Taylor Swift has introduced a new age of concerts.
Swift embarked on her Eras Tour, where so far her shows have run just over three hours plus an additional hour and a half setlist from her two opening acts.
The main reason why the concert is so long is because Swift’s tour highlights each of her 10 albums, a fair explanation for the tour’s name. Plenty of concerts have had the same longevity as The Eras Tour, but the love that fans have shown for this concert specifically has really contributed to the immersion that it provides.
That being said, it’s no secret that people’s attention span, specifically young adults, has drastically decreased over the last few years. The internet and apps like TikTok and Instagram are mostly to blame. According to CNN, around 69% of teenagers in the U.S. use over four hours of screen time on their phones and 29% use more than eight hours on their cell phones, excluding time spent on school work.
Even with a performance from a musical powerhouse as big as Swift, it’s hard to predict whether or not the era of longer concerts will succeed. Shows that run as long as hers will certainly challenge people to stay off their phone for an extended period of time. Lengthy shows are good ideas in theory, but it presents the task of keeping audience members engaged and giving the performance a strong rhythm.
However, Swift is known for going above and beyond while touring and The Eras Tour is no exception. Even if one isn’t familiar with all of her songs, Swift’s concerts are still a great time because of the energy she radiates and her flawless stage presence. Swift performs tirelessly into the long hours of the night without missing a beat, making it clear she loves what she does.
Additionally, she uses the extra time to interact with the audience, include more choreography, elaborate set design and meaningful introductions to most of her songs.
But no tour is perfect and this one’s downfall was the process of buying tickets and ultimately their pricing. Ticketmaster came under fire for not handling the high demand for tickets in an adequate way. The result was millions of people waiting in an online queue for over ten hours and many not getting tickets at all.
The site was ultimately sued and prompted an investigation into what happened. Not only that, but Ticketmaster has a monopoly on the ticket selling industry. As a result, they have been able to heavily up-charge Swift’s fans for all of her tickets.
It’s not unusual for concert tickets to be pricey, but tickets to The Eras Tour were nothing short of absolutely ridiculous. Seats that were the farthest up from the stage were being sold for a minimum of $800 at first, but once they ran out, there were people reselling them for the astronomical price of $50,000.
To put that in perspective, $50,000 is the same price as some cars or even a mortgage on a house. The astronomical prices are so hard to pay that people who have been waiting for Swift to go on tour for years don’t have the money to enjoy a show, albeit a great one, that is not worth the tremendously high prices.
Despite early complications and whether or not we continue to see concerts run longer than usual, it’s obvious that Swift has managed to make this method of lengthy shows work for her. Following her success, we can only hope that other artists and bands turn this into a new industry trend.
