How Taylor Swift’s global “The Eras Tour” is showing us the different cultural approaches to concert etiquette.
After years of forced hiatus because of the pandemic, live music seems to have finally returned to its pre-Covid glory. Major pop stars are taking their tours internationally again, and concertgoers are eager to fill up stadiums and scream at the top of their lungs again. But is it like this in every country? Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” is giving us an interesting insight into different concert etiquettes around the world.
The Eras Tour and its socio-economic impact
With its 152 shows around the world, the “Eras Tour” has quickly turned into a global phenomenon. Taylor Swift is no stranger to world tours or extreme successes, but this one has officially consecrated her as one of the biggest figures in the music industry. It is the first tour in history to surpass over 1$ billion in revenues, making it the highest-grossing of all time. The American Federal Reserve credited Swift for positively contributing to the US economy, with hospitality venues reporting positive boosts in the places she performs. This has led to multiple Presidents and Prime Ministers publicly asking her to bring the tour their countries: Canada’s Justin Trudeau asked her via X, Budapest’s Mayor wrote her a letter and Singapore had a very expensive exclusivity deal put in place to ensure it would be the only East Asian stop of the tour.
But the tour’s impact is not only economic. With Swift being nominated both Time’s Person of the Year and Spotify’s Global Top Artist in 2023, it’s safe to say she’s in her cultural hegemony era.
This tour is different from her previous ones. Instead of just focusing on just one album, the tour revisits her 18-year-long career with 10 sets, each dedicated to one “era”, as she calls her albums. For almost three and a half hours Swifts performs tirelessly, giving fans a show worth its name with impressive stage design, choreography and quick outfit changes. On the other hand, fans show Taylor their gratitude by dressing up to the nines with impressive (and often hand-made) outfits inspired by her discography. Additionally, another interesting tradition started taking place at these concerts: inspired by a song lyric, fans started making and exchanging colorful friendship bracelets.
Every aspect related to these concerts has been largely documented on social media, from picking the right outfit to making the bracelets to traveling to the concert. Thanks to this, many fans have had the opportunity to see how things work at concerts in a foreign country. While the majority took it as a chance to be exposed to new interesting customs and traditions, some criticism unfortunately arose towards certain crowds, who were deemed “too rude” or “too quiet”. But is it really a question of rudeness?
Concert etiquette around the world
Concert etiquette is not universal, and is largely based on the genre of music played, but also culture. While there are some general rules that can be applied internationally, a lot of other things, such as interactions between fans and artists, may vary greatly.
A lot of fandoms have their own traditions, such as chants, dances, or specific movements. Sometimes the artist is aware of such traditions and encourages them, fostering that connection with the audience. For example, Taylor Swift always greets fans with the equivalent of “Hello, welcome to the Eras Tour!” in the language of the country she is performing in. She also substitutes the line “Like ever!” in her song “We are never getting back together” with an equivalent in that language. Additionally, if she is performing in that country multiple nights, she makes sure to switch it up, never using the same line twice. This small gesture drives the crowd wild because it shows that she is willing to put in that little extra effort and acknowledge the culture she has in front of her. As they say, “speak to a man in his language and it goes to his heart”.
Chants are also an important part of concert culture. Sometimes it’s the artist who initiates them, other times it’s the fans who invent them. For example, during her concerts in Buenos Aires, Swift was caught by surprise by fans chanting “Olé Olé Olé Taylor Taylor”. While this chant is nothing new as it comes from football traditions, it’s not something an artist used to American crowds may expect. This being her first time in the country, and her first dates abroad after the US leg of the tour, she was also visibly surprised by the intensity of the crowd. She jokingly said multiple times “We lost control of the crowd”, and she thanked them for being “a dream come true to perform to”. And so, the Argentinians were praised on social media for being the best fans and the best crowd.
The complete opposite happened a few months after when Taylor started the Asian leg of her tour, hitting Japan and Singapore.
When the videos of her sold-out performances at the Tokyo Dome started circulating, many social media users accused the Japanese of being too quiet of a crowd, of not enjoying the concert and not being “real fans”. However, this is, of course, not true.
First of all, it is important to mention that Japan had a “no cheering” mandate in place because of COVID-19 that only recently started to relax. This means that crowds could attend big events, but it was forbidden to scream or cheer while watching to avoid the spread of Coronavirus. So, we can assume that crowds are still warming up to the idea of being able to cheer again.
Secondly, Japan falls more towards the collectivistic end of the spectrum when it comes to culture. This means that, when it comes to being in public, people tend to avoid behaviors that could be a nuisance to others. This is why crowds keep more to themselves when artists are performing, preferring to cheer and applaud at the end of a song to not hinder anyone’s listening experience with their screaming.
Food for thought for concertgoers
While traveling for concerts has always existed, nowadays it’s getting easier. The tourism and hospitality sectors have definitely picked up on this trend, and are starting to offer travel and accommodation packages to make it more enticing for fans. However, music enthusiasts must not forget that concert etiquette is as much of a part of local culture as anything else. So, it is important to keep an open mind and not jump to conclusions, but rather enjoy the experience, because while customs may change, everyone is still there for the same reason: their love for music and the performer.
