8 Ways The Eras Tour Movie Is Better Than Taylor Swift’s Previous Concert Films

Out of all the eponymous pop star’s concert films, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is by far her best. Released in theaters on October 13, 2023, The Eras Tour movie brought the larger-than-life titular tour to the big screen, which showcases every era of Taylor Swift’s long-spanning music career. After The Eras Tour movie broke multiple box office records, it was made available via VOD that December, followed by an exclusive release on Disney+ titled Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) the following March. The Eras Tour movie also broke a Disney+ streaming record, proving Swift is unstoppable.

Although The Eras Tour movie has been Swift’s most successful concert film by a long shot, it’s certainly not her first. Prior to Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, Swift had released a corresponding concert movie, series, or special for every era except her self-titled debut album and her fourth studio album, Red. Some of these, like Journey to Fearless and 1989 World Tour Live, also contained documentary components and behind-the-scenes footage. While The Eras Tour movie is strictly a performance film, there are many elements that make it far superior to her past releases.

8

The Eras Tour Movie Is Way Longer Than Taylor Swift’s Other Concert Films

The Eras Tour Movie (Taylor’s Version) On Disney+ Is Over Three-And-A-Half Hours Long

Even though the theatrical release of The Eras Tour movie cut down the show’s regular set list to shorten the runtime, it still came in at two hours and 49 minutes, which is at least half an hour longer than any of her other concert films. The runtime went up to three hours when three of the previously cut songs were added to the VOD release as bonus features. With the inclusion of one more cut song and four bonus songs, The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) on Disney+ is over three-and-a-half hours, the average time of the live show.

In comparison, all three episodes of Journey to Fearless, a concert docuseries chronicling Swift’s Fearless Tour, are 43 minutes each, making for a total of two hours and nine minutes. Speak Now World Tour – Live was released as a live album CD and a visual album on DVD, with the latter coming out to two hours and 19 minutes.

The 1989 World Tour Live is also just over two hours long, with Reputation Stadium Tour coming in at only five minutes over the two-hour mark. Swift’s shortest concert movie is City of Lover, a one-time concert filmed in Paris to promote Lover that aired as a one-hour TV special.

Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, Swift’s most recent concert movie prior to The Eras Tour which featured performances and backstories of every song on the Folklore album, is one hour and 46 minutes long. These are all respectable lengths, but The Eras Tour movie’s increasingly lengthier runtime gives Swifties at least 50% more time with their favorite artist than her other concert films.

7

The Eras Tour Movie Has Way More Songs Than Taylor Swift’s Other Concert Films

The Eras Tour Movie (Taylor’s Version) On Disney+ Contains 48 Songs Total

Originally, The Eras Tour movie only contained 40 songs, after cutting five songs from the show’s regular set list. The bonus features on the VOD release brought the running total to 43, and the addition of five more tracks on top of that made for a grand total of 48 songs in Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) on Disney+. This is more than double the number of songs in Swift’s other concert movies, and in some cases, even triple.

Journey to Fearless has less than a third of the songs in Disney+’s extended cut of The Eras Tour, with only 13 performances featured in the docuseries. Even Reputation Stadium Tour‘s 25 songs is still only a little more than half of The Eras Tour‘s total count. When it comes to Swift’s endless catalogue, the more the merrier, making The Eras Tour movie superior.

6

The Eras Tour Movie Contains Songs From All Of Her Eras (So Far)

Not All Of Taylor Swift’s Concert Movies Have Songs From All Of Her Albums At The Time

As a celebration of the many eras of Swift’s career, The Eras Tour movie features songs from all her albums. While some eras, like Folklore and Midnights, get more love than others, like Speak Now, the only album without a designated era on the permanent set list is her self-titled debut. However, Swift made sure to include her performance of “Our Song” from her debut album as one of the surprise songs in the acoustic set of The Eras Tour movie. As such, there are songs from every era of her career so far in The Eras Tour movie.

Of course, none of her other concert films could have included songs from all 10 of her eras thus far, since they hadn’t all happened yet. Before embarking on The Eras Tour in March 2023, Swift had released a whopping four albums—Lover, Folklore, Evermore, and Midnights—since she last toured with Reputation in 2018, hence why she opted to do a career-spanning show. However, not every concert film of hers contains songs from all her albums in existence at the time.

With only two albums to choose from, Journey to Fearless is in the clear, and Speak Now World Tour – Live just barely skates by with “Our Song” from debut on the set list. However, The 1989 World Tour Live does not feature any songs from debut or Speak Now, and only features “Love Story” from Fearless. Reputation Stadium Tour also barely acknowledges her first album, with Swift performing a mashup of “Should’ve Said No” from debut with “Bad Blood” from 1989.

City of Lover was only an hour-long special performance, so it would’ve been difficult to include a song from every album. However, Swift once again sidelined her debut and Speak Now eras completely, and only performed “Love Story” from Fearless and “Delicate” from Reputation.

The worst culprit is Folklore: Long Pond Studio Sessions, which only contains performances of songs from Folklore. Of course, this was the point, but if fans want to watch a concert movie that features every era, genre, and vibe of Swift’s music, they’ll put on The Eras Tour, not the Long Pond Studio Sessions.

5

The Eras Tour Movie Was Released In Theaters & On Streaming

None Of Taylor Swift’s Other Concert Films Were Given Theatrical Releases

It’s not just the content of The Eras Tour movie that ranks it above Swift’s other concert films. The rest have either been released on DVD/Blu-ray or exclusively on streaming platforms. The 1989 World Tour Live was released exclusively on Apple Music on December 20, 2015, followed by Reputation Stadium Tour on Netflix on December 31, 2018. The day after airing on ABC, City of Lover was available to stream on Hulu and Disney+ on May 16, 2020. Six months later, Folklore: Long Pond Studio was released on Disney+ on November 25, 2020.

However, The Eras Tour movie had a much more extensive release rollout that built up hype and guaranteed longevity. The Eras Tour movie received a three-month theatrical run, during which it was available to rent on demand, before hitting Disney+ two months later.

Releasing The Eras Tour movie in theaters allowed fans to relive the Eras Tour on the big screen and gave those who were unable to attend the show live the opportunity to experience the concert in a crowd setting. Following this theatrical release with VOD and streaming releases ensured that no Swiftie had to miss out on seeing The Eras Tour movie, no matter the medium.

4

The Eras Tour Movie Has Multiple Extended Cuts

There Are Three Different Versions Of The Eras Tour Movie

Not only was The Eras Tour movie released in theaters, via VOD, and on streaming, but all three versions of The Eras Tour movie were different (and just kept getting better). Both the VOD release and Taylor’s Version on Disney+ are different extended cuts of the movie that offer more than the theatrical release. The VOD version included “The Archer,” “Long Live,” and “Wildest Dreams,” all previously cut set list songs from the theatrical version, as bonus features.

The Eras Tour on Disney+ preserved these restorations and also added “Cardigan” back, leaving only two songs still missing from The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) movie. Instead of these set list songs appearing at the end of the movie as bonus features, though, they were edited into the right placements in their respective eras to match the order Swift performs them on tour.

Also included in the Disney+ extended cut were the four remaining surprise songs from her acoustic sets at the L.A. shows filmed for The Eras Tour movie. These four songs–“I Can See You,” “Death by a Thousand Cuts,” “You Are In Love,” and “Maroon”–were featured in a new section called “The Acoustic Collection,” in which Swift’s performances of “Our Song” and “You’re On Your Own, Kid” from the movie’s acoustic set were played again.

None of Swift’s other concert movies have multiple extended cuts like The Eras Tour movie. Only Speak Now World Tour – Live released a special edition of the DVD at Target, which included three bonus songs and BTS footage. Every other concert film of Swift’s has only been released as is, which isn’t inherently a bad thing, but it gives The Eras Tour an edge over the rest.

3

The Eras Tour Movie Is Still Available To Watch On Streaming

Folklore: The Long Pond Sessions Is The Only Other Concert Film Of Swift’s Still Available To Stream Online

Another advantage of The Eras Tour movie over almost all of Swift’s previous concert films is its current viewing availability. Given that they were produced before the streaming boom, neither Journey to Fearless nor Speak Now World Tour – Live was ever released on nor added to streaming anywhere, but all of Swift’s newer concert films were once available to watch on different streaming platforms.

Sadly, only Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions can still be found anywhere on streaming. This was Swift’s first exclusive Disney+ release back in 2020 and shows no signs of leaving the platform. 1989 World Tour Live was removed from Apple Music on May 22, 2020, four-and-a-half years after it was first released. Reputation Stadium Tour followed a similar timeline by leaving Netflix on December 30, 2023, one day shy of five years since it dropped.

Only a few weeks after it aired on ABC and was subsequently released on streaming on May 16, 2020, the City of Lover TV special was promptly removed from both Hulu and Disney+. Thankfully, The Eras Tour movie will likely have a permanent home on Disney+ given the viewership it’s attracted, so it can be streamed without fear of removal for hopefully decades to come.

2

The Editing On The Eras Tour Movie Was Superior To Taylor Swift’s Other Concert Films

The 1989 World Tour Live Suffered The Most When It Came To Editing

One of the underrated elements of The Eras Tour that makes it superior to at least one of her other concert films is the production, specifically the editing. This is a major detail that viewers may not take notice of when watching The Eras Tour movie on its own, but the quality of the editing becomes very apparent when compared to The 1989 World Tour Live film in particular. There have long been complaints from Swifties about the baffling editing decisions in this movie, which include random, inexplicable close-ups on non-focal points and whiplash-inducing cuts.

In comparison, The Eras Tour movie was edited so seamlessly and expertly, it looks effortless. Different angles and vicinities of the stage, crowd, and venue are shown throughout, focusing on Swift while still properly showcasing her talented performers on The Eras Tour, which include her backup dancers, backing vocalists, and band members. Overall, the editing on The Eras Tour movie is a huge improvement from The 1989 World Tour Live.

1

The Eras Tour Movie Has More Costume Changes Than Taylor Swift’s Other Concert Films

Swift Has A Total Of 14 Costume Changes In The Eras Tour Movie

Because she took fans through (almost) every era of her career on The Eras Tour, Swift had to have an era-specific costume for each new set that captured the vibe and aesthetic of the corresponding album. During the sets for Lover, Red and Midnights, Swift even changes her outfit onstage by adding and removing certain garments. There are also different versions of almost every outfit except the Reputation jumpsuit that she alternates every show.

Of course, she could only wear one version of each era-specific outfit while filming The Eras Tour movie for the sake of continuity, but she still chose some of the best ones to appear in the film. In total, Swift wears 14 different outfits in The Eras Tour movie, which is significantly more costume changes for her performances onstage in her other concert films. There’s also a greater variety in costumes in Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, as they each fit a different era as opposed to just the one at hand.