makes it impossible for fans to get to her.
It's not just a safety issue, but a health one too.
"When Taylor is on tour, strict measures are put into place to stop her interacting with anyone outside of her 'bubble,'" a source told Yahoo Lifestyle.
"They can not risk her getting sick under any circumstances. Even those in her bubble, including her dancers and managers, are restricted to what they can do and where they can go during their downtime.
"Going on a world tour may sound exciting, but the reality of it is each day just consists of going from a hotel room to the venue and repeat."
They don't just keep this measure in place to protect Swift's health but also to avoid messing up her schedule. The source claimed cancelling or postponing a tour date could cost millions of dollars.
The team is so strict on the singer not getting sick that during her show at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, her publicist Tree Paine was seen walking through the venue with a mask to reduce her chance of getting ill and passing it on to the singer.
Swift is currently on tour in Singapore and fans have alleged she is unwell after there were clips of her coughing on stage, making the strict measure understandable.
In a video going viral on TikTok, she was filmed coughing and clearing her throat as she sang her 'Delicate' for fans at the city’s National Stadium, which holds 55,000 people at capacity.
"As if we couldn’t love you any more than we already do," the organisation wrote.
"Your generous donation to Foodbank Victoria will put a sparkle back in the eyes of so many Victorians doing it tough right now! THANK YOU."
The exact amount of the donation has been kept private.
Taylor Swift reportedly receives a special ride to the concert.
Fans have claimed that Taylor discreetly travels from backstage to behind the stage riding inside a janitor's cart so she doesn't get noticed by the audience!
This seems to take place when the pre-show playlist starts playing 'Applause' by Lady Gaga.
It takes 90 trucks to construct the stage for The Eras Tour.
According to Billboard, the magical set build of The Eras Tour takes an estimated 90 trucks to construct.
Dave Brooks, Billboard Senior Director of Live Music and Touring, told the NY Post that there is a team that is "prepping and pre-building" as much as possible in the lead-up to the show. Putting the entire production together "takes two to three weeks, in my understanding", said Brooks.
Swift has two sets, stages and teams.
Back in 2023, when The Eras Tour dates in the US were announced, fans pointed out that everything looked like a logistical nightmare.
But according to one Swiftie, the tour dates actually made perfect sense... because there are two stages and two teams who are making sure everything is running smoothly behind the scenes. The sets and crews leapfrog, giving them enough time to prepare the stages for every single performance.
X user @t_lovestaylor posted about Swift's tour locations and dates, breaking down why exactly whoever is behind the singer's tour schedule is a bloody genius.
"At first glance, the stops on The Eras Tour appear to involve a lot of back and forth and look like a logistical nightmare," the user acknowledged. "The secret is... There are two stages and teams! Let's call them Stage A and Stage B."
"They both are being set up, moved, or taken down at any given time, allowing her to perform *every* weekend and give the crew enough time to safely move everything to the next destination," the Swiftie continued, adding that if the tour were only operating with one stage, it would be a problem for the team behind the scenes.
"If there were only one stage, this is what the path of the logistics team would look like for the first half of the tour... Lots of backtracking and not enough time to move everything while people get enough sleep to safely drive and operate heavy equipment!"
The fan even illustrated the logistics of Swift's tour choices.
"Here is what the maps look like if you have stage A (left) and stage B (right)," the fan wrote. "The routes make much more sense, and the teams have [an estimated] 10 days between stops to move everything safely."
Swift gets a signal that it's safe to dive into the stage.
Spoiler alert: there's a point in the Midnight section of the show when Swift calmly walks to an opening on the stage and seems to dive into it, and swim underneath. She literally goes headfirst, fearless.
It's easily one of the most spectacular moments of the evening and according to fans, it's probably even more impressive when you see it live. But it's important to know that the singer doesn't just hurl herself into the stage without safety precautions.
New photos and clips have shown the behind-the-scenes details of the moment; there's a red light signalling Swift not to jump — when it turns green, and she leaps down. After that, she seems to crawl and go underneath the stage.
Swift has a pre-set dinner table only a few fans can see.
Right before Swift is about to sing 'Tolerate', Swift dramatically sets a dining table on stage. Not many would know this, but everything is set up for her in a drawer that is on the backside of the table.
Fans can only really see into the drawer if their seats are on either side of the stage.
The Eras Tour is filmed like a 'proper movie' due to the sheer scale of each concert.
To give home viewers who couldn't make it to the show a stimulating experience, The Eras Tour was filmed "like a proper movie" when Swift performed at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, for all three nights of the tour.
The New York Times reported that "upwards of 40 camera operators" are typically hired to film tours of this size, with performers often doing an additional dress rehearsal to capture close-ups and frames that would otherwise be impossible with a crowd around.
There are also more than 100 microphones planted around a stadium.
When recording audio for tour films, they use "sometimes more than 100" microphones in larger stadiums. These microphones capture vocals, instruments, and crowd noise on separate tracks.
John Ross, the rerecording mixer for The Eras Tour, said. "Just a recording of the room would be useless."
Mixers usually blend parts of a song from different nights to create the best version for concert films, as explained by the New York Times.
Everyone reportedly received a bonus on the US leg of the Eras Tour.
It's reported that toward the end of the first US leg of the Eras Tour, Swift reportedly handed out more than $84 million in bonuses to everyone working on the show.
People reported at the time that caterers, truck drivers, dancers and even those with small roles in bringing the tour to life received cash bonuses.
Brazil made a 'Taylor Swift Law.'
To combat ticket scalping for the Eras Tour, Brazilian lawmakers introduced a bill that was nicknamed the "Taylor Swift Law". It would criminalise ticket scalping — where tickets are purchased for an event to resell for a profit — with penalties of up to four years in prison and "fees" aka fines up to "100 times the original ticket price," NBC News reported.
The bill came into place after tickets for Swift's shows in Brazil went on sale in June 2023. Fans were having trouble purchasing legitimate tickets, as scalpers made it nearly impossible.
This article was published on February 20 and has since been updated with new information.
Feature Image: Getty/ TikTok @heyjoshd/ Twitter @isabelgzzf.
Calling all Australians aged 18+ years…we want to hear from you! Complete this survey now to go in the running to win a $50 gift voucher.
Top Comments