A New Era for The Eras Tour: Watching it "Begin Again" in Paris

All the Changes to the Eras Tour Post-TTPD

May 14, 2024

Dear Reader,

But on a Thursday, on a livestream,
I watched it begin again…

On Sunday, May 12th, Taylor wrapped up four nights of the Eras Tour in Paris, and everything has changed. We have a new era, a whole new setlist, new outfits, new transitions and new speeches. It really does feel like we watched the Eras Tour begin again in Paris 🥹 This newsletter covers all of the changes I spotted in this new era of the eras tour.

If you’d like to see all of this information in video form, I also made it into a YouTube video! I included photos and screen-recordings from the livestream, to highlight all of the changes to the new tour. You can watch it over on my YouTube Channel 🫶

Now, let’s dive into all of the changes!

This Newsletter Covers:

🥹 The New Eras Tour Intro
🤍 The New TTPD Era
🎶 The New Eras Tour Setlist + Playlists
🎩 SO Many New Outfits
🐍 New Transitions Between Eras
🎤 New Speeches
💌 Upcoming Eras Tour Roundup Emails
❓ Can I Ask You a Question?

The New Eras Tour Intro

With a new album comes a new era, and with a new era comes a brand new era on the Eras Tour!! Before we get into the new The Tortured Poets Department, or TTPD era, the first change of the Eras Tour happened right at the very beginning of the show.

Every show opens with a musical introduction that mashes up iconic phrases and lyrics from all of the eras with the reucurring lyric from “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince”, “it’s been a long time coming.” On night 1 in Paris this got updated to include two references to Taylor’s latest album.

Right before she says, “it’s Fearless”, Taylor says, “What if I told you I’m back” - a lyric from the TTPD song “The Alchemy”. Then right after saying “My name is Taylor and I was born in 1989”, she says the title lyric of the new album, “Straight from the Tortured Poets Department”.

The opening of the Eras Tour is one of my favorite things ever - it brings up tears every time I hear it, and I LOVE that she updated it like this.

The New TTPD Era

The new TTPD era is beyond my wildest dreams - Taylor sang more songs than I expected and the production and graphics are truly out of this world. Seriously - there’s a spaceship spotlighting Taylor during “Down Bad” that blows my mind. These are the songs in the TTPD Era:

“But Daddy I Love Him” - such a fun start to the TTPD set!
“So High School” - When I tell you I was dying when she went into “So High School” on N1 in Paris, that would be an understatement. I hadn’t expected this song to get onto the setlist, and I’m so so happy there’s a Travis song in The Eras Tour. I’m still recovering from the fact that she sang this song with Travis in the crowd on N4 in Paris.
“Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me” - including Taylor literally levitating down your street.
“Down Bad” - including a spaceship that shines a spotlight on Taylor as she glides around the stage.
“Fortnight” - the mashup transition into “Fortnight” is genius, and I love the setup of a table and typewriter on this rotating bed-like vehicle - the choreography around this whole setup is incredible.
“The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” - I’m obsessed with the drumline and the whole scene that Taylor and her dancers act out could literally fit into the movie Les Misérables - so epic!!
“I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” - the opening interlude going into this number is another favorite moment of the whole show for me! It’s so fun and theatrical and really sets the scene for a silent movie taking place in Hollywood. The choreography is fantastic and it’s the perfect finale to the TTPD era.

Which one is your favorite song/number?

The New Eras Tour Setlist + Playlists

In order to make room for a whole new era, and 7 new songs, others that we know and love from the original setlist had to be lost. We ended up losing these 6:

🩷 The Archer
💜 Long Live
🩶 the 1
🩶 the last great american dynasty
🤎 ‘tis the damn season
🤎 tolerate it
🩶 Plus, not a song but the “seven” spoken word poem which was used to introduce the folklore era in the previous version of the Eras Tour was also replaced with a new introduction

It’s sad to lose any song from the setlist, because each one is incredible in its own way. But I understand sacrifices have to made, and 5/6 of these songs I can see why they were cut. The setup of “Fortnight” takes place partially at a table, which made me wonder if that’s why we lost “tolerate it” and its iconic table scene. Given the incredible production and choreography of the TTPD era, I can see why a number as complex as “the last great american dynasty” might also get cut. However, losing “Long Live” is a deep cut that I will be mourning for the foreseeable future. I really hope it somehow makes its way back to the setlist at some point! It’s my dream to someday scream that song alongside other Swifties in a stadium with Taylor, and I know so many others feel the same.

The 2024 Post-TTPD Setlist also switched up the original order quite a bit. It puts the Eras in the following order:

🩷 Lover
💛 Fearless
❤️ Red
💜 Speak Now
🖤 Reputation
🩶🤎 folkmore (folklore and evermore combined)
🩵 1989
🤍 TTPD
💙 Midnights

The previous order of the Eras Tour had been:

🩷 Lover
💛 Fearless
🤎 evermore
🖤 Reputation
💜 Speak Now
❤️ Red
🩶 folklore
🩵 1989
💙 Midnights

I personally think it’s fun to switch things up, and I’m enjoying the new order, though it does feel odd to have Red so early on in the show. I also quite enjoy the combined folkmore era, going back and forth between folklore and evermore songs - those two albums are so closely linked, so I feel like it works. I’m sure it also saves a lot of time and effort to not have to make the costume, set and other changes to have two separate eras instead of one combined. How do you feel about it?

I created new Post-TTPD Eras Tour Setlist Playlists - so if you want to prep for an upcoming show, and/or rock out to the setlist, you can give it a listen! Here are the links for Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube, plus clean versions on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.

SO Many New Outfits

There are SO many new outfits now in play for the Eras Tour! I had expected TTPD to get added to the setlist, and been looking forward to seeing what new outfits Taylor would include in that era. But I had not been expecting Taylor to bring out a whole host of new outfits for almost every other era on the Eras Tour. Over the course of 4 nights in Paris, every era got at least one new item (except for Reputation, which still has not seen any outfit changes since the first night). These are all of the new outfits I noticed:

1 new Lover bodysuit - hot pink and orange
1 new “The Man” Jacket Blazer - orange
1 new Fearless dress - black undertones
3 new Red T-shirts
- “This Is Not Taylor’s Version”
- “I Bet You Think About Me”
- “I Knew U Were Trouble”
1 new Speak Now dress
2 New folkmore dresses
- 1 yellow dress
- 1 hot pink dress
- 1 new “willow” clock
4 new 1989 two-toned outfits - I love these!
- Pink and turquoise
- Orange and purple
- Green and pink
- Yellow and orange - which are Chiefs colors and yes Taylor wore those on Paris n4 with travis in the house 87th show 😭
A number of new TTPD era outfits
- A stunning white dress with the lyrics “I love you it’s ruining my life” written over and over on the skirt
- A marching band kind of military-style white outfit
- Four matching sets with jackets
  - Black with a gold jacket
  - White with a white jacket
  - Sparkling silver with a silver grey jacket
  - White with a black collared jacket
3 new Surprise Song dresses
- Pink
- Blue
- Orange
1 new Midnights outfit

If you want to see photos/videos of these outfits, go check out my YouTube video!

New Transitions Between Eras

There are a number of new transitions and graphics between eras in this new iteration of the tour. There’s a new introduction to the Speak Now era, which has a gorgeous dance number set to this lovely musical interlude, with some new graphics on the screen too.

There’s also a new transition from Reputation to the new folkmore era. I love how a white snake (which used to be the transition from Reputation to the Speak Now era) becomes a black snake and slithers its way into a forest that includes elements of folklore and evermore. When I was first watching on Paris N1’s show, I kept noticing things from both eras, which is what made me wonder if the two eras had been combined. There’s the trees from evermore, and then the folklore cabin pops up. The graphics are stunning, and the music is beautiful as well. The “seven” poem will be missed, but it’s also amazing to get to see these new elements.

I believe there’s also a new mountain scene before we get into the 1989 era. And of course the transition into the new TTPD is so striking - with burnt pieces and cages falling from the sky to set the scene. I saw one theory that those burnt pieces could be parts of the burnt down Lover house - what do you think?!

New Speeches

Of course every speech of the Eras Tour is slightly different because Taylor really tailors each one to the city and circumstances of each individual show. But there definitely were common ideas that filled her previous speeches on the tour, a couple of which changed to reflect the new show.

The most notable are:

Red’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” intro - where she talks about how the Eras Tour is a chance to take all of Taylor’s favororite memories from her past tours, experience them together, and also bring them to some cities and countries that she couldn’t in the past.
The “champagne problems” intro - where she talks about combining the folklore and evermore eras and reuniting these two sister albums.

Upcoming Eras Tour Roundup Emails

My Paris Eras Tour Roundup email is coming tomorrow! It documents all of the highlights of the four nights of shows in Paris, with links to clips in case you missed any. I am also tracking down the best surprise song performances I can find and always include links to those as well (currently crying over “The Alchemy” x “Treacherous” mashup on N4 😭).

My Eras Tour Roundup emails are for paid newsletter subscribers - if you’re interested and able, you can upgrade to a paid subscription here! This month will include round-up emails for the Eras Tour shows in Paris, Stockholm, Lisbon and Madrid. As always, your support at any level you’re able to offer - whether it’s paid subscriptions, sharing these emails, commenting, liking, and reading - honestly means the world 🫶

That’s a wrap on all of the changes I spotted in the post-TTPD Eras Tour - did I miss any? Did you watch any of the livestreams/did you go to the Paris shows in person? How are you feeling about all of the changes?! I’ve included some questions below, and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Until next time…

This happens once every few lifetimes,

Bekah

🎶 Can I Ask You a Question? 🎶

How are you feeling about the new setlist?
Are there any TTPD songs you wish had made it into the setlist? Any songs you were surprised that are a part of the set?
Which TTPD song/number is your favorite?!
What’s your favorite new outfit?

Dear Reader