Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concluded a year ago in Vancouver, British Columbia, but the pop superstar isn’t done with her record-breaking live show just yet. On Friday, she dropped the concert film “The Eras Tour: The Final Show” on Disney+ along with the first two episodes of a behind-the-scenes six-part documentary series, “The End of an Era.”

While cameras captured preparation for the tour long before its first date in March 2023, the crew was supposed to join Swift on the road in Vienna in August 2024. But her three shows in that city were canceled after two men were arrested and accused of plotting a terrorist attack there, with her concerts as a target. The first episode focuses on how Swift struggled to get past that moment, and the second has a lighter feel, capturing how the production continued to evolve on the road (particularly with one amusingly overwhelmed special guest: Florence Welch).

Here are five key takeaways.

Goals for the Eras Tour Were Always Lofty

“The End of an Era” shows that many people in Swift’s circle — including her mother, Andrea — were skeptical about her idea to make the tour an extravaganza lasting over three hours. But Swift’s intention was always to “over-serve” her fans. Maximalism — and giving attendees an escape from the everyday — was the point.

“We got a list of about 40 songs,” bassist Amos Heller says. “This is insanity. What are we going to cut? And I think we added three songs.”

The series shows that Swift had specific ideas for the band — there are lots of shots of her enthusiastically air drumming and vocalizing musical parts — and worked out the surprise numbers that varied from night to night with each artist. In one scene, she and Ed Sheeran rehearse their duet on “Everything Has Changed,” intently watching each other’s fingers as they play acoustic guitars.

The Eras Tour Was Touched by Tragedy

The first episode digs into how Swift handled two frightening events that happened in quick succession. In late July 2024, three children died after a knife attack in Southport, England, at a Swift-themed dance class. The next month, Swift’s Vienna dates were called off after the thwarted terrorist attack. As Swift planned to return to the stage in London, cameras caught her battling what she called a “physical reaction” to her nerves. “It sort of feels like we’ve done like 128 shows so far but this is the first one where I feel like, I don’t know, like I’m skating on thin ice,” she says.

In interviews, Swift likens her job to a pilot flying a plane, where she has to remain calm so nobody else has a sense of alarm. Though she breaks down following a private meeting with survivors of the Southport attack and families affected by it, the show must go on: “It’s my job to be able to handle all these feelings and then perk up immediately to perform.”

Swift Loves Secrets

Yes, viewers do see Swift getting into what appears to be a cleaning cart in order to make her way to the stage.

She also details how her team worked surreptitiously to incorporate songs from “The Tortured Poets Department” into the set after its release in April 2024. They constructed a “top secret” facility to rehearse that portion, but couldn’t play the music on speakers as they learned the choreography because it hadn’t been released yet.

Swift’s penchant for secrecy is also invoked when she plans to bring Welch out at Wembley Stadium for a rendition of “Florida!!” Welch, who has headlined arenas for years with Florence + the Machine, is still taken aback by the scale of Eras. (She likens arriving onstage with Swift to landing on Mars.)

Swift Has Changed Her Football Allegiances

Swift is engaged to the Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce, but fans will definitely notice that in footage of early Eras rehearsals she’s wearing a Philadelphia Eagles sweatshirt. (It’s a display of loyalty to her home state’s team before she switched allegiances.) Kelce doesn’t physically show up in the first two episodes, but his voice is heard in phone calls to Swift, marveling at her onstage skills. She tells him, “Some people get a vitamin drip. I got this conversation.”

Choreography Has Long Been a Challenge for Swift

The second episode focuses heavily on the tour’s dancers as Swift integrates “The Tortured Poets Department” into her set. Viewers get a chance to meet Kameron Saunders, who praises Swift for giving a dancer with his body type a featured role, and Amanda Balen, who was retired and working as an associate to choreographer Mandy Moore when Swift asked her to appear onstage.

Swift admits that choreography hasn’t always been her strongest suit. “It’s taken me a really long time to be even fine at choreography,” she says. Moore has been able to teach her the moves from a “lyrical perspective.” “I don’t do eight counts,” Swift explains, “I learn based on what syllable of the lyric I’m attaching the movement to, and I can’t really learn any other way.”

—

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Esther Zuckerman/Cassidy Araiza
c. The New York Times Company