ByNatalie Dreier, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
End of the tour FILE PHOTO: Taylor Swift performs on stage during "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at Johan Cruijff Arena on July 05, 2024 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management) (Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images for TAS Rights Mana)
ByNatalie Dreier, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
Nothing has been as big of a worldwide session as Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. But as all good things must do, it ends this weekend.
Swift announced her Eras Tour on Nov. 1, 2022, writing on social media, “I’m enchanted to announce my next tour: Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour, a journey through the musical eras of my career (past and present!).” The tour would start on March 18, 2023, in Arizona with it originally ending on Aug. 5, 2023, People magazine reported. The tour was quickly expanded and added onto several times.
The tour set records and even spurred a federal investigation.
It all started when tickets went on sale on Nov. 15, 2022, when tickets went on presale to verified fans on Ticketmaster and brought outages and delays that left people waiting for hours in a virtual queue and unable to buy tickets on the primary market, Billboard reported. Ticketmaster, three hours after the sales were supposed to start on the East Coast, said they were not prepared for the “historically” large demand.
Days later, the Justice Department launched an antitrust probe into Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation to determine if it had too much power in the live music industry, The New York Times reported. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to “examine how consolidation in the live entertainment and ticketing industries harms customers and artists alike,” People reported.
In May 2024, the DOJ ended up suing Live Nation and Ticketmaster for monopolizing the industry, CBS News reported. The lawsuit included 29 states and the District of Columbia.
But the DOJ wasn’t the only lawsuit the companies faced. Swifties took Live Nation and Ticketmaster to court, alleging “unlawful conduct.” The lead plaintiff said she tried 41 times on the first day to get tickets, CNN reported.
Despite the Ticketmaster meltdown, the tour, which covered 10 of her eras through 44 songs in each 3 1/2 hour show, helped boost the economy of the U.S. so much that the Federal Reserve noticed, The Associated Press reported.
Economists last year figured that fans spent on average $1,500 on plane tickets, hotel rooms and concert tickets, the AP reported, without accounting for the shirts, records, books, friendship bracelets or anything else Swift fans needed to get.
Pollstar estimates that the Eras Tour would bring more than $2 billion by Sunday, the AP reported.
“This is the very first time I’ve ever acknowledged to myself and admitted that this tour is gonna end in December,” she said in June, adding, “this tour has really become my entire life.”
So, what comes next?
Cosmopolitan called it her “post-Eras era,” saying that the singer/songwriter will take some time off. She is expected to watch her boyfriend Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs during the last two months of the NFL regular season.
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Photos: Taylor Swift through the years Here are some memorable photos of Taylor Swift through the years. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for MTV)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2006: Country singer Taylor Swift arrives at the 41st annual Academy of Country Music Awards held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 23, 2006, in Las Vegas. (Michael Buckner/Getty Images)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2007: Music artist Taylor Swift performs during the Academy of Country Music New Artists' Party for a Cause show at the MGM Grand Conference Center on May 14, 2007, in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2008: Singer Taylor Swift arrives at the 50th annual Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center on February 10, 2008, in Los Angeles. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2009: Kanye West (left) jumps onstage after Taylor Swift (center) won the "Best Female Video" award during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on September 13, 2009, in New York City. (Christopher Polk/Getty Images)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2010: Musicians Kary Perry and Taylor Swift during the 52nd annual Grammy Awards Salute to Icons Honoring Doug Morris held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 30, 2010, in Beverly Hills, California. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images for NARAS)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2011: Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez perform onstage during the "Speak Now World Tour" at Madison Square Garden on November 22, 2011, in New York City. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2012: Taylor Swift performs onstage during the MTV EMA's 2012 at Festhalle Frankfurt on November 11, 2012, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images for MTV)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2013: Taylor Swift arrives at the 55th annual Grammy Awards on February 10, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2014: Musician Taylor Swift attends the "Charles James: Beyond Fashion" Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 5, 2014, in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2015: Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian attend the 57th annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center on February 8, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images for NARAS)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2016: Recording artist Taylor Swift attends the 2016 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Graydon Carter at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 28, 2016, in Beverly Hills, California. (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2017: Musician Taylor Swift performs onstage during the Super Saturday Night Concert at Club Nomadic on February 4, 2017, in Houston. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images for DIRECTV)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2018: Taylor Swift attends the 2018 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on October 9, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2019: Taylor Swift performs during the TIME 100 Gala 2019 Dinner at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 23, 2019, in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for TIME)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2020: Taylor Swift attends the 2020 Sundance Film Festival "Miss Americana" Premiere at Eccles Center Theatre on January 23, 2020, in Park City, Utah. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2021: Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, and Aaron Dessner accept the Album of the Year award for "Folklore" onstage during the 63rd annual Grammy Awards at the Los Angeles Convention Center on March 14, 2021, in Los Angeles. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2021: Taylor Swift attends the "All Too Well" New York Premiere on November 12, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images) (DIMITRIOS.KAMBOURIS@GETTYIMAGES.COM/Getty Images)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2021: Writer-director Taylor Swift attends a premiere for the short film "All Too Well" at AMC Lincoln Square 13 on Friday, Nov. 12, 2021, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) (Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2022: Taylor Swift speaks during a graduation ceremony for New York University at Yankee Stadium in New York, Wednesday, May 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) (Seth Wenig/AP)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years 2022: Taylor Swift waves to graduates as she participates in a graduation ceremony for New York University at Yankee Stadium in New York, Wednesday, May 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) (Seth Wenig/AP)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years Taylor Swift performs onstage during the Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour at Lumen Field on July 22, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Mat Hayward/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management) (Mat Hayward/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Mana)
Photos: Taylor Swift through the years Taylor Swift performs onstage during "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at Lucas Oil Stadium on November 01, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management) (Kevin Mazur/TAS24/Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TAS)