By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — “The Eras Tour was a lifetime within my life,” Taylor Swift told the room at a screening of the first two episodes of her new Disney+ docuseries, “The End of an Era.” “It feels insane.”
Swift spoke to the small New York crowd on Tuesday — a year and one day since she concluded the history-making Eras Tour. In the room were her parents Scott and Andrea Swift and brother Austin, a select few members of the press (including Hoda Kotb, Willie Geist and Gayle King), as well as her tour dancers, the choreographer Mandy Moore, docuseries directors Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce and a few others. The showing was briefly interrupted by security alarms as a small fire was extinguished elsewhere in the building,
“The directors expanded upon the stories of not just me, but everyone who was part of this,” Swift said, before taking her seat in the crowd.
Here are key takeaways from the first two episodes of the six-episode docuseries, which launches Friday on Disney+. Two episodes will drop weekly, through Dec. 26.
The origin of the Eras Tour
The premiere episode opens in Vancouver, Canada, 15 minutes before the tour’s final date. Swift, standing in a circle with her dancers, delivers an impassioned speech, reminding them the Eras Tour wasn’t about pieces simply falling into place. “You put the pieces where they are,” she tells them. It sets the tone for what follows: “The End of an Era” is the only behind-the-scenes look at her tour and what drove it.
Early on, Swift states that there were two distinct catalysts for the Eras Tour. One was having her back catalog sold out from underneath her, inspiring the rerecording project that showed her the value of “celebrating your past.” The other was the pandemic, which heightened the desire for a return to live events.
Tickets in demand
The first episode also celebrates the incredible demand the tour created — mentioning Ticketmaster but not delving into the frustration it caused. The ticket seller sparked outrage in November 2022 when its site crashed during a presale event. The company said the site was overwhelmed by both fans and attacks from bots posing as consumers to scoop up tickets and sell them on secondary sites. The debacle prompted congressional hearings and bills in state legislatures aimed at better protecting consumers.
A failed terror plot’s aftermath
In August 2024, three dates were canceled in Vienna over an apparent plot to launch an attack on the concerts.
“It’s like a force to be reckoned with in global culture,” Swift says of the tour in the first episode. “So never did I think we’d have a terrorist plot.”
The episode continues with Swift in London, preparing to perform for the first time since the cancellations — less than week later. “We dodged a massacre situation,” she says.
“Being afraid something is going to happen” to her audience, she says, “this is a new challenge.”
The Southport stabbings
About a week before the Vienna cancellations, a teenager killed three girls and wounded 10 people in a knife attack at a Swift-themed dance and yoga class in the English seaside town of Southport. Swift at the time said she was “completely in shock” over the violence.
As Swift contends with preparing herself for her first shows since Austria, she mentions the Southport attack and starts to cry when describing the “little kids” attacked.
“I’m going to meet some of the families tonight,” she says, getting emotional before reminding herself to “lock it off,” and get into pop performer mode. She compares it to being a pilot needing to adopt a “calm, cool, collected” demeanor. Later, it is revealed that Swift privately met with families of the Southport victims. That is not on camera, but the aftermath is: Swift in tears, realizing the show must go on.
Yes, Travis Kelce is here …
Swift’s fiance, the Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce, first appears as a soothing voice on the phone, as Swift expresses her anxieties over the London shows and nailing a surprise performance with Ed Sheeran. His telepresence immediately elevates her mood.
“Thanks for making my day better,” he tells her. “Some people get a vitamin drip,” she responds. “I get this conversation.”
… As are other special guests
Sheeran and Swift hang backstage and work out their set in London. Florence Welch is featured in the series, too. “The persona is huge, but the person is soft,” Welch says of her similarities to Swift. Later, she describes being swept up in the magic of the Eras Tour. Swift is her friend, but when she joined the pop phenomenon on stage, she couldn’t help but think: “Oh my god, it’s (expletive) Taylor Swift.”
The Sheeran scene is particularly illuminating. She tells him she’s off for two months following the London run, and she’s planning on using that time to go somewhere no one can find her.
“I don’t want to be tracked like an animal,” she tells him, admitting to feeling “hunted” lately.
Band members and dancers take center stage …
Those in and around Swift’s orbit tell their stories throughout the first two episodes. Fans will meet Amos Heller, her bassist since 2007. They will learn that Mandy Moore, the famous Hollywood choreographer, joined Swift’s tour after Emma Stone suggested Swift work with her. You’ll see another choreographer/former dancer Amanda Balen rejoin the stage. “I don’t want dancers that blend in,” Swift says of her crew.
Fans will get more of Kameron Saunders, the beloved dancer, and his story — of being belittled in his field for his size, of his mother’s endless support and how his brother, the professional football player Khalen Saunders, paid for his flight to audition for the tour. (A fun aside — Saunders’ brother was playing for the Kansas City Chiefs at the time, the same team as Kelce.)
As for Swift’s own dancing, she says, “It has taken me a really long time to even be fine at choreography.” She doesn’t do “eight counts” — she learns movement based on the syllable of the lyric she is singing.
… And so does Swift’s team bonuses
Swift’s decision to give her team bonuses, which People reported totaled $197 million, is highlighted in the series. In the second episode, Swift says she gave every member of the crew a handwritten letter and sealed it with a wax stamp. It’s a compelling advertisement for Swift’s generosity — particularly when the camera zooms in on a young production assistant, who looks stunned as he holds his note and says he’s going to “pass out.” Individual bonus amounts are not revealed.
‘The Tortured Poets Department’ tour prep predated the album
You read that correctly. To add a segment of “The Tortured Poets Department” into the tour, Swift and team “built this top-secret rehearsal facility,” she says. Dancers had to learn the choreography without music blasting over the loudspeakers, since the album had not yet been publicly released. Keeping surprises secret is serious business.