🇯🇵 Eras Tour Roundup: Tokyo
Bend when you can, snap when you have to
Dear Reader,
Hello, and welcome to the first email of my new Eras Tour Roundup series! This series will cover all the highlights of each city’s Eras Tour shows: from the Surprise Songs (including full version links to watch), noteworthy moments, mishaps (#theerrorstour), and ending with prep for the upcoming city’s shows.
With so much going on at the moment, I hope this series can help Swifties keep up with all The Eras Tour highlights, getting them straight in your inbox. This series is for paid subscribers of Dear Reader, but I wanted to send the first issue out to everyone to give you an idea of what the series will look like. If you’re interested in a subscription, you can find more info here, and upgrade your subscription here. 🫶
This Eras Tour Roundup Includes:
Tokyo’s Surprise Songs
Surprise Song Updated Tracker
Links to Full Versions of Tokyo’s Surprise Songs
Note-worthy Happenings
Prep for Melbourne’s Eras Tour Shows
Show Timings
Watching Over Livesteam
Time Zone Chart
Livestream Tips
Tokyo’s Surprise Songs
The surprise songs Taylor sang in Tokyo were SO good. Even though she reset the Surprise Song board in 2024, making every song in her discography up for grabs, she still pulled out a number of new songs that she hasn’t sang at all yet on The Eras Tour.
Tokyo N1: Dear Reader and Holy Ground - I’m still not over the fact that Taylor Swift kicked off the 2024 Eras Tour with “Dear Reader” (a song that holds a very special place in my heart. It’s also the name of this newsletter 💙). And “Holy Ground” was stunning. Her note changes, especially on the lyric, “and the stories got *dust* on every page” give me chills every time 🥹
Tokyo N2: Eyes Open and Electric Touch - I guessed that Taylor would sing “Eyes Open” on N2! It’s the only guess I got right for Tokyo’s shows, but hey, I’ll take it. Also, in case you didn’t know, Travis uses the word ‘electric’ a lot (here’s just one example). So I wondered if this song choice could’ve been a subtle little nod to him 😉
Tokyo N3: Superman and The Outside - “Superman” is, in my opinion, a seriously underrated song. I also personally think any night that gets a Taylor Swift Debut album song is an automatic winner.
Tokyo N4: Come In With The Rain and You’re On Your Own, Kid - A Fearless fav, and at this point I really feel like “You’re On Your Own, Kid” needs to get added to the setlist - right?! It holds so much meaning, for us and for Taylor too, I imagine. I also couldn’t help but wonder if this might’ve been another Travis-related song choice? Their relationship started because of a friendship bracelet, after all. Right after this show she got on a plane to fly to Las Vegas and see Travis play in the Super Bowl.
Surprise Song Prediction Tracker (how many I’ve guessed correctly so far): 1/8 😅
Surprise Song Updated Tracker
Here’s the updated Surprise Song Tracker. I find it really helpful to refer to when I’m making predictions for upcoming shows. Let me know what your predictions are for Melbourne!
Links to Full Versions of Tokyo’s Surprise Songs
I really feel like the Acoustic Set of The Eras Tour is where Taylor’s musicianship truly shines! I love going back and watching recordings of her surprise song performances. Watching them over livestream is the next best thing to being there in person, but the quality is not always the best. So I started looking up posted videos of them, and sharing the links to videos I loved.
With these links, I try whenever possible to find full version videos taken by Swifties who attended the show themselves. I go through a lot of videos (so you don’t have to!) to find which ones have the best image and audio quality, and include the whole song, not just a snippet. I share the best ones I can find with you!
If you’re going to an upcoming Eras Tour show, and you film and post your surprise songs, and/or if you come across a really good recording of a surprise song that I’ve missed, I’d love to see it! You can send it to me through email or Instagram.
Tokyo N1:
Tokyo N2:
Tokyo N3:
Tokyo N4:
Noteworthy Happenings
Taylor speaking Japanese throughout the Eras Tour
Chris Olsen live-streamed two of the shows, and I would love for him go to more just to provide clear livestreams and hilarious commentary for us! Here’s a few more clips from his socials. I also screen recorded some funny moments of the livestream while I was watching, so let me know if you’d like me to share the.
Taylor almost fell off the Folklore cabin roof, and recovered beautifully.
Taylor spoke about TTPD in her Champagne Problems speech on N1
Prep for Melbourne’s Shows
The Eras Tour FAQs: https://www.frontiertouring.com/help/page/taylor-swift-the-eras-tour-faq
Stadium: Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)
Stadium Rules: https://www.mcg.org.au/the-stadium/visitor-information/conditions-of-entry
Has Taylor performed here before? No
Show Timings
4:00pm AEDT – Gates Open
6:20pm AEDT – Show starts, Sabrina Carpenter opening
8:00 AEDT - Taylor Swift’s starts
*Box Offices at Melbourne Cricket Ground will open from 12pm on show day, and from 10am to 6pm on the Wednesday and Thursday before the shows. These are located at Gate 3 and Gate 6.
Watching Over Livesteam
My time zone chart for Melbourne and Sydney timings
Happy Eras Tour weekend! If you’re a Swiftie going to a show in Melbourne, I hope you have the most incredible time. Look out for another Eras Tour Roundup email after Melbourne’s shows. In the meantime,
You don't have to answer, just 'cause they asked you,
Bekah
🎶 Can I Ask You a Question? 🎶
🫶 What was your favorite Tokyo night of Surprise Songs: N1, N2, N3 or N4?
🤔 What are your surprise song predictions for Melbourne?
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