Taylor Swift is back in the thick of her Eras Tour and we totally love to see it. The “Anti-Hero” singer took the stage this weekend in Melbourne, Australia to deliver yet another awe-inspiring journey through her discography. Of course, when it comes to Swift, fans can expect surprises in store while at one of her Eras Tour shows, as well as brain-chemistry altering moments from the Midnights artist. This weekend, the singer decided to make a huge change to one of the rules she has had for herself on the tour, and there are plenty of reasons for fans to love this.
During a certain section of the Eras Tour, the prolific songwriter sings two or three songs from her discography that she has yet to sing on tour. Taylor Swift's surprise songs have been a big part of the fan journey, and the Grammy winner went through the American leg of her tour without ever repeating.
This was exciting for fans, who could expect to hear a deep cut or a song Swift rarely does live, or from one of their favorite Taylor Swift eras. The reasoning for the rule was to challenge the singer, and encourage her to vary her setlist night to night. She explained to the Australian audience (via Page Six):
That was to challenge me to really get to all the ones that I just don’t naturally gravitate towards, and I feel really proud about having done that.
However, after over 80 shows, Swift is starting to run out of surprise songs she has yet to perform on tour. Therefore, the songwriter decided to eliminate her “no repeats” rule over the weekend and open up the possibilities. She explained the change, calling it a "rethinking."
I’ve just been kind of rethinking, and I’ve been thinking I want to be as creative as possible with the acoustic set moving forward and I don’t want to limit anything or say, ‘If I played this song, I can’t play it again. So, from now on, I don’t want to take any paint colors out of the paintbox or tools out of the toolbox. I want to be able to play songs more than once if I feel like it and I want to be able to make changes to songs. Does that sound OK?
As a fan, this is exciting for many reasons. First, many fans were worried about what Swift would do if she ever ran out of songs completely. Now, any fans attending an upcoming show can still get excited about potentially hearing one of their favorites, even if Swift has already performed it before at a different show. There are so many other creative ways the singer can approach repeated songs, whether it’s with a new arrangement or backed by a different instrument. The possibilities are now endless and I personally can’t wait to see how she approaches this new change.
Shortly after announcing, Swift sang a mashup of “Daylight” and “Come Back…Be Here.” A mashup is such a creative way to introduce the new change, and these two songs fit absolutely flawlessly together. Afterwards, she sat at the piano to play one of her first hits from her debut album, “Teardrops On My Guitar.” This showed that the rule change wouldn’t stop her from performing some of her lesser-played, older music, and she would still approach the show section with signature Taylor Swift creativity.
We will continue following the Eras Tour and all the surprise songs Swift plays throughout the international leg that will continue throughout 2024. She also always has exciting new music for Swifties to look forward to, and will be releasing her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department on April 19th. Fans who are unable to get to one of her sold out shows can still experience the magic of The Eras Tour by checking out the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film which will be streaming with a Disney+ subscription on March 15th.
