After 149 shows, an estimated US$2 billion in revenue and countless outfit changes, Taylor Swift takes to the stage tonight in Vancouver for the final show of her record-smashing Eras Tour.
It’s the superstar’s third sold-out night at BC Place, where she has received a delirious welcome from Swifties both local and international.
Celebrities have been among the fans converging on the tour’s final moments, with rapper Flavor Flav saying on social media he’s on his way from Los Angeles to “Taycouver” on a “flight full of Swifties” ahead of tonight’s last show.
B.C. singer Michael Buble was handing out friendship bracelets on night one, also attended by Swift’s parents, while Canuck Jake DeBrusk was at Saturday’s show according to a social media post and photo by his girlfriend.
Swift has reciprocated fans’ feeling, telling the audience on Friday night that she chose Canada and Vancouver to close out the tour because the fans not only know the lyrics, they “scream them.”
Swifties have been planning something special to end the tour, with Swift forums abuzz with suggestions to surprise her by singing “Happy Birthday” at tonight’s show, ahead of Swift’s 35th birthday on Dec. 13.
Fan projects like this have been a big part of the Eras Tour, with chants and patterned clapping breaking out during various songs.
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On Saturday, after the ballad “Champagne Problems,” Swift was met with a ritualistic standing ovation that lasted more than four minutes, along with chants of “thank you.”
“I don’t even know how to thank you for everything that you’ve given to me to get me to this place that I get to even stand here and have this experience,” Swift told the crowd. “That was one of the most beautiful things for you to do for us.”
University of Kansas sociology professor and “Swiftologist” Brian Donovan says such moments of joyous social solidarity are known as “collective effervescence.”
“What is interesting about the Eras Tour is that it also brought about unique cultural things like the trading of friendship bracelets,” he said, noting such practices were fan-driven and were not organized by Swift or her team.
Swiftie Jenny Fox got tickets to Saturday’s show after seeing daughter Avery’s reaction to the Eras Tour movie.
“I texted my husband in the theatre and said that if this is how it is in a movie theatre, I can’t even imagine what it would be like to see and experience this in real life in a massive stadium, and to see the joy on Avery’s face,” she said.
University of British Columbia philosophy professor Kimberley Brownlee said Swift’s concerts and the fans’ involvement have provided something “glorious,” and a “joy we get to share in collectively.”
Before Swift’s Vancouver dates, she performed six shows in Toronto last month.
Canada was announced as a late addition to the tour last year. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had previously pleaded with the star on social media to visit Canada, telling her “don’t make it another ‘Cruel Summer,’” a nod to one of her hits.
Trudeau and family members were among Swifties at the Toronto shows, as were former U.S. president Bill Clinton and his wife former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
For Fox, attending the tour in Vancouver with her daughter has special meaning.
Fox is the primary caretaker for her own mother, who has late-stage Alzheimer’s. Music, she said, has become the last connection to the person her mom once was.
“As soon as we put certain music on, mom comes back,” she said.
“So music is very near and dear to us. We play a lot of music, and a lot of Taylor Swift with her, so there is that love and memory and special tie to it.”
She says music endures, and attending the Eras Tour together will be something she and Avery can hold on to.
“It’s something that we will forever remember,” she said.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
