NAME: Taylor Swift’s Era’s Tour
SPECS: Concert, (I saw it in the theater), but there's definitely a lot of storytelling involved.
SUMMARY: A couple of songs from each “era” of her musical history (i.e. her albums)
OVERALL RATING: H
MATURITY LEVEL: She’s often scantily clad and there are some suggestive elements to her dancing.
WHAT I’VE BEEN STRUCK/MOVED BY: I’ve never been a full blown "Swifty" but I like her music a lot. I enjoyed the performance, its production value, and singing along to the songs that I knew. This is a rough summary of my thoughts - some of which are pretty standard, some very nerdy :
So the first thought, chronologically, was at the drama of the opening. In the film, the concert does a fly-in to the SoFi stadium where the first impression is of how mind-bogglingly huge the crowd is. The opening sequence… well the whole thing of course… is brightly colored and visually striking and gives the overwhelming impression of power. I couldn’t help thinking that in an apocalyptic scenario, where future generations have only oral histories of things, the memory of Taylor Swift would almost certainly translate into mythology equivalent to that of a Greek goddess.
Even as a casual fan, things like “let’s go back to highschool” followed by Love Story really landed well.
It was almost comical to me how much the folklore section was by far the one that most matched my style.
I should have gotten up and stood in some corner so I could dance, because she’s got some great dance songs.
I couldn’t help wondering if “Mastermind” near the end was also a not-so-subtle reminder to the world, in front of her enormous fan base, that she knows what she’s doing.
Probably the thing I was most struck and impressed by was the way that she has clearly done a good job of expressing the experience of so many people. When the camera shifted to people in the audience, it was often of people full out sobbing - often at times where it hadn’t occurred to me that this might be a song that makes you cry. That’s one of the central things about art - is that it speaks the truth of what it means to be a human. It can do that in a way that teaches you about some aspect of human existence that you haven’t experienced. But even then, its power tends to come from the universality of being human and how you can still relate, even to someone in vastly different circumstances. I digress. The point is, when something you’ve experienced so deeply you might not even be able to put it into words is expressed in someone’s art, it is moving and cathartic. And clearly, she’s done that incredibly well.
FAVORITE SONGS (many of which she played): invisible string, Begin Again, You Belong with Me, Long Live, All Too Well, betty, august, Love Story, Lover
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