Swift disenchants with lack of fan favorites on Eras Tour

Taylor+Swift+performs+Enchanted+at+Raymond+James+Stadium+in+Tampa%2C+Florida+on+April+15.

AnaCate Wright

Taylor Swift performs “Enchanted” at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on April 15.

As Taylor Swift continues The Eras Tour across North America, students reminisce about their concert experiences. It’s been over a month since Swift made her three day appearance at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

Sophomore AnaCate Wright went to the concert on April 15 and she said it was her first Swift concert.

“It was the best show I’ve ever been to and I really hope I can go back again one day,” Wright said. “I’ve been to a couple other concerts, but this was by far the best one. There were flames and graphics and backup dancers, very over-the-top and I loved it.”

Senior McKenna Slaughter also attended the concert on April 15, and she said Swift made an unforgettable night.

“I love live music and I go to a lot of concerts but I have never been to a concert that has matched the production level that [Swift’s] was,” she said. “It was a full three hours, she’s got like a dozen costume changes, every era has its own visuals, it was absolutely incredible. She gives you those bracelets that light up so everybody in the crowd is included and it was an absolutely amazing concert.”

The Eras Tour song setlist includes songs from almost all of Swift’s albums, each album representing a different “era” of her career. However, Wright noticed an extreme lack of songs from both her debut album, Taylor Swift, and 2010 album, Speak Now.

“What I was really upset about was that there was not even one debut song,” Wright said. “I like Speak Now but I think [Swift] should have put at least one [Taylor Swift song] in there.”

The only Speak Now song consistently performed at each location for the tour is “Enchanted” while other songs from both Taylor Swift and Speak Now have been performed as surprise songs. Two surprise songs are played at every performance and are separate from the setlist, being different at every night and location. 

Freshman Tadi Zivotic went to the concert on April 13 and said he was disappointed with the lack of songs from these catalogs.

“I would have loved to hear any of the Speak Now songs including “Long Live” and “Sparks Fly”, “Mean” even,” he said. “People on Saturday were so lucky to hear [Swift] sing “Mean” [as a surprise song] and I would have loved for her to sing at least six more.”

Slaughter said that she was anticipating Speak Now songs, and she said she was excited to hear them live and in concert.

“I went with two of my friends and we were trying to predict the [surprise] songs ahead of time,” Slaughter said. “We made our predictions, locked them in and then [as] we were walking to the stadium, I was like, ‘I know she’s not going to play it, but Speak Now is my favorite album of hers and I would love if she would play “Mean”,’ and she did. It was incredible to hear it live and I thought it was kind of cool to predict it.”

Zivotic speculates that the reason for the absence of songs from these albums is because of Swift’s secretive re-recordings.

“I think that she’s just very busy re-recording [the albums],” he said. “She just wanted to perform everything else so she can instead focus on those albums because I truly think that Speak Now or her debut album is the next re-recording.”

Wright, on the other hand, said she thinks the shortage of songs is due to the albums’ lack of popularity.

“I think it’s because [Taylor Swift and Speak Now] are probably not as well-known outside of her fan base,” she said. “I think they just didn’t have any of the same hit songs like Red did or Fearless with “Love Story” and “We Are Never Getting Back Together” but I think “Enchanted” is just more of a fan favorite.”

By Alexandra Buras