Fans of Taylor Swift get to relive the phenomenon that was The Eras Tour with her new docuseries streaming on Disney+.
Swift starts out the six-part series, “The End of an Era,” with a pep talk to her band, backup dancers and backup singers.
“I want to say we have done something that no one has ever done. We have performed for over 10 million people in-person,” Swift said.
Throughout the first two episodes, which were released on Disney+ on Friday, there’s a sense of how special that cultural moment was, bringing about what Swift called “mass quantities of joy.”
Here are five takeaways from the first two episodes of “The End of an Era”:
1. Taylor Swift shares some behind-the-scenes planning of The Eras Tour
The pop star revealed that she started planning The Eras Tour two years before the first show.
“There were two main factors that culminated in The Eras Tour,” Swift said. “Both of them were unpleasant. We think that these bad things are happening to me or to us. If you flip it around correctly, and you react in a certain way, those things can be happening for you.”
The first of those two factors was that her entire music catalog was sold without her knowledge. She started rerecording her first six albums to reclaim those albums as her own. She reflected on how going back into those albums “planted a little seed in my mind of celebrating your past.”
The second factor was the COVID-19 pandemic. She described writing songs during that time as “sort of a life raft.”
Once she decided she wanted to do a show that celebrated all her different “eras,” she started putting together the 3½-hour show that would become a global phenomenon.
“I wanted to over-serve the fans,” Swift said. “That was my main goal.”
2. Taylor Swift cries over 3 fans killed in England and the Vienna massacre plot that canceled Eras Tour performances
Swift’s Vienna concerts were canceled after there were arrests of people who were accused of terrorist threats in August 2024. Around the same time, three children were killed after a teenager stabbed the three young girls to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, England.
Leading up to the first London show, which was the first show back after the terror threats and the dance class attack, the music artist reflected on what happened and shared her fears and anguish about the events.
“I’m going to meet some of these families and put on a concert,” Swift said while crying.
Before the London shows, Swift met privately with the families of the children killed in the Southport attack.
Swift is seen sobbing after meeting with the families.
“It’s my job to kind of be able to handle all these feelings and perk up immediately and perform,” she said. “That’s just the way it’s got to be.”
3. Taylor Swift shows the behind-the-scenes of bringing guest stars Ed Sheeran, Florence Welch on her show
Following the tragic events leading up to the London shows, Swift shares the behind-the-scenes of bringing Ed Sheeran to the first London concert.
“Bringing on special guests is something I really enjoy, like when I get to be onstage with someone like Ed Sheeran,” Swift said. “We can create a unique, special moment, and it just really gives fans something they didn’t expect.”
Swift revealed how anxious she was feeling about this first show back to her mother Andrea Swift, and when Sheeran walked into the room, Swift immediately lit up.
Her mom joked that him coming in “is just what the doctor ordered.”
In the second episode, Swift detailed the planning that went into bringing Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine onstage with her, also in London, for a full choreographed version of the song “Florida!!!” that Swift and Welch sang together on Swift’s 2024 album “The Tortured Poets Department.”
“Performing ‘Florida!!!’ with Florence is something I’ve wanted to do ever since the two of us wrote that song,” Swift said.
Swift recognized what a big ask it was to do the performance with full production and gave props to how much she trusts her entire crew.
“I know it’s doable because all the dancers, the choreographers, the production designers, the crew, the entire band, every person we have is the best one doing it in the entire industry,” Swift said.
4. Taylor Swift reveals how she and the crew added ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ to the setlist
After nailing down an elaborate show and dropping a whopping 31-song album “The Tortured Poets Department” in the middle of a worldwide tour, Swift decided to add a whole new setlist to the tour, with brand-new costumes, choreography and songs from the new album.
They built a top-secret practice facility for adding the new performances into the setlist.
“My goal for The Eras Tour is that I didn’t want the fans leaving thinking they missed out on anything,” Swift said. “One thing I’ve always tried to do is give the fans something they didn’t expect.”
5. Taylor Swift features the background behind some of her backup dancers
The docuseries is about The Eras Tour, not just Swift, and one of the highlights of the second episode is getting to know the stories behind some of the backup dancers.
Breakout star from the show Kameron Saunders talked about his love for dance and revealed that his brother, who plays in the NFL, purchased the flight for Saunders to audition for The Eras Tour.
“Kam is someone who lights up, not just the stage, but just our entire vibe as a tour,” Swift said. “He’s just so himself. I don’t want dancers that blend in. I don’t care about them pulling focus. I want them to pull focus. I want you to feel like you saw an entire crew of individual stars on the stage.”
“This feels like my Super Bowl,” Saunders said.
It also shows how Swift was the one who convinced a retired dancer to come out of retirement and join The Eras Tour as a dancer.
Amanda Balen was working as the associate choreographer when Swift recognized her star power and started asking if she wanted to join the tour as a dancer onstage.
“Even though there was a lot of fear, it was just too wonderful of an opportunity,” Balen said. “I get chills. It was a second chance that most people don’t get to have.”
Swift also revealed that actress and friend Emma Stone was the one who recommended choreographer Mandy Moore to Swift.
“I never in my life would have thought that I would be in the same sentence as Taylor Swift,” Moore said.
She explained how she comes from the film world, not the concert world, but sees how she fits in with Swift because “her songs are mini movies.”
The tour generated such massive profits that Swift decided to reward the entire crew involved with every aspect of the show with life-changing bonuses.
In one of the episodes, it showed how the backup dancers reacted to receiving the wildly generous bonuses that included a handwritten note from Swift herself.
“Bonus day is so important because setting a precedent with The Eras Tour is really important to me,” Swift said. “Because people who work on the road, if the tour grosses more, they get more of a bonus. And these people just work so hard, and they’re the best at what they do.”
She continued, “Every single person on the crew, I’ve handwritten them a note. It took me a couple weeks. But it’s fun to write the notes.”
What we know about the next episodes of Taylor Swift’s ‘The End of an Era’
The documentary series has six episodes, and the next two episodes come out next Friday, Dec. 19. The final two episodes come out the following Friday, Dec. 26.
Her entire final concert “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show” is now available to stream on Disney+, which includes the new “The Tortured Poets Department” added to the setlist.