It’s been almost 18 months since Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour rolled into Dublin – yet it already feels like something from another… um, era. Though it would be an exaggeration to claim we are in the midst of a Swift backlash, even many diehard Swifties were lukewarm on her recent album, The Life of a Showgirl. After decades of Swiftmania, fans seemed ready for some time away from Taylor. In putting out another record so soon, the usually astute singer had failed to read the room.
In that context, there are obvious questions about the timing of Disney+’s serviceable but not especially revealing new six-part Eras tour documentary, The End of an Era. Would it be better, perhaps, to let things sit for a while? That said, the first two parts are well-made and offer a behind-the-scenes view of Swift’s thought process around the Eras shows, which broke all sorts of records (10 million people are estimated to have attended the tour). The caveat is that this is an authorised documentary made with the full approval of the artist, so there’s nothing here that Swift doesn’t want us to see. A velvet rope keeps the audience at a distance.
The film starts ahead of the final Eras show in Vancouver in December 2024. But it then rewinds to that summer when Swift was forced to cancel three shows in Vienna after police foiled a terror plot. That near-tragedy was followed by something even worse: the horrific killing of three children in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in Southport, outside Liverpool.
Talking about the deaths, Swift understandably breaks down and then discusses the challenges of composing herself when she goes on stage – comparing herself to a “pilot flying a plane”. “If you were, like, ‘There’s turbulence up ahead, I don’t know if we’re actually going to land in Dallas’… everyone on the plane is going to freak out.”
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She very decently meets the families of the victims, and we see her in tears as she walks back to her dressingroom. You wonder if the The End of an Era might not have been better off skipping these scenes, which are extremely raw and which seem to be there only to add to the drama.
The best parts focus on Swift’s talents as a musician and a stager of grand spectacles. There’s an engaging scene of her and Ed Sheeran backstage working out the kinks in Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud, which they perform at Wembley that night. Later, a visibly frazzled Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine is led through the dance steps as she and Swift prepare a live duet of their song Florida. “It was kind of like landing on Mars,” says Florence. “That was really extraordinary. You see this cultural moment from the inside. It was really fun and really terrifying.”
Welch had the time of her life – and so did those who, in many cases, forked out huge sums to see Swift (the crazy ticket prices for the tour are not addressed). As a keepsake of that time, The End of an Era ticks enough boxes to be a worthwhile watch for Swifties. But the story is told from Swift’s perspective and with her approval – resulting in a glossy but sometimes insubstantial film. You don’t have to be an ardent Swiftie to enjoy – but it will help an awful lot.
Episodes one and two of The End of an Era are on Disney +. New episodes will be released weekly
