A new era has entered the chat.
Taylor Swift performed her first show since the release of her 11th studio album, "The Tortured Poets Department," May 9 in Paris, and audiences were met with a surprise: a revamped setlist.
Each concert in the record-breaking "Eras Tour," which kicked off March 17, 2023, in Arizona, has typically run for three hours and 15 minutes. The standard setlist was made up of songs from each of Swift's albums except her 2006 debut.
But at her first Paris show of the tour, Swift introduced a new "era" to represent her latest album.
The tour intro, featuring purple and pink waving pieces of fabric, notably features a medley of Swift singing the names of her albums, before kicking off her first song, "Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince."
On May 9, the concert opening featured a new black-and-white onscreen background, the addition of a choral "The Tortured Poets Department" and a new orange and red bodysuit, foreshadowing several notable costume changes to come.
During an edited "Red" era of the show, Swift teased that the crowd in Paris made her want to bring out "all kinds of fun surprises."
Later in the show, Swift officially debuted her new era with a "Tortured Poets Department" section of her show. Influencer Chris Olsen live-streamed the Paris concert from TikTok, and when the "Tortured Poets" era began, more than 200,000 users watched along.
Here's what happened.
‘The Tortured Poets Department’ makes the ‘Eras Tour’ setlist
"The Tortured Poets Department" section began ominously, with echoes of her voice from "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" and other songs.
Here are the songs Swift performed from her 11th album:
- "But Daddy I Love Him"
- Bridge of "So High School" (thought to be about boyfriend Travis Kelce)
- "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?"
- "Down Bad"
- "Fortnight"
- "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" (performed with a drum line)
- "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart"
The era introduced a new set piece — a mirrored box that allowed Swift to glide and seemingly levitate — across the stage as she belted out the album’s powerful lyrics. She also seemingly re-created the sterile asylum-like set of her music video “Fortnight” onstage.
After "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived," Swift seemingly laid lifeless on the stage until two dancers carried her over to a red heart shaped box. She changed costumes as a jazzy, theatrical instrumental track played before performing "I Can Do It With A Broken Heart," juxtaposing the rousing beat with devastating lyrics.
After the era, Swift went into the acoustic set, and told the crowd that her nickname for the "Tortured Poets" section is "female rage, the musical."
Swift first teased the addition of "Tortured Poets" to the setlist with a YouTube Short featuring her single "Fortnight." In the black-and-white video, Swift shows fans a "fortnight," or two-week period, in her life, including what appears to be rehearsals for the restart of the "Eras Tour" after two months off.
In several clips, fans noticed props and costumes that they didn't recognize from the "Eras Tour," such as top hats and canes. Those top hats and canes came into play during the finale of the era, accompanied by a theater marquee that read, "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour."
Did the rest of the ‘Eras Tour’ setlist change?
Yes, several songs from the setlist were trimmed or dropped entirely, seemingly to make room for "Tortured Poets."
First, "The Archer" was cut from the "Lover" era. Then Swift made some major alterations to the order of the setlist. "Red," normally the sixth section of the night, moved up, with "22" immediately following "Fearless."
After "Red," the stage lights turned purple and a troupe of dancers came onstage to perform a new number to an orchestral version of "Enchanted," which Swift sang after to usher in the "Speak Now" era. "Long Live" was cut from the setlist.
While "Reputation" ran the same, Swift then combined her "sister albums" — "Folklore" and "Evermore" — into one era, which fans can call "Everlore" or "Folkmore," she said onstage. That section saw significant trims, with Swift cutting "The 1," "The Last Great American Dynasty" and "Tolerate It."
The "1989" era remained unchanged and immediately preceded "The Tortured Poets Department." The rest of the concert continued as normal.
Here's the new order of Swift's eras, based on her first Paris concert:
- "Lover"
- "Fearless"
- "Red"
- "Speak Now"
- "Reputation"
- "Folklore"/"Evermore"
- "1989"
- "The Tortured Poets Department"
- Surprise songs
- "Midnights"
This isn't the first time Swift's setlist has seen changes. The singer started her tour by only performing one song from her third studio album, "Speak Now." But after the release of the rerecorded album in July 2023, Swift added "Long Live" to the setlist.
Then, when Haim joined Swift on tour, she adjusted the opening to her "Evermore" set, swapping "'Tis the Damn Season" for "No Body, No Crime."
The original setlist (minus "'Tis the Damn Season" and "No Body, No Crime") is notably immortalized in the "Eras Tour" concert film. The movie opened at AMC Theatres Oct. 13, 2023 with some trims. But an extended "Taylor's Version" of the concert film hit Disney+ March 14 with some of those fan-favorite songs added back in.
