Original subtitles

I want to say we have done something that no one has ever done.

We have performed for over 10 million people in person.

That's not like, oh, 10 million people watched a TV show, which is pretty

amazing, too.

We performed for 10 million -plus people.

And I think about every single one of you as little kids.

I think about the moment that you decided that dancing was your calling

moment that you first saw a band and thought, man, I want to save up for an

instrument. Every single one of us has picked professions that categorically

people, for the majority of the time, they tell you you shouldn't do it. They

tell you you should not try to do this. You have to love the thing so much that

you override.

85 to 95 % of the advice you are given along the way by oftentimes people that

you respect, people you trust, people in the field, everyone in dance, everyone

in music will tell everyone younger, if there's anything else you can do, do

that.

And so I'll see you getting rejected, not getting the job, not getting the

not getting the solo.

I'll see all of those things that happened all along the way, the doors

were shut, the doors that were open, the windows you pried open.

And then sometimes I'll see you when you're older and I'll think about what

you're going to tell your family or the people that you mentor because every

single person in here has the spirit to mentor others and to tell them, yes, do

it, try it, go for it.

If you have that same love for it. And I think about whether that's to your

grandchildren or to the little neighbor kid that just wants to talk to you about

what that was like.

Everyone likes to talk about phenomenon like the heirs tour, almost as if it was

pieces falling into place and some sort of accidental confluence of events that

just happened, right?

When I'm thinking about the people that are in this circle,

I don't think about it as pieces that fell into place. I think of each of you

like tectonic plates on the earth that took millions of

micro decisions and forces of you pushing and pushing inch by

inch closer together.

And the heiress tour wasn't when all the pieces fell into place. That was just

when every single one of us had done so much work.

to where this tour was just when we all clicked together.

It is our job to make this look accidental.

And it is our job to make this look effortless. But I just want every single

of you to know that I in no way, shape, or form look at this as the pieces just

falling into place. You put the pieces where they are.

This is the biggest challenge any of us have ever done.

Tonight, we complete that challenge.

I think I came up with the idea for the Aerith tour about two years before the

tour started.

There were two main factors that culminated in the Aerith tour. Both of

were unpleasant.

We think that these bad things are happening to me or to us. If you flip it

around correctly and you react in a certain way, those things can be

for you.

The first one being my entire... The catalog of my first six albums was sold

from under me to somebody else, and I decided to sort of defiantly re -record

all of my music.

You know, when you revisit something, you go back into that world. All this

is so indicative of the time I was in in my life. I feel like I'm reading my old

diary, thinking about all the different girls I was until I was this one.

So that planted a little seed inherently in my mind.

The idea of celebrating your past.

I think the second factor being the pandemic.

We built a home studio in my house. I clung to songwriting as a sort of life

raft. Stop it. Stop. Stop. I'm recording vocals.

Folklore came out three or four months into the pandemic.

We put out Evermore four months later.

I hadn't toured in five years, and the fans had created such demand for it.

been loving Taylor since I was...

tour again and i just thought to myself what if i did a tour that celebrated all

of these different moments in my life and career where you have chapters

up by albums and everything changes when the chapter changes she had said to us

this is going to be over three hours and we were just like oh my god how do we

do this not just planning but executing a tour of this size is

mind -boggling.

The process of putting together this tour happened in many different phases,

over the world, happening simultaneously all at once. You had me doing my

physical training six months before we even go into rehearsals. At this time,

the choreographer goes in with the dancers. We've got the staging and the

production design happening simultaneously, all to coincide with the

date.

The first day of rehearsal,

She got out of her car and had tears in her eyes already.

I'm weirdly emotional right now. It's so nice to meet you. I'm Taylor. Hey.

I'm Kevin. So nice to meet you. I'm Taylor.

Hey. I'm Sam. Nice to meet you. I mean, I've been doing this for almost 20

years. A bunch of different artists. I have never seen that. I have never seen

the boss come into rehearsal crying with tears of happiness and passion.

about their job.

We haven't done what we love on a stage in five years.

Let's go do this. The fans have been so amazing and are so excited for the tour.

I wanted to over -serve the fans.

That was my main goal.

I wanted to over -serve them in terms of the amount of songs they were going to

hear, the length of the show, what kinds of production they were going to see,

different styles of dance, different worlds of dance, wardrobe, how far I was

going to push myself.

Oh, my God.

Okay. Do it, my friend. Here we go. When you come up with a goal like that, you

just have to make a choice and decide there's no going back on that choice.

Good

morning,

America. It's Taylor.

I wanted to tell you something that I've been so excited about for a really long

time. I've been planning for ages, and I finally get to tell you I'm going back

on tour.

Oh, my God.

We're doing something very stressful today. Today is Aira's pre -fail day.

One minute left.

192.

Oh, my God.

We got row five.

Oh, my God.

I think I thought fans would be excited about the idea of the Eretor.

This was a completely different thing than

I've ever experienced.

Fans of Taylor Swift crashed the Ticketmaster website today. The demand

Taylor at that point, I don't think anybody in the industry, expert or

otherwise, would comprehend.

There was enough demand.

to do 255 stadiums. I'm actually not in Glendale. I'm in Swift City.

Officials actually changed the name from Glendale to Swift City in honor of the

megastar kicking off her tour. So we go from a detail -oriented, methodical,

exhaustive process, and all of a sudden, in the last week leading up to the

first show, everybody is firing on all cylinders.

And then we had opening night.

Just thinking about for years, you know?

Welcome to the Heiress Tour.

Truly, everyone will tell you that none of us knew what the Heiress Tour was

becoming. Kansas City, welcome to the Heiress Tour.

She's a once -in -a -generation type of artist. I would almost compare it to the

Beatles. When people start comparing this to, like, the Beatles and MJ, you

don't expect that what you're getting into is going to be that.

Yeah.

Seattle, Washington.

Welcome to the Aaron tour.

Yeah, for sure. The crowd is kind of always at banana level.

And this is a whole other gear, you know, or two.

All the Swifties started jumping around during the song. They caused the

equivalent of a 2 .3 magnitude earthquake.

Los Angeles, California.

Taylor Swift, she's more than just a pop icon.

She's a business powerhouse.

Swift's U .S. tour could generate $4 .6 billion in consumer spending.

That's more than the GDPs of Granada, Belize, and Tonga combined, something

experts have dubbed Swiftnomics. The Taylor Swift takeover seen across the

country, leading to the emergence of Taylor -vating. Even fans without

are traveling to tour stops.

I've never seen this before in my life. It's like one of the most beautiful

things I've ever seen. It's like Woodstock, but without the drugs.

The thing that's so special, it is that community where they get into that

stadium and celebrate not just what's happening on that stage, but what's

happening with them and how they honor each other and love each other. It just

became this movement.

I thought that this would be a tour I was very proud of.

Like, more than a tour.

It's like a force to be reckoned with in global culture.

So never in my life did I think we would have a terrorist plot.

We are continuing to follow breaking news. Three upcoming Taylor Swift

in Vienna, Austria have been canceled.

After Austrian authorities arrested two suspects, who they say had plans to

carry out a terrorist attack at the concert site.

According to officials, they found chemical explosives, detonators, and

propaganda at the main suspect's home.

Now the big question is, what's going to happen to the rest of her European

tour? Well, at this point, all of her shows are going ahead as scheduled,

including her concert right here in London.

We were in London at my hotel, and basically it's just kind of a

weird feeling going into these last five shows in Europe because it sort of

feels like we've done like 128 shows so far, but this is the first one where I

feel like, I don't know, like I'm skating on thin ice or something. We've

series of very violent, scary things happen to the tour.

We dodged, like, a massacre situation.

And so I've just been kind of all over the place. Like, there was this horrible

attack in Liverpool at a Taylor Swift -themed dance party.

And it was little kids that...

The latest on a knife attack. There's left at least three children dead,

multiple people injured at a Taylor Swift -themed dance class in England.

The youngsters, aged 6 to 11, were dancing to Taylor Swift songs when an

attacker, armed with a knife, launched a frenzied assault.

I'm gonna, um, like, meet some of these families tonight and...

put on a pop concert, you know?

It's going to be fine because when I meet them, I'm not going to do this. I

swear to God.

I'm not going to do this. I'm going to be smiling.

So any of this gets out of the way before you ever go on stage. You lock it

Three and a half hours.

They don't have to worry about you. It's like you're like a pilot flying the

plane. And if you were like, oh, there's turbulence up ahead. I don't know if

we're actually going to land in Dallas.

I'm going to try hard, but I don't know if I can actually, like, figure out how

to land through this turbulence. Like, everyone on the plane is going to freak

out. You just have to have a calm, cool, collected tone of, like, we will be

landing in Dallas at 6 .05 p .m., got a little turbulence up ahead, but it's

nothing we haven't seen before. Just keep your seatbelts fastened, and

to the Aeros Tour.

There's something special about this tour, this iteration, this combination

people, this show.

And I think about, like, how much love everybody here is pouring into what they

do. The people who build the stage and hang the PA and the people who wash the

clothes and play the instruments and do all the dancing. And the only thing

we're trying to do is to make the world go away for a little while and make

people feel seen and let them scream lyrics that they love at the top of

lungs.

It's so beautiful to find something so positive that can be an escape for

like this can.

And it's amazing that what we've been a part of can do that for people.

So what happened in Vienna and the idea of someone being able to rewrite the

entire headline of this whole experience with one awful act, I feel so grateful

that it got stopped. But I also felt just so horrible for the fans.

I know that it sounds so stupid to be so upset about this, but like that

environment of like the era where we're like, everyone's so kind and like just

having fun and like girlhood.

Like, that was so much of what I wanted to experience.

Something this moving, this powerful, this rich in feeling and experience

represents more than just people coming to see an artist perform songs.

And so we have a large responsibility to do this show and still show up for fans

in the way that we can and know how.

Without getting too far into this, I do feel like the world right now is really

torn.

But I think being a part of this tour, we're shining enough light that it

actually feels like, well, man, this is absolutely affecting a lot of lives. And

I think for all of us that are in it, that's a pretty good perspective. After

Vienna, all right, let's get out and do these shows because this is why we're

doing it.

Bringing out special guests is something that I really enjoy.

Like, when I get to be on stage with someone like Ed Sheeran, we can create a

unique, special moment, and it really just gives something to the fans that

didn't expect.

I don't know if he thinks he's doing the harmony the whole time, and I'm doing

the melody. It's very cool that he would come and do this, because I think it's

just going to, like, really delight people, and I think in a moment when,

a lot of the fans need, like, a pick -me -up, because...

I know I do.

Baby!

How you doing?

So I get to, I'm going to the stadium and I'll do a little, I know, we'll do a

little dressing room rehearsal.

I love you.

I don't know, how do you, how do you remember 36 ,000 plays that are all...

tactical missions and then just go do it the same it's basically the same job i

got songs to remember you got plays to remember you've got teammates i got

teammates you've got coach reed i've got my mom

i want you to be

here i want to be there why do you have to be in the nfl

so i'm gonna be scouring

I'm so excited.

I'm so excited.

But have a great practice.

I love you so much. I love you so much.

Thank you.

I know this was like some people get a vitamin drip. I got this conversation.

I started playing for Taylor

in 2007.

Amos? Yeah.

Hey, Tay. Are you wearing my headband again? I'm wearing our headband.

I think if I look... back at it now the thing that remains really constant is

there's not a challenge that she isn't going to meet head -on and kind of

to conquer and having that kind of energy in the in the lead spot has

can say me personally to do a lot of the same thing this diamond here is where

i'm coming up for the first night for the first thing when we were in

for the Erez tour, and we didn't quite know yet what it was going to be, what

was going to be called.

I remember a meeting, I think we were all sitting on the floor, where she kind

of cast the vision.

So it's going to start with a chorus of... It's really hard, really hard Miss

Americana chorus, like hard.

It's you and me, that's my whole world. They whimper in the hall when she's a

bad, bad girl.

And she's like, here's my vision, it's what we're going to do.

Just going to hit them with... 22, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, I

Knew You Were Trouble, and then the 10 full minutes of All Too Well. Yeah.

We're doing something from every album.

We want to get straight into Willow. We'll do Enchanted.

And we got a list of about 40 songs.

Internally, certainly, I scoff. That's almost three hours.

This is insanity.

What are we going to cut?

And I think we added three songs.

It seems obvious now because it did work.

But at the time, it's a big risk to decide we're going to do a three -hour

show, we're going to do it in stadiums, and we're going to do it all over the

world. And so...

A lot of tenured professionals are doing their very best to quantify what it is

about what she's doing that's connecting to everybody.

It's just a show. It's just music. But there's something more profound than

going on here.

Oh, my God.

Security is being stepped up for Taylor Swift's upcoming London concert.

And this is why it's such a big deal. This is her first performance since that

thwarted terror plot to attack a show in Vienna.

Swifties are already moving in. All of them going to be carefully screened as

they enter this stadium. Police telling us they want to make sure that they know

what everyone is doing inside that stadium.

And what are the fans there saying? Are they concerned?

Some of the Zwifties said that they were acutely aware of what happened in

Austria, but they're excited.

We've been here for like four or five hours. We've spoken to people from

Scotland and England and Israel.

I feel like what's happening right now with everyone waiting for hours and

extending bracelets and just like everyone making friends, a 10 -hour wait

in five minutes, honestly. I'm actually quite a new Zwifty.

My flatmate hates me now because I just play Taylor Swift all the time. She

said, if you play Karma one more time, you're going to get evicted.

I want to cry for life's joy.

His joy is what I want.

It's been such a long time coming. I booked my ticket over a year ago.

Just seeing her face.

I know. It's like she's not a real person.

I'm just so excited to breathe the same air as her.

I've been performing for, you know, 20 years.

From a mental standpoint, being like afraid something's going to happen to

fans at any moment, this is a new challenge.

I want to keep all of the nerves I have away from the crowd, because

when you're sort of the ringleader of this show, they can sense any kind of

shift energetically in you, and you have to really...

Focus on that and factor that in that you're at the air tour.

Nothing's wrong.

Hey. Hi.

How you doing?

No,

I'm trying to calm down. I'm having a very physical reaction to my nerves.

Why? I'm just like, my hands are shaky and just... Nerves felt like what

happened last week?

Yeah, it's weird.

I just have to get this first show over with.

No, it's the same way right now. I can't. Right?

Yeah. I can't relax.

I'm just, like, twitchy and fidgety and just... Get the show over with tonight.

Get back on the horse.

Hey!

Hey!

Oh, my God.

Hello.

Nice to see you. Just what the doctor ordered. I'm so excited.

Thank you for doing this.

You guys good? Yeah.

Do you, are you just, yeah, sure, yeah, sure. You just kind of flies on the wall

for everything. It's basically like every day that I have of this work. Not

Vienna though, right?

They were supposed to start in Vienna, but I didn't get to go.

Like they got me. Oh, you weren't even in the country?

No, I was on the plane headed there. Damn. It was like, I was, I was just,

you know, it's like, I just need to get this, I just need to do this show.

re like remember the joy of it because i'm a little bit just like you know and

you get time off i get two months off after this which i need i need more than

that because you've seen my schedule like it's like heavy yeah it's just

are you gonna are you gonna choose somewhere to go are you just gonna live

i'm just gonna go somewhere no one can find me i just don't want to be tracked

like an animal yeah i just have felt very like hunted lately i feel like

People that forgot they'd like you're a human being amongst all of this as well

hundred percent. Yeah, yeah You

know it's high so I can sing the melody if you want to sing the heart

I'll

do the first

verse and first chorus by myself just to build tension and they're gonna be like

oh my god oh my god oh my god izzy izzy izzy and then after the first chorus i'm

gonna be like guys like i could even like stop playing be like guys it's just

there's something something's not something's missing from this i and

when they're gonna start screaming their heads off when i'm like something's

missing i just feel like i feel like i can't do this alone tonight i just want

to know you better know you better know you better now I just want to know, you

better know, you better know, you better now.

I just want to know, you better know, you better know, you better now.

I just want to know you, know you, know you.

All I know is it's simple.

Your eyes look like coming home. All I know is it's simple, baby.

And everything has changed.

We can, like, catch our breath and, like, take as long as you want, and I'll

follow you.

I fucked up a chord in Everything Has Changed.

I just want to know, you better know, you better know.

And you actually came up with that, so.

And then you just move one finger to there and take that one off.

Okay. We found love right where

we are.

So you just sort of move one finger down.

Okay.

I know you helped them.

I know it doesn't seem like it, but I know you helped them.

From a mental standpoint, I just do live in a reality that's very unreal a lot

of the time.

But it's my job to kind of be able to handle all these feelings and then perk

immediately to perform.

That's just the way it's got to be.

Okay, that was awesome.

See, you've gotten me feeling really, really, really powerful.

I'd be the man.

I'd be the man.

But I just feel like I'm not really doing it justice like I feel like

They come down take them down open up the door

I just wanna know you better know you better know you better now I

just wanna know you better know you better know you better now I just wanna

you better know you better know you better now I just wanna know you

So many hundreds of moments of individual eye contact throughout the

the show.

I see the mass quantities of joy that everyone's feeling.

What's interesting is, like, there's some joy in the show, but there's a lot

emotions in this that aren't just, like, put on your smiley face and come to the

air tour.

It's so much more.

You look out into the crowd, and this isn't just like a...

blob of light.

These are millions of stories and all these counter narratives all colliding

one place where we feel safe to be demonstrative about a whole spectrum of

emotion.

That stuff is really powerful.

Life contains multitudes, and we're kind of exploring all of the dramatic edges

of those things.

That's what might be unlocking feelings of joy, feelings of euphoria.

And it still gets me. It does.

happy they all were. They were losing their minds.

that happens you don't know about nothing nothing's going down all right

gotta go all right okay bye -bye thank you

I'm so happy.

I'm so relieved. Baby, it's like the crowd knew that I needed a pick -me -up.

When I walked out on stage, they were wilder than I'd ever seen.

I'm so happy to be back doing this in a functional way.

I was so happy that I thought I was going to forget how to play guitar and

I know.

I know.

I was at work.

Basically, what happens now is, like, I'll not be able to get to sleep because

can't, like, come down.

This is why people need drugs.

But I don't do drugs.

So I just, like, let it ride.

I just am like, oh, go to sleep when I'm tired. And when I'm tired, it's, like,

4 in the morning.

So I bought tons of TV.

I get room for the same bed.

I sign a box of 2 ,000 CDs.

And then I'm tired.

And then we do the whole thing again.