If squeezing the greatest hits from Taylor Swift’s many albums into a single concert setlist was tough, adding a new era to the lineup mid-tour may have been even more challenging.
And her new Disney+ docuseries, “The End of an Era,” shows just how stealthily Swift and her Eras Tour crew had to work in order to add a “Tortured Poets Department” section to the show in between stops in Singapore and Paris — during their two-month break from performing, no less.
“When we had done the first half of the tour, what the fans didn’t know is that I was writing a brand new album — “The Tortured Poets Department” — in the middle of me releasing the album,” the “Opalite” singer said. “We had to be all hands on deck creating a brand new era to put into the show to represent that album.”
Swift explained how they rehearsed in a “top secret facility” to “lock in the set list.”
Scenes from the series show the pop icon and her band mates rehearsing songs from “Tortured Poets” — which Swift released in April 2024, a little over a year after the Eras Tour kicked off — in complete silence at Paris La Défense Arena so as not to spoil the surprise for the thousands of fans gathered right outside the venue.
Swift’s instrumentalists are shown playing unplugged instruments and wearing headphones in order to practice the new tunes, with the superstar’s longtime bassist, Amos Heller, even rehearsing in a shower.
“We put together all new choreography, all just hearing it in our heads because they can’t play the music on speakers because it’s not out yet,” the Grammy winner explained. “There is an entirely new order of the chapters so I am relearning the entire show, essentially.”
Swift added, “That was a risk, it could’ve gone so bad. I swear to God, if I heard people online being like, ‘I miss the old show,’ I was going to be like, ‘Oh my God, you have no idea how hard this was to do.’”
“I love having a good secret,” Swift, 35, quips in the doc. “It was such a dynamic new addition to the show.”
The “Lover” songstress’s record-breaking tour ran from March 2023 through December 2024, and blew fans away with surprise songs and guests.
The 3.5-hour show featured hit songs from nearly all of the pop star’s albums, from 2008’s “Fearless” to 2022’s “Midnights.”
One of the “Tortured Poets Department” tracks Swift opted to incorporate into her setlist was “So High School” — an ode to her now-fiancé, Travis Kelce.
Swift sent fans into a frenzy when she first performed the song at her Paris tour stop and choreographed her own version of the Kansas City Chiefs’ dance to “Swag Surfin’” by Fast Life Yungstaz.
Then, in June 2024, the Grammy winner brought Kelce out on stage during her “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” transition on the third night of her London tour stop.
Surprise Eras Tour guests also included Swift’s longtime collaborator and friend Jack Antonoff.
The record producer shared the stage with the pop icon to perform her 2017 “Reputation” album track “Getaway Car” at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey in May 2023.
And Sabrina Carpenter, who opened for Swift at the start of the tour, returned to the Eras Tour in October 2024 to perform a mashup incorporating two of her hits — “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” — along with Swift’s 2023 track “Is It Over Now?”
Florence Welch and Ed Sheeran — who are featured in the new docuseries — as well as Marcus Mumford, Aaron Dessner, Phoebe Bridgers, Ice Spice and Maren Morris also joined Swift onstage.
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