By Claire Barickman A&E and Social Media Editor
On March 14, Disney+ released “Taylor Swift: The Era’s Tour (Taylor’s Version)” onto its streaming service. This version of “The Era’s Tour” movie features all of the songs that were in the original release, the four songs that were cut from the set, and four additional songs from the acoustic set. When the original version of the concert film was released, many fans were disappointed to see some of their favorite performances cut. Taylor must have heard their complaints because she made sure to release those songs and more. All of the songs that were cut got placed back into their original set so that the movie truly captures what it was like to be at the live show.
The first performance that was added back into the extended version of the “Eras Tour” movie was “The Archer,” which was removed from the “Lover” set (the opener). Personally, “The Archer” is one of my favorite Taylor songs, so I was thrilled when it got added back. This performance was simple but beautiful; the lyrics to this song are captivating and getting to watch her perform it on stage is cathartic.
The next set that songs were added back into was “Speak Now.” During the first release of “The Eras Tour” movie, the song “Long Live” was cut to use it for the end credits, making this set only one song long. I am so glad that she added this song back in because during the show Taylor uses it as a way to showcase her band, as well as thank the fans for their support. When “Long Live” was first written during the “Fearless” tour, Taylor wrote it to thank her band, so I find it very sweet that she highlights her band in the performance, especially because some members of her band have been with her since that tour.
The “folklore” set is the next era that has a song re-added to the film. During this set, Taylor plays three songs that make up a fictional love triangle; however, in the original film version of “The Eras Tour,” only two of the three songs were included. Many fans were very excited when Taylor announced that her performance “cardigan” would finally be released for them to watch. This performance was beautiful and I loved how this song closed off the “folklore” set with such grace and elegance.
The final song that was on the original set list of “The Eras Tour” that was released was “Wildest Dreams” from the “1989” era. I was personally surprised when I found out that this song was originally cut because of the fact that it was a single for the “1989” album and is very popular amongst her fans and people from the general public. However, I can now personally understand why this song didn’t make the original cut. Compared to other songs in the set, the performance of “Wildest Dreams” wasn’t as interesting—that’s not to say that it wasn’t good. I still loved watching Taylor perform this song, and she was just as captivating as always.
The final four songs from the acoustic set were used as an end credit scene for this movie, similarly to how many movies have begun to do. This set does not only include the four new acoustic songs; however, it also includes both “Our Song” and “You’re On Your Own Kid” which were the acoustic songs for the original release. In this additional set of songs, Taylor performs “I Can See You” from “Speak Now,” “Death By A Thousand Cuts” from “Lover” on guitar, “You Are In Love” from “1989,” and “Maroon” from “Midnights” on the piano. Every single one of these songs were absolutely incredible to get the chance to watch. However, I think the best performance was “You Are In Love” because you could hear the fans singing along and acting almost like backing vocals throughout the whole song, which was breathtaking.
Overall I loved getting the chance to watch all of this beautiful performance from the comfort of my own home, and I definitely recommend anyone who is a fan of her music to log into their Disney+ account and turn on “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version).”
