Taylor Swift returns to the stage with epic three-hour, 44-song show as she launches Eras Tour
Taylor Swift performs onstage for the opening night of "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at State Farm Stadium on March 17, 2023 in Swift City, ERAzona (Glendale, Arizona). (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
Taylor Swift opened her highly anticipated Eras Tour with an epic concert in Phoenix, Arizona, Friday night.
The 33-year-old singer kicked off her first tour since 2018, performing 44 songs from ten albums over three hours, 15 minutes.
"I can't even go into how much I've missed you," Swift told the crowd of around 80,000 fans at State Farm Stadium, per BBC.
When the hitmaker first announced her tour on Instagram in November, she said, "It's a journey through all of my musical eras of my career."
Taylor Swift performs onstage for the opening night of "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at State Farm Stadium on March 17, 2023 in Swift City, ERAzona (Glendale, Arizona). (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
TAYLOR SWIFT ANNOUNCES HIGHLY ANTICIPATED NEW 2023 CONCERT DATES, ‘ERAS TOUR’
On her tour's opening night, Swift delivered on her promise with a setlist that featured individual sections for each of her albums, including "Taylor Swift," "Speak Now," "Evermore," "Folklore," "Lover," "Reputation," "Red (Taylor's Version)," "Fearless," "1989" and "Midnights."
The Pennsylvania native launched into the show with a performance of "Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince" from her 2019 album "Lover."
Taylor Swift performs onstage for the opening night of "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at State Farm Stadium on March 17, 2023 in Swift City, ERAzona (Glendale, Arizona). (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
Taylor Swift performs onstage for the opening night of "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at State Farm Stadium on March 17, 2023 in Swift City, ERAzona (Glendale, Arizona). (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
"I don’t know how to process all of this in the way that it’s making me feel right now," she said, according to Entertainment Tonight. "We have a lot of time for me to try to sum up how I’m feeling about how much I’ve missed you and how happy I am to see you. Let me just start by saying you guys are making feel fantastic!"
She performed some of her biggest hits, including "Shake It Off," "Blank Space," "Midnight Rain," "Tim McGraw," "Karma," "You Belong With Me," "Cruel Summer," "Willow," "Look What You Made Me Do," "Don't Blame Me," "Fearless," "Love Story," "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" and "I Knew You Were Trouble."
The concert featured a giant curved screen backdrop, multiple set pieces, pyrotechnics, 16 backup dancers, and at least 13 costume changes for Swift.
Taylor Swift performs onstage for the opening night of "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at State Farm Stadium on March 17, 2023 in Swift City, ERAzona (Glendale, Arizona). (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
According to ET, she took a dive and appeared to swim across the stage in one stand-out moment. The outlet reported that Swift performed throughout the entire show without taking a break.
The Grammy winner's opening concert has been met with rave reviews from critics. BBC reported the sole complaint made by reviewers and fans was she only performed one song from her third studio album, "Speak Now."
Swift wore a glittering gold ballgown as she sang the power ballad "Enchanted" from the 2010 release. According to BBC, there is already speculation Swift will add more songs to the "Speak Now" segment.
Taylor Swift performs onstage for the opening night of "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at State Farm Stadium on March 17, 2023 in Swift City, ERAzona (Glendale, Arizona). (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
The 52-date Eras Tour spans the U.S. and will conclude Aug. 9 in Inglewood, California. The tour sold a record-breaking 2.4 million tickets on its first day of sales, the most for any artist in a single day.
However, the first day of presales ended in a highly-publicized debacle as millions of fans were unable to secure tickets after waiting in the Ticketmaster queue for hours.
In November, registered fans were given codes for a presale to secure tickets for the Eras Tour days before tickets went on sale to the general public. However, fans were quickly met with long delays and error messages that Ticketmaster blamed on bots and historically unprecedented demand.
The company canceled sales to the general public days later.
Ticketmaster was widely criticized for the ticketing chaos along with allegations that the company holds a monopoly over the concert industry.
Swift vented anger and frustration in a lengthy statement, saying she had been assured by Ticketmaster the company could handle the demand.
uring a Senate hearing in January, Live Nation Entertainment Chief Financial Officer Joe Berch told the committee Ticketmaster learned "valuable lessons" from the meltdown.
"In hindsight, there are several things we could have done better, including staggering the sales over a longer period of time and doing a better job setting fan expectations for getting tickets," Berch said in written testimony released ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Live Nation Entertainment is the parent company of Ticketmaster.
"And let me be clear that Ticketmaster accepts its responsibility to be the first line of defense against bots in this ever escalating arms race."
Fox Business' Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.