Taylor Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour


Taylor Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour was the fifth concert tour and first all-stadium tour by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, in support of her sixth studio album, Reputation. The tour began on May 8, 2018, in Glendale and concluded on November 21, 2018, in Tokyo, comprising 53 concerts. The tour received 2,888,916 attendees and grossed $345.7 million in revenue, becoming Swift's most successful tour to-date, the third highest grossing female concert tour of all time, and the highest-grossing concert tour in United States and North American history.
The tour received universal acclaim from critics, who commonly labelled it as the best tour of 2018 and Swift's best tour yet. It further went on to win many "Tour of the Year" accolades. The October 6 show at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, was recorded and released as a Netflix-original concert film of the same name, on December 31, to critical acclaim.

Development

In August 2017, Billboard reported that Swift would be using Ticketmaster's Verified Fan program to prevent bots and ticket scalpers from purchasing tickets. The program, named "Taylor Swift Tix", allowed fans to purchase tickets in advance of the public on-sale by participating in boost activities to increase chances of getting a pre-sale access code.
On November 13, 2017, Swift's management announced the first round of dates for the tour jointly with Ticketmaster. Tickets went on sale to the general public on December 13, 2017, the day of Swift's 28th birthday.
In late November, Swift announced shows in Manchester, Dublin, and London. Due to overwhelming demand, additional dates were announced for all three cities. Furthermore, the singer also announced extra shows in North America for Pasadena, Chicago, East Rutherford, Foxborough, Toronto, and Atlanta due to popular demand before the pre-sale began. On December 3, Swift announced five dates for Oceania. In January 2018, due to huge demand, Swift went on to add second dates in Santa Clara, Landover, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Arlington and third dates in East Rutherford and Foxborough, totalling 40 shows for the tour's North American leg.
On March 1, 2018, Swift officially announced Camila Cabello and Charli XCX as the opening acts for the Reputation Stadium Tour. Cabello was previously speculated as the opening act because her Never Be the Same Tour dates didn't coincide with Swift's tour dates; Portland's Live 95.5 also announced her in a sweepstake for the concert of June 22, 2018 at the Wembley Stadium in London through a since-deleted post on Twitter, a day before Swift confirmed her as the opening act.
On May 7, 2018, the day before the tour kicked off at Glendale, Arizona, Swift invited 2,000 foster and adopted children to a private dress rehearsal.
On May 8, 2018, Swift announced two shows in Tokyo, with Charli XCX as the opening act. In September 2018, Broods was announced as an opening act for the Oceania leg of the tour.

Critical reception

The tour received rave reviews, being commonly labeled as the best of Swift's career thus far and the best tour of 2018. The tour received praise for Swift's on-stage persona and intimacy with the audience, the versatile set-list and the transition between songs, the production value, the acoustic guitar and piano performances and the wardrobe choices, with many critics noting the Gothic visuals and costumes, and the Broadway theatricality of the show.
Stereogums Chris DeVille wrote that the "hyper-maximalist" tour is "a perpetual gargantuan flex, a roving musical that amplifies everything extra about her persona to an exponential scope" and added that the tour is designed to be "the biggest spectacle in all of summer entertainment". He also stated that the best way to understand the tour is "as an oversized, high-tech touring Broadway production with a mostly tremendous soundtrack" and concluded his review with the statement "when discussing the biggest artists of her generation, she's undeniably on the shortlist" and that Swift has ascended to "the same rarefied tier as those classic rock deities who've echoed across this venue before her, able to keep commanding stadium status for the rest of her career". Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone labelled the tour as Swift's "most astounding tour yet" and complimented it for giving "it all the vibe of a mass communion" despite aiming for "maximum stadium-rock razzle-dazzle bombast". He noted the acoustic performances of Swift's fan-favorite albums tracks and called them "a powerhouse performance that made all the different Taylors sound like part of the same story". Praising "...Ready for It?" for the opening performance, The Guardians Bob Gordon named the song as "an appropriate and compelling opener". He further wrote that Swift made a "striking entrance" with "no elevation or descent, simply walking out from behind a curtain bathed in brilliant white light, in what was a real 'now I'm here' moment, as Freddie Mercury would once have put it".
Awarding the tour five stars, Roisin O'Connor of The Independent complimented the set-list and how it "transitions seamlessly from one song to another, crafted out of some of the best from Swift's canon". He further compared the tour to a Broadway show, reasoning "the stage is flooded with red lighting and dancers swing from trapeze with all the splendour of a Broadway show". Lydia Burgham of The Spinoff described the Auckland concert as a "theatrical, mega-production that somehow also strips down to raw intimate moments". Writing about the set-list, she opined that Swift "had the crowd aching for more with the commencement of every song, thanks to seamless transitions". Burgham highlighted the "intimacy" of Swift's acoustic guitar and piano performances that proved Swift remaining "integral to her singer-songwriter origins". She concluded the review by stating that "there may not be an artist in this lifetime who quite manages to connect to thousands of people on a rainy night as well as Taylor Swift can – and that's the reputation she will be remembered for".
Varietys Chris Willman wrote that the show "had plenty of fierceness, especially in the early going" but also the "pre-decedent Taylor on the line… the guileless Swift we remember from two or three skins ago" and stated that Swift used her two hours on stage to "paint a rewardingly holistic picture". He opined that, despite the huge production, "we're still left not so much with dragons or defensiveness but in the endearingly earnest presence of pop's most approachable superstar". He further commented on the acoustic performance of "Dancing With Our Hands Tied" which proved that Reputation "worked as well acoustically without the Max Martin-izing". Randy Lewis of Los Angeles Times opined that Swift gave "a master class in the constructive use of the modern technology that's allowed her to establish and nurture an exceptionally powerful connection with a massive audience". He underlined the use of light-up bracelets that allowed the attendees "to feel like participants, even collaborators, rather than passive observers" and complimented the stage that resembled "a skyscraper in progress, with six crane-like contraptions stretching up above a wedge-like screen". Lewis summarized the show as "tightly structured for the most part, featuring elaborate production numbers that rely on video projection, eye-popping lighting and pyrotechnics, choreography and precisely coordinated interaction among the star, band, singers and dancers".
Reviewing for V Magazine, Greg Krelenstein wrote that Swift possesses "a rare gift of turning a stadium spectacle into an intimate setting". He further stated that the new persona Swift adopted on Reputation album cycle "suited itself excellently to a show of this magnitude where she appears larger than life". He complimented Swift for her "full embrace of her vast back catalog" and her "command of the stage, whether plucking a guitar or leading an army of dancers" that showed that "her musical and performance evolution is an absolute success". Krelenstein concluded that Swift "delivers in every way to a mesmerized and devoted audience, re-defining what the modern stadium tour can be". Ed Masley, from The Arizona Republic, wrote that "there were many moments in the course Swift's performance that felt like she was playing to the back rows of the stadium by simply sharing with her fans", while complimenting the tour's production and highlighting Swift's connection with the crowd. Jim Harrington, from The Mercury News, praised the improvement of the singer's vocal work and performance skills over the years: "Her game is well-rounded enough that she can excel equally at every different aspect of the show." Chris Tuite, from CBS San Francisco, wrote: "The only thing more prominent than the singer herself during her current costume-change filled spectacle are the massive, vicious looking snakes that symbolically appear throughout the set." Michael Tritsch from 303 Magazine commented the tour "broke new ground and set the bar high for future stadium tours" while adding "The reputation of this show burned its way into the history books".

Commercial performance

Ticket sales

After four days of sales through the Verified Fan platform and three days of sales to the general public that began December 13, the tour had already grossed $180 million from 33 dates in North America alone. Pollstar reported data supplied by the Gridiron Stadium Network, a consortium of NFL facilities that work together to book concerts at their buildings, which showed at least 35,000 tickets had been sold at ten of the stadiums on the route as of December 18. The tickets sold ranged from 35,419 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh to a high of 48,039 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. With more than 47,000 tickets sold, it was reported the May 12, 2018 date at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara was generating close to $9 million in ticket revenue, which prompted the addition of an extra date.
According to StubHub, the tour is the best-selling female tour in the United Kingdom in 2018.

Boxscore

The first seven shows of the tour grossed $54 million with 390,000 tickets sold, leading Swift to the top of Billboards Hot Tours chart in June 2018. She performed to sold-out crowds of 59,157 in Glendale and 107,550 in Santa Clara, grossing $7.21 million and $14 million respectively, while the Pasadena shows combined for a gross of nearly $16.3 million and Seattle accounted more than $8.6 million. The concerts in Louisville and Columbus, reported in July 2018, grossed $11.5 million with around 115,000 tickets sold, with the latter city having the highest gross and most tickets sold, with approximately 63,000 tickets and $6.6 million. These concerts led the singer once again to the top of Hot Tours chart.

Records

The tour has broken multiple venue attendance and grossing records. The debut performance at University of Phoenix Stadium set new venue records in both gross and attendance, topping Metallica's $5.2 million gross earned in August 2017 by almost $2 million. With 59,157 tickets sold, she also broke the attendance record set during One Direction's Where We Are Tour in 2014 by 2,633 seats. With a $14 million take from 107,550 sold tickets at Levi's Stadium she topped her own gross and attendance counts set during The 1989 World Tour in 2015. With more than 118,000 fans in attendance at the Rose Bowl, the two-show run earned $16.2 million and set a new gross record for a single headliner at the venue, surpassing U2's 2017 record by over $467,000. Grossing records previously set by U2 as well were broken at Seattle's CenturyLink Field, where she topped their Joshua Tree Tour 2017 gross by $2.4 million, and Denver's Sports Authority Field at Mile High, where she surpassed the $6.6 million gross set by the band in 2011 during their 360° Tour by $1.2 million.
Swift made history by becoming the first female artist to headline Dublin's Croke Park twice, with reportedly 136,000 fans in attendance. Similarly, she achieved the milestone of becoming the first woman to headline three consecutive nights at MetLife Stadium and Gillette Stadium.
Following the tour's 29th show in North America at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, it had grossed $202.3 million in the continent thus breaking Swift's own record of the highest grossing North American tour by a female artist, previously held by The 1989 World Tour, with fewer dates. Nevertheless, the tour eventually broke the record set by The Rolling Stones's A Bigger Bang Tour, to become the highest-grossing tour in US and North American history, grossing $266.1 million, besting The Stones' $245 million gross. The Stones achieved their then-record from 70 American shows, while Swift did it with just 38 shows.

Impact

of the State of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, declared August 31, 2018, as the "Taylor Swift Day" in the state, honoring Swift's two consecutive dates at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. He stated that, "through her personal and honest music, Taylor Swift has energized and inspired not only Minnesotans, but people all over the world, and is a positive influence on her fans through her example of truthfulness, grace, extensive philanthropy, and strength of character".

Awards

Set list

This set list is from the concert on May 8, 2018 in Glendale, Arizona. It is not intended to represent all shows from the tour.
  1. "...Ready for It?"
  2. "I Did Something Bad"
  3. "Gorgeous"
  4. "Style" / "Love Story" / "You Belong with Me"
  5. "Look What You Made Me Do"
  6. "End Game"
  7. "King of My Heart"
  8. "Delicate"
  9. "Shake It Off"
  10. "Dancing with Our Hands Tied"
  11. "All Too Well"
  12. "Blank Space"
  13. "Dress"
  14. "Bad Blood" / "Should've Said No"
  15. "Don't Blame Me"
  16. "Long Live" / "New Year's Day"
  17. "Getaway Car"
  18. "Call It What You Want"
  19. "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" / "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things"

    Compilation playlist

Reputation Stadium Tour Surprise Song Playlist is a streaming-only compilation album featuring the "surprise songs" played during Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour. It was released exclusively to digital music platforms on November 30, 2018.

Track listing

Notes
Taylor Swift: Reputation Stadium Tour is a concert film directed by Paul Dugdale. It was released on December 31, 2018, exclusively via Netflix. The film follows American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift's second performance at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on her record-breaking fifth headlining concert tour, the Reputation Stadium Tour.
Swift announced on social media on her birthday, December 13, that the concert film would be released globally in partnership with Netflix on New Year's Eve. It was filmed on the last day of the North American leg of the tour. For their work on the film, Tamlyn Wright and Baz Halpin were nominated in the category "Variety, Reality or Event Special" at the 24th Art Directors Guild Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards.

Critical reception

The film received widespread critical acclaim upon release, with many critics labeling the film as "immortalizing" and "unforgettable". The commentators praised the camerawork from director Paul Dugdale for documenting Swift's "stardom", the crowd's emotions and the production involved in the concert.
Rolling Stones Rob Sheffield wrote that the film "immortalizes her best tour yet" and that the film shows off "the stadium-rocking spectacle without toning down any of her songs' one-on-one emotional intimacy". Describing the Netflix special as "the end of an era", Amanda Petrusich of The New Yorker opined that the film "will soon either be regarded as a museum piece or as a testament to Swift's era-defying longevity". Billboards Denis Warner stated that the film "illuminates the singer's power, dedication, and strength as an artist". He further stated that the film "allows you to get more of a feel of the singer as a performer -- and experience just how delicately everything is staged" and appreciated Swift for giving "a gorgeous look into her world as one of today's greatest entertainers". Deciders Benjamin Smith called the film as an "intimate document of an impersonal event". He further expanded that Swift "will stand the test of time more than her fellow early 21st century pop queens", stating the reason "Taylor Swift is perhaps the only who has figured out a way to turn her music into something more than mere pop".
Complimenting Swift's connection with her fans, Nardin Saad of Los Angeles Times stated that "the 10-time Grammy-winner's star power is tantamount as evidenced" in the film. Katie Collins of CNET opined that the film "serves as a reminder that no matter what else happens, Swift's stardom is perennial" and praised the film for "the divine showcase of the costumes, the dancing and especially Swift's own barely-contained effervescent joy at being on stage". She further complimented the camerawork, stating "closeups brought new insights" into the show. Nicholas Hautman of Us Weekly appreciated the camerawork for depicting "the fans hysterically crying and screaming in support of their idol". Writing for Uproxx, Chloe Gilke labelled the film as a "masterful documentation of the magical energy at a pop show" and as "a love letter to the audience at her shows, and to her fans", while stating that the film "honors the sacred joy of her performance that night, and the people who made it happen". She lauded the camerawork for capturing "the massive scope of the production from every angle" and the audio which "is crystal-clear and beautiful, with the crowd quieted down so viewers at home can hear Swift best".

Performances

Nineteen songs, most of them from Reputation, were performed in the following order in the film:
  1. "...Ready for It?"
  2. "I Did Something Bad"
  3. "Gorgeous"
  4. "Style" / "Love Story" / "You Belong with Me"
  5. "Look What You Made Me Do"
  6. "End Game"
  7. "King of My Heart"
  8. "Delicate"
  9. "Shake It Off"
  10. "Dancing with Our Hands Tied"
  11. "All Too Well"
  12. "Blank Space"
  13. "Dress"
  14. "Bad Blood" / "Should've Said No"
  15. "Don't Blame Me"
  16. "Long Live" / "New Year's Day"
  17. "Getaway Car"
  18. "Call It What You Want"
  19. "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" / "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things"

    Shows