Taylor Swift kicks off final leg of the Eras Tour at Hard Rock

Taylor Swift performing at The Eras Tour during her 1989 Era set on August 9, 2023.

After over a year and a half of the Eras Tour, Taylor Swift began the last leg of her most successful production to date at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. What began in March of 2023 has gone all over the world, starting and ending in the United States with international shows in between.

After a couple of months overseas, Swift made her first stop back in the States with three shows in Miami on Oct. 18, 19 and 20. Fans were excited to see Swift perform again and anticipated new surprises for her last hurrah.

When fans walked into Hard Rock Stadium, most were given a bracelet with a different Taylor Swift lyric and an LED wristband. During the concert, the wristband lit up with colors at different times, representing the era Swift was singing from. 

Fans knew they needed to bring their patience with them. The lines to get in went around all three levels of Hard Rock Stadium. Before the show, the merch lines were an hour long minimum. 

Nonetheless, fans who weren’t able to wait before the show were in luck. After Swift closed, there was a private merch line in a back room for people who missed out on merch in the beginning.   

Swift’s opener, Gracie Abrams, was enticing. Abrams mostly stayed near her microphone during her performance, singing soulfully along with her audience. Many fans were singing along, some screaming the words to her songs. 

Abrams opened with “Risk,” one of her more popular songs that went viral on TikTok. Then she sang “Blowing Smoke,” followed by “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” another one of her more popular songs on TikTok.  

During her performance, she spoke about how Swift is her role model and how she’s so grateful to be opening for her. 

She sang a few other songs from her most recently released album, “The Secret of Us,” and closed with “Close to You,” a fan favorite. 

Shortly after Abrams ended, the arena roared as Swift emerged from the floor of the stage. The floor shook multiple times during the concert, and Hard Rock was definitely rocking during this entrance. 

Swift then approached the mic and said, “Hello, Miami.”

Swift went on at 8 p.m. and played for three and a half consecutive hours. She went through each of her eras, starting with “Lover.” 

Her “Lover” era is known for being the color pink. When she began singing, everyone’s wristbands lit up in pink. Swift moved across the stage, singing and dancing through each song and interacting with fans along the way. 

During her show, Swift stated that the show was sold out, selling over 61,000 tickets to this show. 

Throughout the entirety of the Eras Tour, fans who attended wore clothes related to each era. Fans wore black and snakes for “Reputation,” purple for “Midnights,” pink for “Lover” and red for “Red.” Eras Tour outfits are known to be bold and out-there, showing the fans’ dedication to Swift and her music. 

Stella Solvibile, a student at the University of Miami, knew the perfect outfit for her Fearless era.

“Swift always wears gold when performing her Fearless era, so I wore a gold sparkly top with a white skirt and white sparkly boots to represent Fearless,” Solvibile said. 

During her “Reputation” era, something different happened. Swift has kept the same outfit for every era for each show. But for “Reputation,” she wore a new outfit. This was her first new outfit in 131 shows. Fans went crazy. 

She wore a black asymmetrical bodysuit with gold snake designs. Swifties are taking this new outfit as a hint that Swift will soon announce “Taylor’s Version” of “Reputation,” alongside already re-recorded albums “1989,” “Speak Now,” and “Fearless.” 

For her “1989” era, Swift wears a different variation of the same outfit depending on what location she’s in. For Miami, she wore a bedazzled green top with a sparkly orange skirt, along with orange and green sparkle boots, repping the U.

The crowd loved the tribute, especially UM students.

“Her wearing green and orange together did not go unnoticed. I loved how she dedicated her outfit to my school. It made me so happy,” Sienna Mesa, a University of Miami student, said.

Swift’s song “Florida!!!” on her new album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” was added to the set list for the shows in Miami, Florida. She brought out Florence and the Machine to perform the song they recorded together. She never performed this song with Florence in Florida until now.

Swift sings a different set of acoustic surprise songs each night of the tour. She has recently been performing mashups of older songs paired with newer ones. In Miami, this included a piano version of “loml” from the 2024 “The Tortured Poets Department” paired with “White Horse,” which was originally released on “Fearless” in 2008.

In Swift’s closing statement at the concert before her final song, she talked about how fans will now listen to the songs and remember the memories created together with her on the Eras Tour. 

“I saw her on my seventh birthday, and I felt like I was reliving that experience,” Corinne Kelly, a University of Miami student, said. 

Swift closed the show out with a performance of her song, “Karma,” bringing out all of her backup dancers and singers together dressed in colorful sparkle jackets, singing and dancing together for one final bow. 

With the Eras Tour coming to an end in December, fans will remember the memories they made at the show forever. The lights, the music, the outfits, the shouting in unison: it all made up the essence of the Eras Tour.