Taylor Swift, whose billion-dollar Eras tour diverted the flow of commerce and social media this summer, has made herself the main character of 2023. With the worldwide release of her concert film, the 33-year-old singer is probably on the verge of being overexposed. It’s also her most compelling and forceful argument against it – a near-exact recreation of the stadium show that underpinned her inexhaustible talent and undeniable status as pop’s preeminent songwriter.
Swift praised the concert film, shot over three nights at LA’s SoFi Stadium in August, as “the perfect capture of what that show was like for me.” This is a bit misleading. The film adopts Swift’s subtle perspective for just a few tantalizing moments, peering behind her into tens of thousands of flashing, screaming lights. Aside from a few snippets of the audience – mostly young women, mostly screaming or singing or in tears, all devoted – this is a Swift film, in hyper-resolution and from seemingly every possible angle.
Directed by Sam Wrench, who has made concert films for Billie Eilish, Lizzo and Brandi Carlile, the film is a true masterpiece. Wrench skillfully draws on all the tools of mega-tour videography, oscillating between the massive crowd and countless shots of Swift: her enlarged face, covered in sweat, or frontal, while she’s flanked by her own background image on the screen. The film captures the singer with such a crystal-clear, calm eye that you can collect treasures of detail – the individual sequins on her couture bodies, the scuff marks on her stage.
Like the show itself, the film is a stunningly magnificent production, the contents of which are as advertised: the Eras touring concert, spanning 17 years of music across their 10 studio albums, with no cutscenes or interviews or backstage footage. Unlike the show, the film can account for the cacophonous noise in the stadium, a maelstrom of sound that largely enveloped Swift’s voice in person, at least at the two shows I attended. The film allows for extended stretches of boisterous cheering, but Swift rings it clear as a bell. And Wrench’s meticulous recordings often emphasize the supporting cast – dancers, backing singers, band – which are overshadowed by the intoxicating focus on them in the live show.
“It’s easy to feel the rush of being in her temple”: Swift live at SoFi Stadium in LA. Photo: Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesWith no costume change breaks and seven unobtrusive cuts from the LA setlist, the concert’s running time – normally over three hours – clocks in at a respectable two hours and 45 minutes of screen time. It could be shorter; Even though my performance had people jumping along to every song, without the collective energy of 70,000 people it can feel like a marathon. It’s further evidence of Swift’s impressive endurance: Her bangs are getting sweatier, but I only caught her breathing heavily in one shot.
The camera work is less stable and more reflective of the volume of the song. The louder the bass, the more breathless the cuts. It can be a dizzying, sometimes exhausting jumble of cuts, and a relief when the camera allows the show’s most searing moments of fan-idol connection — the blistering “All Too Well,” the nostalgic acoustic section, Swift’s strangely precocious banter, minimal theatrics .
At its best, the Eras Tour film succeeds in capturing the why of this connection, the shock of their huge fame versus the startling emotional clarity of their songwriting. She says the Eras tour was the most extraordinary experience of her life; In this skillful depiction, one can easily feel the intoxication that comes with being in her temple.