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  1. Courtesy of our local Eel Market, that nice Mr Phoenix on Stall 264, we got ourselves a copy of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. The movie is one hundred and sixty eight minutes long and given its breakneck pace and dazzling, some might say exhausting, pyrotechnics we split the viewing over Saturday and Sunday evenings.
    My admiration for (almost) all things Taylor is well-known on here and Mrs Wrongness, whilst never describing herself as a true fan, has been known to bop round the room to the strains of Shake It Up on more than one occasion. (Mind you, Mrs W prefers the Kate Rusby version). We had, of course, read about the tour’s record-breaking success: 60 shows, 4.5 million tickets sold, gross revenue of over 1 billion (yes, 1 billion!) dollars and that’s just 2023. She’s doing more of the same, including the UK and Europe in 2024. (With an average, yes AVERAGE, ticket price of $456 dollars that’s not such a surprising figure).The film itself took over $90 million dollars in its FIRST weekend! Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Adele – you took one hell of a beating!
    That’s enough about money, what about the film, I hear at least one of you say? Again and again and again my jaw dropped at its visual splendour. We are told which Album/Era is coming next, each merits a different lavish set and extravagant costume changes. Technology allows the band and backup singers to traverse the vast spaces of Inglewood’s Sofi Stadium unencumbered by wires and sonic paraphernalia. I cannot recall seeing any mile high stacks of speakers so presumably the sound is going through the stadium’s system which no doubt had been turned up to 11?
    It’s a non-chronological run through Swift’s back catalogue – the hits, the splendour just keeps on coming. Song after song after song. Whilst you cry WTF! as Taylor dives into a swimming pool, turns into a sea-monster and swims a hundred yards under water make sure to keep the subtitles on. Boy, can this girl write a lyric!
    Both Mrs W and I were exhausted by the end of each ninety-minute segment so god knows what it feels like to be in the middle of an adoring concert crowd of Swifties and I can only imagine it’s a similar experience at your local IMax cinema.
    Put your prejudices to one side and go on, enjoy yourself!

  2. So, you love Taylor…. but not enough not to STEAL MONEY DIRECTLY FROM HER.

    Interesting. Clearly her wee bairnies* will have to feed themselves, but you’ve had your fun, and that’s the important thing!

    *which may or may not exist

    • I use Eel Markets to sample the products. If the products are sufficiently worthwhile, I invest. I have sent a personal mail to Taylor promising that next time she is in Pouzolles I will attend her concert. I had a look at Paris next year – a hotel fifteen miles away from the concert is already sold-out and the asking price for a Holiday Inn was 650 euros a night!!

      (Those first two sentences may need fact checking)

      • Here it costs $20 (about 12 quid) to stream it, presume that will be cheaper once it leaves movie theatres. May be worth it if you are a big fan to avoid potential security issues when downloading stuff from illegal sites.

            • According to my computer’s internet, “The global Eel market size was valued at USD 4361.89 million in 2022 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 3.36% during the forecast period, …”
              My computer couldn’t get any further than that without signing in to Linkedin (which sounds too much like sucking up to the establishment for my liking, might just as well vote Tory).

                • Astonishing but apparently not astonishing enough to buy a legitimate copy. Never fails to amaze me how people are quite happy to steal music when presumably they wouldn’t think of walking out of a shop without paying.

                  • To be fair, TS is as rich as Croesus and many hardcore fans feel she’s taking the piss by charging $19.89 for a 48-hour rental, on top of charging the same price for theatrical release.
                    I adore Taylor as an artist and a person with a genuinely good heart, but there’s no doubt she is *the* Capitalist Queen of Pop.

                    • I pay a monthly fee to the streaming music service of my choice. I support a couple of young(ish) artists through Bandcamp. On my limited means I’m more than happy to steal tv shows and movies. I also used to tape records I borrowed from the library. I’m going to hell, I am.

                    • A thought. Do Musicians get paid for review copies? Actually, given all those streams and discs come out the promo budget, they effectively pay the reviewers for them. At least Lodey is cost neutral, Mr Greenhouse.

                    • I think that’s a normal price for movies that are still in the cinema. I look at it like this, invite 3 friends over and get the popcorn/prosecco going. $5 each, bit cheaper than all going to the movies (or even a concert) *

                      * Please note I won’t be doing this

  3. My daughter is a fan and we bought this last week. I sat with her to watch it end to end, soup to nuts. Despite Ms Swift being the current Leader of the World I was woefully ignorant of her catalogue.

    Hmmm… I enjoyed it. The lass is made to perform. She has chutzpah in wheelbarrow fulls and her stamina is a joy to behold. I suppose you can say this of any artist you hear properly for the first time, but apart from a few ear worms even I knew, it sounded as though she was singing the same song over and over. By which I mean the lyrical content and mood was being duplicated, to the same tempo.

    M’Lud , I give you Iron Maiden, or the Quo as purveyors of the eternally similar in her defence. I thought she’d be more Britney than she was, for some reason. I was expecting primary colour bangers rather than having a protracted row with a bloke at a table at one point.

    • Never thought I would see a comparison between Taylor and Iron Maiden for which I thank you.
      However, isn’t the old trope “It all sounds the same” precisely what we say about music we don’t like?
      Take The Blues for instance – “Woke up this morning and they were still playing Crossroads”…..

      • Absolutely, old fruit. It’s not that I didn’t like it. I did. But as newb to her oeuvre I was struck by the sameness of the lyrics.

        More power to her and her wheelbarrows of energy.

  5. I saw the movie twice at the cinema, once an Odeon iSense screening, and it’s everything you say Lodey – exhausting (in the best way), emotional, absolutely immersive and engaging. As I suggested in my post about the tour back in March (autographs on request), she shares with Springsteen that gift of making a stadium feel intimate – and every song personal to every individual in the audience – at the same time as being the source of almost a spiritual communal experience.
    I’m so stoked about seeing this tour twice (yeah, I know) next year.

  9. Half way through , and it’s just great. The fact that she’s a bit gauche and clumpy when she dances just adds to the appeal.

    Me and the missus were totally goat-ing to Trouble:

    We’ll watch the other half tomorrow.

  11. Funnily enough we were sitting here taking turns picking tunes from Spotify. She picks August by Taylor and I go for Light The Light In and she chooses Lovely by Billie Eilish and says it’s so great with these artists, I am getting more and more into them. So many good tunes and I agree. Such is the harmonious nature of our domestic discourse. Now it’s The Band. Such is the eclectic nature of our domestic discourse.

  12. I have played her stuff a few times now. She is huge, she is respected, she deserved to be heard.
    I didnt like what I heard. Whether it is the contemporary sheen , the lyrics or maybe this 66 year old just aint into pop music. Who’dathunkit.

    I am quite happy to accept that this is a case of something is happening but you don’t know what it is , do you Mr Wells.

    • My mileage is similar. Her music is slick, glossy, beautifully played and produced – I quite understand why Swifties now make up a majority of the world population (subs please check). But my attention wanders fairly quickly. I’ll probably watch the movie though when it’s eventually beamed into the living room, for the spectacle and because I’m a drooling tired old man.

      • Yep, I’ve played a few of her albums based on recommendations here but found nothing that moved or engaged me, nothing that would have made me stop what I was doing and lean in if I had heard it on the radio. There is no shortage of new and new to me stuff which achieves those things, so Taylor will just have to console herself with her worldwide adoration and huge fortune as I won’t be putting any more time towards her cause. I’ll file her in the already bulging file marked ‘I’m glad she’s there for other people to enjoy’.

          • The blog needs a special subsection for people to explain that they have tried to listen to Taylor Swift (because she has merited that honour), but that they are simply unable to take any enjoyment from the experience.

            A closed ecosystem, with safely padded walls, in which the same 20 people can endlessly bump into one another, repeating “I’m sorry; it’s not for me. I’m sorry; it’s not for me”, and floating their crank theories as to her popularity while sparing the rest of us.

            Until such time as we have such a safe space, we will simply have to continue to host all said individuals on every single Taylor Swift thread until either the universe suffers heat death, or the intense knee jerk blog reaction fomented by La Swift finally abates. Which will be the sooner? One wouldn’t like to bet.

            • Well what do you want @Bingo-Little ? We should say that we don’t like it so it must be shit?
              Or are we to not say anything because we are not fans ?
              It’s a forum, there has been a lot of discussion about this phenomenon called Taylor Swift. Why can’t we put in our tuppence worth? And at least we’ve had a decent listen before coming to our view. Something not always the case in this place.

              • You’re more than welcome to put in your tuppence worth, and then I’ll add mine.

                Which is that we get precisely the same tired tuppence, over and over again, on every thread about TS, often repeatedly from the same individuals (not you, I might add), and that it’s boring. It clogs up the threads, adds virtually nothing of any real merit, and can at this stage be taken as read: yes, we know.

                There are all sorts of acts I’m not interested in discussed on here.
                I generally don’t bother opening the threads about them, much less comment on them, much less depositing essentially the same comment over and over again on multiple threads.

                Still, if that’s what people want to do, they’re of course free to do so – more power to their arm. But I will keep poking fun at those comments, because I’m afraid that I’m free to do that too.

                Re; a decent listen, have you watched Eras? Because that’s what this thread is about, isn’t it? Or at least was, before the inevitable occurred.

    • To be fair the urge to declare lack of engagement isn’t exclusively directed at TS. It also shows itself with discussion of Dark Side Of The Moon and others. It’s just a tendency with this site. A by the way I feel the need to declare my position. I’m out. Likewise the new Stones album, or anything Bowie related.

      • Keep the faith. I’ve never seen the appeal of Springsteen, but recently heard a new album of his songs, recorded at various times, with piano arrangements … and it’s good! After decades of trying I’ve found that there is a Springsteen album for me. If it takes TS as long to do something equivalent it may be a close run thing whether I’ll be dead first.

      • Umm, I only mentioned it because it amused me. I’m not disengaged from her work. I like her stuff, but aren’t a mega-fan. Same applies to Springsteen. I am though a huge fan of Steely Dan, but I’d go ‘Eee-razz’ to them, too.

  14. It’s odd. I really enjoy a lot of Lana Del Ray and bought a few of her albums. (Not a real fan, obviously 😉.) However, her best work is essentially Video Games repeated over and over, in terms of style, tone and delivery. I love it and am quite happy to listen to it for ever. Taylor Swift is a real talent and a stunning performer but she doesn’t have the same effect. Music fascinates me.

    • I think that’s a bit harsh on LDR. She found her thing, her subject, early on. Her subject matter and image and ploughed that furrow to great effect. A slow, moody style. But I think she does a lot with it in a hip hop vein, or country vein or more rock and also Laurel Canyon revisited. It’s more my thing than Taylor Swift, I agree in that respect. Taylor is a bit too goody two shoes. Lana convinces us she is a bit of a troubled, self destructive character, mysterious and charismatic and that is intriguing. The whole package is effective.

      • Yes. I agree I was caricaturing LDR drastically. I think you’ve nailed it ‘re the troubled soul thing. There is something broken at the centre of her art that draws me in.

  15. We ( two old people) went to watch at the cinema and had an excellent time. We thought the film was great. As good, if not better, was the excitement of the young fans who had gone to see it. A number sang along ( and danced) to every single song – no mean feat when you are talking about a catalogue encompassing 10 CD era length albums released over 15 years. Normally people singing along can be distracting, at best,as drunks attempt to join with the chorus, or tone deaf folkies play one song to the tune of another. But being in and around people who were just so thrilled was a pure delight

    • What a wonderful review, @ernietothecentreoftheearth!

      I think I’ll have to talk to Bio Reflexen where I work and try and persuade my colleagues that we really ought to screen The Eras Tour.

      Personally, I am a sucker for an audience that really gets emotionally involved in a movie. We have school screenings where teachers come with a great gaggle of kids. We showed this Norwegian teen film, Dancing Queen, to 70 12-year-olds just before Xmas and they loved it.

      They laughed, cheered, clapped and booed with all the enthusiasm of a panto audience. It is very rare that we get a grown up audience who are so responsive.

      I suspect Taylor could be the one to change that.

      And as the average age of audience is probably ….err… 80, some young blood would not go amiss!

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