By John Corrado

★★★★ (out of 4)

Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour is already one of the biggest selling concert tours of all time, a massive juggernaut that has generated billions of dollars in profits, providing a boost to local economies wherever she goes.

The success of this tour one hundred percent speaks to the cultural sway of Taylor Swift herself and the power of her loyal fans who come to see her perform, as she flies through a selection of songs from each of her ten different albums (“Eras”) over three glorious hours.

Now the concert has been captured in cinematic form in Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, which was filmed during the final stop on the American leg of the tour at the massive SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

Directed by Sam Wrench (who previously gave us other concert films including Billie Eilish: Live at the O2 and BTS: Permission to Dance on Stage – LA), the self-financed concert film provides the perfect opportunity for fans (like myself) who couldn’t get the pricey, sold-out tickets (at least not yet, fingers crossed) to experience this massive spectacle for ourselves. The result is an incredible concert film that captures the full scope and spectacle of the show.

Taylor is at the height of her powers as she commands the stage/screen for nearly three hours (about a half-dozen songs were cut for length from the 169 minute film), and it’s thrilling to watch. Seeing this with a big audience on opening night felt like a celebration, with theatres relaxing their etiquette rules for this one to allow for dancing and singing along.

The camera is right there with Taylor on stage, allowing us to see her even more up close and personal than we would in a giant stadium, as she tears through the sort of three hour, greatest hits medley that other artists like Bruce Springsteen or The Rolling Stones are doing much farther into their careers. The fact that there is never a dull moment speaks to the impressive strength of her song catalogue, across a variety of musical styles.

Taylor has remained relevant throughout her impressive career by continuing to reinvent herself, from country singer to pop star to her more introspective pandemic-era albums Folkore and Evermore, and this concert captures all of it. From high energy opener “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince,” which blends seamlessly into fellow Lover-era tracks “Cruel Summer” and “The Man,” we are in the presence of pop royalty.

Whether performing her buoyant, high energy pop ballads like 1989-era bop “Shake It Off” and Red-era hit “22” (designed to bring the house down, whether stadium or movie theatre) or her more emotional songs, Taylor is captivating to watch throughout all of it. In fact, some of the moments when she is most in command over the audience are when it’s just her on stage with a microphone and a guitar or piano, such as the melancholic “Champagne Problems” or the mid-concert showstopper “All Too Well” (yes, she does the Ten Minute Version).

What becomes apparent is that all of the people in that 70,000-seat stadium are there for her, which makes the rendition of her bittersweet anthem “You’re On Your Own, Kid” (one of two surprise songs she performs here, with the other being Debut-era “Our Song”) all the more poignant considering the message behind it. We are watching a massive pop star who still has the ability to personally connect with her fans in these more intimate, vulnerable moments when it’s just her on stage.

In its bigger moments, the film lets us appreciate the full-on theatricality of the production at times, from the coven of cloaked backup dancers that perform around her during the darker Evermore set, to the Folklore cabin that provides a fantastical, woodsy backdrop during that fairy tale-esque era. This is Taylor’s Version but also her vision, helping these songs come alive through some ingenious visual touches.

The performance of Reputation-era banger “Look What You Made Me Do” is a thrilling production that sees her performing in front of earlier versions of herself trapped in glass cages, while for “Tolerate It” she turns the stage into a sort of stripped down performance art space around a long dinner table. The film culminates with a thrilling set of songs from her most recent album Midnights, including the pop smash “Anti-Hero.”

Like most Swifties, I have seen a lot of clips from these concerts on social media. But the movie gives us an opportunity to experience it up close and personal. The camera is right there to capture Taylor’s every little facial expression, hair twirl, and playful bit of mugging to the audience, and to let us see the details on her eye-popping costumes (like the gorgeous Speak Now gown). In sweeping wide shots, we really get to take in the set design (including digital images that splash across the stage floor), and it’s enjoyable to see the enthusiastic backup dancers and band members that join her on stage.

The editing keeps the film moving at a dazzling pace, cutting between multiple different camera angles with brief flashes of the screaming, emotional fans in the audience that remind us we are witnessing the magic of a live show. This really is a gift to her fans who have stuck with Taylor through all of her Eras (or have come to love the earlier ones if they caught on a little later), with a set-list that provides the perfect balance between her different musical styles to showcase her standing as both a hit-maker and brilliant lyricist and storyteller.

It’s an interesting gambit to self-finance a movie and give it directly to theatres bypassing the middle man of a distributor (a deal that Swift’s father reportedly made directly with AMC Theatres), and only someone with the cultural pull of Taylor Swift could pull it off (the film generated a record $100 million in ticket pre-sales). She is her own brand, and after a career of beating the odds and constantly finding ways to go higher and higher, she has fully ascended to the top.

Like the filmed version of Hamilton on Disney+, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour provides an opportunity for more people to experience this in-demand live show for themselves, minus about a half-dozen songs (I personally wish they hadn’t cut “Cardigan,” but perhaps an uncut version will be released down the line). While I still hope that I somehow get to see the Eras Tour live in Toronto next year, it’s awesome to have the opportunity to experience it in a theatre like this. It’s spectacular.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is now playing exclusively in theatres.