13 unpopular opinions about Taylor Swift's Eras Tour

• The Eras Tour is without a doubt one of the best concert tours to ever exist.

• But there are some things Swift could've done better, like include a song from her debut album.

• Other things she got completely right, and fans are in the wrong for thinking otherwise.

With The Eras Tour, Taylor Swift has once again proven that she's a cut above the rest when it comes to her artistry and commitment to her craft.

Every weekend, she takes the stage around 8 p.m. local time in a new US city to perform songs from nine of her 10 albums, never once letting up until she takes her final bow more than three hours later.

I attended her concert at MetLife Stadium on May 28 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It was easily the best show I've ever seen in my life.

I laughed. I screamed. I cried. I cried harder.

But after seeing the spectacle for myself — and taking in all the tweets and TikToks about it that the algorithms keep showing me — I've come to a few conclusions on the tour that differ from many of her other fans.

Here are 13 unpopular opinions I have about Swift's Eras Tour, from loving the inclusion of "The 1" to wishing she ended each night with a different era than the one she chose.

Replacing "Invisible String" with "The 1" was a god-tier decision.

On the fifth stop of the tour, Swift took "Invisible String" off the setlist and slotted the opening track to "Folklore" in its place.

It was a choice that many fans have since speculated was meant to hint at Swift's breakup from Joe Alwyn, which was reported a few days later.

If that's true, it's a mastermind move that signals Swift still wants her fans to find out about her life through her music first, instead of through news reports online. This motive stems all the way back to when she used to capitalize letters in her liner notes to give her audience clues as to who her songs were about.

So fans who think "The 1" shouldn't have made it onto the setlist are wrong for two reasons.

First, it completely overlooks the longstanding tradition of Swift signaling life updates to her fans through her music.

And second, there's just nothing like hearing those opening piano notes in a live setting for the first time. The "Folklore" section should have always begun with "The 1" and I will die on this hill.

(Also, Swift should absolutely release a studio version of the song that incorporates the note change on "take her home.")

Finishing with the "Midnights" era makes for an anticlimactic ending.

I understand the rationale of ending the night with an album called "Midnights" and sending your fans home with songs from your most recent project ringing in their ears.

But for a concert series called The Eras Tour, it's strange to base the finale on an era that hasn't ended and therefore hasn't had the time to build a sense of nostalgia or fully embed itself into listeners' lives.

Ending with an older era would ultimately be more rewarding for fans who've followed Swift's career for years and leave newer fans with a taste of an album they might've missed — especially as Swift continues rerecording her early work.

Instead, she should have ended on "Speak Now."

Picture this: It's the end of the night and Swift comes out in a ball gown. She begins "Enchanted," giving everyone in the audience the opportunity to scream back at her, "This night is sparkling, don't you let it go."

The song ends and Swift gets ready to sing the final track of the night, a song she's previously said on her last tour is a song "that for me, is always gonna be about you."

"Long Live" begins to play, fans start spinning around as confetti falls to the ground, and the last line Swift croons as the crowd goes wild is, "One day, we will be remembered."

This ending would've been the most appropriate option considering she utilized one of her Eras Tour shows to announce the upcoming release of "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)," her third rerecorded album and the first since starting the tour.

Instead, there's virtually no hype for the album within her setlist — all she sings is "Enchanted," and she doesn't even perform it in its entirety.

Swift's debut album also should've been represented on the setlist.

If Swift were to move "Speak Now" to the end, the spot vacated by "Enchanted" would be perfect for something from her self-titled first album.

"Enchanted" is currently wedged between the "Reputation" and "Red" eras — Swift easily could've bridged that gap with a "Picture to Burn" or "Should've Said No" moment. One of those angsty teen songs between those two eras would've been phenomenal.

Sure, moving "Speak Now" and adding "Taylor Swift" would mean she'd have to trim two other songs elsewhere, but there are easy cuts to make.

Personally, I'd be fine without "The Last Great American Dynasty" and "Bejeweled." We also don't need both "Tolerate It" and "My Tears Ricochet," so axing one would free up time, too. (And I'm saying this as someone whose favorite Swift album is "Folklore.")

The "Red" section could be so much better if she swapped even one of the hits for a deeper cut.

Swift plays "22," "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," and "I Knew You Were Trouble" before launching into her 10-minute version of "All Too Well" (or "Nothing New" for the shows with Phoebe Bridgers.)

Individually, each one of the first three songs is a fun crowd-pleaser, but collectively, they don't fully represent the "Red" era to anyone who didn't solely consume the album through the radio in 2012.

Swapping even one of these out for another upbeat track like "State of Grace," "Holy Ground," or even the title track would strengthen the "Red" set exponentially.

Meanwhile, the 10-minute version of "All Too Well" is not a bathroom break and it's weird so many people see it as one.

This is literally Swift's magnum opus and some of you are skipping it?

The "Reputation" outfit is perfect and she shouldn't even attempt to find an alternative look for it.

I've seen fans on Twitter say that Swift must hate "Reputation" because it's the only era for which she has worn the exact same look every single night so far.

But if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The "Reputation" jumpsuit is the best look she wears the entire night, and Swift must know that because she even incorporates it into the video transition that plays on the screen as this segment of the show begins.

It's sexy, it's iconic, and it perfectly embodies the "Reputation" aesthetic — so much so that it outdoes every outfit she wore on the Reputation Stadium Tour by a mile.

In fact, the entire "Reputation" section is flawless. She chose exactly the right songs.

I am admittedly not a "Reputation" stan, but I did go to the Reputation Stadium Tour in 2018 and fully understand that it's an album made to be played in stadiums.

But when you have to distill that down to a few songs, I can't imagine a more perfect lineup than starting with "...Ready For It?" before diving into "Delicate" and "Don't Blame Me" and wrapping up with lead single "Look What You Made Me Do."

The energy at MetLife Stadium on May 28 was unmatched for every second of this era.

Meanwhile, some of Swift's other looks are, dare I say, ugly.

There's one dress she wears for "Enchanted" that looks like it's growing mushrooms on it, and another look for the "Fearless" era that has weird noodle-like strings at the end.

The yellow dress she wears for the acoustic set is also an unfortunate shade for her.

There should be a bit more time between the second opener and Swift's sets.

Once you're in the venue, there's not a whole lot of time to eat, drink, get merch, or even so much as go to the bathroom without missing out on an opening set.

When I attended, we arrived about an hour before the first opener and found out the merch lines would take more than an hour to get through, meaning we'd likely have to skip Owenn's set and even part of Phoebe Bridgers' in order to buy a sweatshirt and then food.

We opted to skip the merch and bought hot dogs and water before going right to our seats instead.

But even then there wasn't a ton of time to take photos or swap friendship bracelets.

In the time between Bridgers' and Swift's sets, we attempted to go to the bathroom, but the lines were so extremely long that we were still waiting a few minutes before Swift was expected to take the stage.

We ended up forgoing the preemptive bathroom break in favor of soaking in every second of Swift's set (and ultimately were fine for the entirety of the show). But spacing out the sets just a little more would help account for all the other things concertgoers want or need to do before planting themselves at their seats for three-plus hours.

But also absolutely none of the merch is worth waiting hours for.

None of the designs are all that great. There are way better fan-made options on Etsy.

The only good piece is the viral crewneck and even that one could've been better since the black text is barely legible against the navy.

Signs shouldn't be allowed in the audience.

Swift's set is carefully choreographed and she needs to keep it moving in order to hit every song before curfew.

She is not Harry Styles, who dedicates part of his set each night to interacting directly with fans and reading their signs aloud from the stage.

So instead, all that the signs are doing is blocking another fan's view.

Everyone in the audience likely paid hundreds of dollars to be there and deserves to not have the experience interrupted by someone holding up a giant piece of poster board in front of them, obstructing their visibility of the stage, Swift, and her dancers.

It's all good and fine to bring a sign to take photos with beforehand, but no one should be holding them up during the actual performance.

Ticket pricing is way too high even for face-value tickets, and Swift should've done more to prevent exorbitant resale prices.

When I saw Swift on her Reputation Stadium Tour in 2018, I paid $182.35 total for two seats in a 200-level section directly facing the stage.

That's roughly what you'll pay for two face-value tickets behind the stage at The Eras Tour. And that's about all you can get for that price.

Sure, inflation has skyrocketed in the past five years and Swift's celebrity has only risen since then, but my face-value floor ticket still set me back $535. That's an insane price to pay for any concert ticket, and I consider myself lucky. Many others have resorted to paying more than $1,000 to make it into a stadium on this tour.

In no way is the pricing entirely Swift's fault — $83 of my total payment went toward Ticketmaster fees — but she had more options to prevent scalping than fans might realize.

While Swift can't single-handedly stop bots from entering Ticketmaster queues and wasn't personally changing seats from standard to VIP in real-time during the presale, she does still have an extraordinary amount of power and could have prohibited ticket transferring before anything went on sale.

Earlier this year, The Cure announced terms they had set in place to minimize scalping and ensure fans secured tickets at their original price. This included making the tickets non-transferable to prevent them from being resold for profit, and using Ticketmaster's face-value exchange service so that any ticket holders that did need to resell couldn't charge more than they initially paid.

Tickets cannot be made non-transferable in New York or Illinois due to state laws, which would mean Swift's Chicago dates might've still faced awful resale prices, but the other 49 shows would've had better measures in place to prevent scalping.

These services weren't created this year, either. Ticketmaster has been allowing artists and event organizers to make tickets non-transferable since at least 2020. Someone as huge as Swift absolutely could've set those rules in place late last year.

Read the original article on Insider