Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ Closes With Canadian Takeover

FORTNIGHT: Taylor Swift’s six Toronto shows took place over two consecutive weekends in November. (TAS Rights Management)

Mammoth tour made it to Canada this fall for nine shows

“It’s you and me — there’s nothing like this,” Taylor Swift sings in “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince,” the opening song on “The Eras Tour,” which wraps this weekend (Dec. 6-8) in Vancouver, British Columbia, at BC Place stadium. 

The mammoth tour spanned 149 shows on five continents beginning in 2023, only making it to Canada this fall for nine shows. The only other Canadian tour stop, Toronto, hosted six nights at Rogers Centre stadium Nov. 14-16  and Nov. 21-23.

Swift has long sold out BC Place at 54,500 capacity per night but, for a west coast city usually so chill and laidback, the never-ending demand for tickets last week prompted the release of “listening only” tickets behind the stage, literally, for $16.50 (CAD) on Ticketmaster. Those were quickly snapped up, with some immediately offered by resellers for thousands. In Toronto, tickets were being sold for Rogers Centre’s general admission “social” spaces.

Swift obviously didn’t mean “nothing like this” lyric to encapsulate this magical community she’s built over half her life — her self-titled first album was 2006 at age 16 — but there is nothing like this: Swift and Swifties and a tour so big and buzzy, it will be a long time before we see anything like it again. “The Eras Tour” is estimated by Pollstar to have grossed over $1 billion over the course of 2023, a figure never achieved by top touring artists like the Rolling Stones, Beyoncé, U2, Coldplay and Elton John in a single year. With 2024 seeing a similar run of  60-plus dates falling during Pollstar’s chart year, a similar number is expected this time around. 

“The Eras Tour” is a bedazzling, three-and-a-half-hour career retrospective, between 44 and 46 songs, divided into 10 mini sets culled from Swift’s 10 studio albums and the late-tour addition of her 11th and latest album, Tortured Poet’s Department, released in April. It is more than a concert; it’s a rally of positivity and empowerment for young women, quite remarkable to behold in person.

Canada waited a long time for their turn. Last summer, as the tour was in full swing, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — who was seen at one of the Toronto shows singing along and exchanging bracelets with fellow Swifties — tried to exercise some influence by tweeting to Swift: “It’s me, hi. I know places in Canada would love to have you. So, don’t make it another cruel summer. We hope to see you soon.”

Canada was likely always on the agenda and, while 2024 saw the “Eras” tour mostly overseas in multiple continents including Australia, Asia and Europe, this fall included a sizable contingent of U.S. stadiums with multiple shows in Miami, Indianapolis and New Orleans. 

“Here in 2024, we have taken the Eras Tour all over the world,” Swift said during the first Toronto show, Nov. 14. “We went to Asia, we went to Australia, we spent all summer in Europe, swung back through America, and then we thought, ‘You know what? If we’re going to bring the Eras Tour to a close’ — which we are, in nine shows — ‘I was thinking, I want to spend those last shows with the most generous, encouraging, passionate, excitable fans.’ So we came to see you, Toronto.”

The Swift camp and associated venues do not give out numbers or production information. The “Eras Tour” was produced by Swift’s in-house tour production company, Taylor Swift Touring, and promoted by longtime promoter Messina Touring Group in North America. 

Canadian Ethan Tobman designed the concert stage (and was not available for an interview). There are unverified reports from Pollstar sources that the tour required a fleet of 90 trucks for “flipping” through the U.S. dates, and 51 for the Canadian leg.

Their contents — a technical wonder of three stages, digital displays, set pieces, and sound and lighting consoles — can be seen, comfortably at home, in “The Eras Tour” concert film released last year, directed by Grammy-nominated Sam Wrench (Billie Eilish: Live at the O2)

This time last year, Pollstar estimated The Eras Tour, which kicked off in Glendale, Arizona, on March 17, 202,3 and ending on Nov. 11 at Estadio Más Monumental in Buenos Aires, would gross more than $1 billion dollars for her 60 shows in just eight months. That estimate was “based on Pollstar Boxoffice reports combined with extensive research including ticket prices in each market, record capacities at each venue and comparable tour data.” 

While many may not understand the Swiftie phenomenon — just like Swifties probably don’t understand multigenerational Deadheads in tie-dye hanging out in the “shakedown street” parking lots — there’s really been nothing as impactful in music today as the 34-year-old and “The Eras Tour,” its impact on grooming the future generation of concertgoers and its economic impact on cities. 

Let’s remove the much-reported ballyhoo about the FOMO frenzy to nab a ticket, the frustration with the verified fan system and disgustingly exorbitant resale prices, what anyone who caught one of Swift’s “Eras” concerts saw was a unique, cute-cult-like camaraderie among her fans, their constant exchange of beaded friendship bracelets (literally millions of beads sold around the world), the bonding of parents and their children and, most importantly, the exposure to pre-teens to the electricity and nothing-like-it-on-earth concert experience. Swifties saw a young woman playing guitar, piano, singing empowering pop songs that speak to them.  Those young fans might ask for an instrument for Christmas; they will undoubtedly grow up to buy concert tickets. 

That, coupled with the enormous economic impact her concerts have had on each city the superstar visited is, Taylor Swift might be the savior no one expected. The U.S. Travel Association said the “total economic impact likely exceeded $10 billion.”

 In Canada, tourism departments based their estimates on hotels, dining, shopping, entertainment, and local transportation and other spending, but not on concert ticket prices and airfare “as these revenues are largely not retained in the local economy.”

In Toronto alone, her six concerts were estimated to have brought a half-a-million visitors to the city. Kathy Motton, senior manager of corporate communications at Destination Toronto, the tourism arm of the municipal government, told Pollstar, “There is no updated number, as it’s still too early,” but provided the figures estimated before Swift’s tour came to town: over $282 million in economic impact and over $152 million in direct spending. 

“Of the $152 million in direct spending, $141 million—nearly 93% —is estimated to come from out-of-town visitors and $11 million is estimated to come from local Swifties,” read the press release. “The direct and indirect tax impacts of the string of six concerts are expected to generate nearly 40 million in tax revenue across all levels of government.” (Figures are in Canadian dollars).

The city did go a little Taylor-mad, many renamed it Tayronto. 

Adjacent to Rogers Centre at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre there was the 150,000 square foot Toronto’s Version: Taylgate ’24, featuring a 5 million bead bracelet-making station, various photo op installations and MAC makeup area. Hotels and restaurants had Taylor-themed menu items and rooms. The Bata Shoe Museum held a Taylor Swift Fan night. Some police officers had “Taylor Swift” emblazoned on their hats, while officers on horseback had Taylor necklaces around the equine. There was also a giant inflatable bracelet strung around a section of the stadium, and 22 commemorative “Taylor Swift Way” street signs put up for the month of November to later be auctioned for the Daily Bread Food Bank (they raised $216,842.96, including $113,000 donated by Canadian tour sponsor Rogers). 

Now it’s Vancouver’s turn.  The huge VANCOUVER city sign at Canada Place was swifted-out to SWIFTCOUVER and, like Toronto, hotels are sold out and Taylor-themed events and menu offerings are saturating the downtown core. Destination Downtown also has a map of 13 — of course — illuminated Taylor-themed installations. 

The city says up to 70% of the ticket holders are not from Vancouver, including about 40% visiting from outside of Canada. Destination Vancouver estimates the economic impact at $157 million (CAD). 

According to the press release, “Of that, $97 million is direct spending on such things as accommodation, food and beverage, retail and transportation—more than 70% of which will be spent by out-of-town visitors. That infusion into local businesses translates into more than $27 million in total tax revenue for all three levels of government.”

Erin Benjamin, president and CEO of the Canadian Live Music Association, spoke at the House of Commons Canada’s Standing Committee on Finance on Nov. 7 in Ottawa, explaining the importance of music tourism to Parliament.

“Music tourism is basically when you visit somewhere where you don’t live, no matter how far away, to see a show; it’s about the money you spend along the way,” she said. “That is music tourism. And in fact, in a few short weeks, the Canadian Live Music Association will release the first ever economic impact study of Canada’s live music sector and it will say in 2023 that visitor spending associated with live music tourism reached an estimated $9.9 billion, which in turn contributes $8.9 billion to GDP, which is in addition to the direct $2 billion in GDP from the live music industry itself, without the tourism piece, all the while creating a combined nearly 80,000 jobs, which means live music is not just about connecting artists and fans — live music means tourism…”

After speaking to Parliament, Benjamin tells Pollstar that those were earlier figures from the soon-to-be-released economic impact study and they have since been updated. “In 2023 alone,” she says, “the Canadian live music industry generated $10.92 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) and produced $3.73 billion in tax dollars. Live music also supported more than 101,640 jobs, contributing $5.84 billion in labour income across the country.”

She concluded at the standing committee on finance: “When our concert halls are full, our neighborhood restaurants are full. When our festivals are sold out, our hotels are full. Our margins are very slim. We take on the risk and everyone benefits. Just ask the city of Toronto next week,” she added, referring to Swift’s six concerts. “And here’s the thing: This is across our ecosystem. The Taylor Swift Effect is scalable.”