Taylor Swift took the Eras Tour to Toronto, Canada on Thursday November 14, where she performed the first of six nights – but it was an emotional experience, as the singer was forced to interrupt a three-minute long standing ovation.
“Toronto, my band and fellow performers and I, we only get to play this show eight more times after tonight,” she said, interrupting the cheers after she performed the Evermore track “Champagne Problems”.
“And the fact that you would do that for us, I guarantee you that we will never forget, thank you so much.”
The standing ovation after that specific song has become a fan movement, with each night trying to make theirs the longest; Los Angeles currently has the record at over eight minutes, but Taylor has been interrupting them in recent months.
“Champagne Problem cheer was roughly around 2m 57s at tonight’s show in Toronto, ‘Night One’ of Six,” tweeted one fan account.
Elsewhere during night one in Toronto, the 34-year-old singer sang two mashups for the Surprise Song section: “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys” and “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” on guitar, and “False God” and “Tis The Damn Season” on piano.
The Eras Tour kicked off on March 17, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona, and will end on December 8, 2024 in Vancouver, Canada.
Running at over three hours long, the set was tweaked in April 2024 after Taylor released her 11th studio album The Tortured Poets Department.
She removed five songs and added in a new set focusing on six songs from the new album, which now sits before the final Era, Midnights.
By the end of 2023 the tour had already brought in $1 billion, making it the highest-grossing tour ever; Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour previously held the record, garnering over $887 million over five years.
Over the last two years, Taylor has also seen major changes in her professional and personal life; she split from her longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn after six years, enjoyed a high profile fling with Matty Healy and fell in love with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
She also released a recorded version of the Eras Tour in cinemas and on Disney+, and it is thought a documentary is also being produced, as cameras have been seen behind-the-scenes with Taylor during performances
Taylor also became the only artist ever to win the Grammys Album of the Year four times scooping the award for 2022’s Midnights. The 34-year-old singer had previously won the major awards three times for Fearless (2009), 1989 (2015), and Folklore (2021).
She remains the only solo female artist to have ever won more than twice. She also picked up Best Pop Album – her 13th Grammy – and used that moment to announce she would be releasing The Tortured Poets Department.
