Mahsa Di Placito is a Vancouver based pop-culture writer and creator of the We Need To Unpack This substack, where she critically examines notable cultural moments through an intersectional lens. Subscribe to read more here!
Guys, I’m still absolutely buzzing about attending the last show of the Eras Tour in Vancouver. The build up lasted over a year; I was lucky enough to score tickets last year, and somehow through dumb luck my very first Taylor Swift concert happened to be the last stop of her whirlwind Eras Tour, unlike anything I’ve seen in my lifetime. I wasn’t there for it, but the sheer hysteria around Beatlemania feels most similar to what Eras brought us. Maybe it was the year-long anticipation, but to say I feel emotionally drained in the aftermath would be an understatement. I’m exhausted and feel hungover even though I didn’t have a single drop of alcohol. A friend described it as an emotional hangover, and yes! It’s exactly that. The emotion! The build up! The logistics of figuring out how the day would come together! The outfits! If I’m this exhausted, I can’t imagine how Taylor is feeling and what she’s doing with her newfound freedom (hopefully, a nap). There’s already been so much said about Eras; the record shattering numbers her tour brought in (highest grossing tour ever at 2 billion dollars through 10 million ticket sales), think pieces on what a cultural force it was and why, debates on whether all those easter eggs mean something. I have nothing new to add to those conversations that hasn’t been said many times over. Instead, I’m going to focus on the very last show. A jumble of random thoughts I’ve been mulling over the past 24 hours.
“As the crowd was chanting ‘more’!”
The week leading up to the show saw rumours swirling over surprise guests, potential announcements, and an extended show for the very last night. My phone blew up with people speculating that either Ed Sheeran or Post Malone would join her on stage, or that she’d announce the much anticipated Rep or Debut TV (Taylor’s Version). Well friends, none of those things happened, and honestly… I get it! Celebrities in general are built a certain way, and as the current reigning most popular girl on Earth… why would Taylor want to share her last show!? So many people lucky enough to score tickets left that show somewhat disappointed, feeling it went out with a whimper and not the bang they were expecting. No, she didn’t unveil a mastermind of a surprise that could be carefully traced back through years of easter eggs, but she delivered for 3 hours, non-stop, and did what she does best. I’ll quote Taylor in her Time ‘Person of the Year’ profile where she asks, “are you not entertained?!” Like… yes girl, we are. She highlighted her work and the work of her crew over the last 1.5+ years, and that for me was just right. She’s also clearly filming something based on the repeat outfits and cams everywhere, so it felt scripted for a reason. I would way rather have a version of Eras featuring TTPD or a doc (please let there be an inside baseball on this tour!), than have Posty show up for a few minutes. On the easter eggs, I know this is Taylor’s shorthand to communicate with her fans, but wonder if she’s starting to regret it. Not everything has to mean something, and for those lucky enough to attend any of her shows let alone the final show, the lingering disappointment of not having a proper ‘surprise’ feels a little greedy.
The acoustic set was the ‘surprise’
One of the things I was most looking forward to was what surprise songs she would give us on N3. Given the time of year, I was expecting her to throw ‘Christmas Tree Farm’ in there somewhere. Instead, she gave us a perfect mash up of ‘A Place in This World’ off Debut for the OG fans (aka not me), and ‘New Romantics’ from 1989. It was perfectly fine, but then she got to the piano with a cleverly nostalgic mashup of ‘Love Live’ / ‘New Years Day’ / ‘The Manuscript,’ which, to me, felt like something very finite was happening. As all good things eventually come to an end, surely she senses that the success of Eras may be the peak of her professional career (don’t come for me, I just honestly don’t know how you top this cultural moment and the laws of gravity etc). She ended the acoustic set with poignant lyrics from ‘The Manuscript’ which just so happens to be the very last song off TTPD. The perfect bookend for Eras, which kicked off the acoustic set with ‘Tim McGraw’ off Debut at its first show… the girl loves her Easter eggs! She brought us the Eras Tour through her imagination, storytelling and sheer tenacity, but the fans turned it into the cultural force we haven’t been able to escape through 149 shows. She knows this, and says as much in the final words of ‘The Manuscript.’
The only thing that’s left is the manuscript
One last souvenir from my trip to your shores
Now and then I reread the manuscript
But the story isn’t mine anymore
Vancouver N3 also saw a long group huddle after her final song ‘Karma,’ where the dancers had a genuine final moment together, before running off stage waving one-by-one (they’re normally lifted downstage via forklift). This felt very intentional, and gave me theatre kid final bow vibes and was a subtle moment. Not every moment has to hit you over the head.
It’s not about Taylor. Its YOU guys.
I’ve had so many conversations with people over the past two years around whether or not Taylor ‘deserves’ the intense hype that’s surrounded her since Eras kicked off. Is her music/songwriting/singing/performing really the best there is? I don’t even think this is relevant. If you think she’s the best, then she is! And if you don’t think so, then she’s not! And it’s fine, really. For what it’s worth, I don’t think there’s any question that she is super multi-talented at all those things, and she has a deep understanding of how to connect and engage with her fans; there is really nobody better at this right now. I was in awe watching her perform for THREE HOURS STRAIGHT, ever the professional in every single way. Not a beat was missed and her voice held up (though is surprisingly much higher in person than I thought!) No question that Taylor is That Girl. That being said, while she’s both an excellent performer and talented songwriter, I felt the magic in the stadium came from the fans. The carefully planned costumes, trading of friendship bracelets, the connection with random strangers and even the final fan project which saw the crowd sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Taylor after her last rendition of ‘Champagne Problems;’ that was all YOU GUYS. If being a Swiftie was a religious experience (and it is, for some), then Taylor is the mythical Deity, but the fans make up the community at the Church of Swift. And yes, I did just compare Taylor to a Christ like figure. You can get mad about it, but it’s totally fair. The way she’s been elevated and celebrated since Eras is, in fact, worship.
“And well you know, when it’s time to go. You just go.”
I don’t have much in common with Taylor Swift (I’m lazy), but one of my life motto’s that I live by is that you gotta’ know when to hold ‘em, and when to fold ‘em. Like Taylor herself tells us in ‘It’s Time To Go’… you just go. Listen, this extremely savvy businesswoman is at the top of her game. This is very likely the tippy top of what is sure to be a long career, I just don’t know how she’ll ever top what a cultural behemoth Eras was. She will still be huge! But nobody is the most popular person in the world forever. She most definitely knows this. And while I think her performance was A+++, she seemed done to me. The eyebrow raises, long applause after ‘Champagne Problems,’ and taking out her earbuds so she can take it all in. She’s done this so many times! I’m not saying she’s disingenuous, but it felt clear to me she’s ready to move onto the next thing, whatever that may be. And as any creative person will tell you, creativity ebbs and flows. She has worked a ton since Covid (Folklore, Evermore, Midnights, TTPD, not to mention the re-releases and the Eras Tour). Not only does she need a break, she likely wants to do something different after 149 shows (fair!)
On Girlhood and Safe Spaces
We’ve heard over and over during Eras that the space felt safe, in a way smaller and less busy places don’t. Quite a feat considering these are massive stadiums. My own kids were running around through the stadium, trading bracelets and meeting up with friends at the show, and I only half kept an eye on them. It’s like everyone enters that stadium and decides to be the most generous, friendliest, and loveliest version of themselves. I saw tons of connections being made, people excitedly trading bracelets and fawning over each others outfits. People looked out for each other and took care in a way that feels lost to a time long ago. I’ve been stuck on this piece of it since Eras started, because while the connections and community is refreshing, it makes me wonder about the ‘girlhood’ gospel Taylor sings. I know there was some early dialogue around who this girlhood is for, and what that looks like. I never really bought that. For sure, girlhood is easier on some than others, and being a poc, where you grow up, socio economic factors, religious background etc can make a big difference. My hot take? Being a girl is hard no matter what. I grew up white-passing in a very nice area in a suburb outside of Vancouver, and when I was 9 some asshole on the playground told me he was going to rape me. So there’s that. And if you talk to any girl/woman or person who identifies as such, they will have similar stories at some point in their lives. But that’s not how Taylor portrays girlhood. Her girlhood is one where the boy likes someone else (‘You Belong With Me’), or someone is mean to you (‘Mean’), or you’ve been dumped and can’t figure out why (‘All Too Well.’) These are all valid feelings and part of girlhood, but frankly… being a girl can be a far darker experience than Taylor sings about. For those interested, some of my favourite and closest depictions of what girlhood is really like are the movies Thirteen, Welcome to the Dollhouse, But I’m a Cheerleader, Heathers, and Jawbreaker. It’s not all Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, okay! And to be clear, I’m not suggesting she doesn’t know this, she absolutely does and has lived it like girls and women everywhere. Part of the draw to her music though, is an escape to what girlhood could be like. If our only worries were Aimee being a bitch (‘Thank you Aimee’) and whatever the hell is going on between James/Inez/Betty (‘Betty’), life would be pretty great! But in the safe space of the Eras Tour, we could pretend collectively, if only for a few hours, that girlhood is made up of trading friendship bracelets, getting along, and sisterhood. Our longing for that is, I think, part of what made Eras larger than life.
It’s the journey, not the destination.
Very cliche but there’s a reason this saying is applicable to so many situations. Having these tickets for over a year was a real build-up. We made more friendship bracelets than I care to admit, saw the Eras movie many times over, read many think-pieces on pretty much everything Taylor does and says, and listened to TTPD on repeat. Not to mention the lively conversations, watching TikTok’s and livestreams of the concert, decoding what she’s wearing, and all of a sudden being interested in football!? Yes, the concert itself was the final boss, but getting there was honestly just as much fun. In Vancouver, there were giant, light-up signs with the names of her songs all over the city like a Swiftopian scavenger hunt, bracelet making events, and lots of stores that offered photo ops you could engage in for free. This probably doesn’t make anyone who has fomo feel better, and there are really valid conversations that need to be had around ticket control, that mysterious queue, and equity, but I promise that atleast half the fun happened outside the concert.
Honestly… I’m glad I went, but I’m also glad it’s over. It was a spectacle that took up so much of the cultural zeitgeist. It was rare, I was there, and I’ll remember it all too well. But I’m also ready to miss Taylor for a while as she figures out what her next era looks like.
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