Well, that’s really the main point. In 40-50 years nobody will be linking (or whatever they’ll be doing then) to any Taylor Swift’s music. She’s the bubblegum flavor of the month. Nothing wrong with that, it’s harmless pop and this tour is raising money and fueling commerce etc. That the way of the world. But ‘adult’s’ reaching for reasons to praise the work are humorous. Desperate to seem cool or MeToo or whatever in the moment of history, I suppose.
OT: Taylor Swift Era’s Tour Today/Tomorrow
- Thread starter hail2cin24
- Start date
I know you’re trolling at this point so I don’t know why I bother.
But my man. Taylor’s first two albums came out in 2006 and 2008. She’s coming up on year 20. A bit different than “flavor of the month.”
I see it as more of a spectacle than a concert. Like a 3-hour Super Bowl Halftime Show. And I'm not knocking that approach - there are plenty of bands that have used it. Gwar comes to mind. But some of my extended family members who were going last week were talking about how they couldn't wait until the part where she jumps in the pool. Not exactly someone who is thriving on her lyrics and melodies alone.
Totally disagree. Unlike Brittany Spears, Cardy B and many others, Swift is the real deal. She is the total package of songwriting, vocals, musicianship and performance. Toss in business acumen and that is a pretty strong formula to last as long as she wants. Plus she has been turning out top albums for 15 years now, hardly a flavor of the month.
Maybe she goes the Billy Joel route and retires from hit making and rests on her laurels (Joel said writing new music was very difficult and that's why he quit). But right now there doesn't seem to be any plans to go on cruise control.
Yeah, that was my complaint, she has the ability to just rely on lyrics & melody. But look at the target demographic, certainly not middle aged guys like me interested in musicianship. Have to give her fans what they want.
Would be interesting to see Swift do a stripped down show at the Benedum or something like that.
See, like I watched the first few minutes of that... those lyrics are embarrassing. She might have an ability to craft catchy melodies, but every set of lyrics I've heard from one of her songs has not just been bad; it's been embarrassing.
I praised her business acumen.
Adding longevity is fair (in context to more current acts which are much less so, they seem to be one song and done more than ever).
That’s about as far as it goes. The music is pap. But bubblegum pop typically is. In most mainstream entertainment, the bulk of it is forgettable. Even a long running TV show like Three Single Men (or whatever it is… the Charlie Sheen show) or Big Bang Theory, each tab about 10 years, top ratings etc … but instantly in the ether as soon as they ended. Made millions, but nothing close in relevance such as MASH, Cheers, Seinfeld, heck, even Friends . But it entertained people. Same with Swift. No shame there.
The career is certainly worthy of respect.
The thing is - part of her appeal is that her music really resonates with her audience. Because they relate. So if she wants to keep writing music that messaging will age and mature right alongside her fans.
So like... maybe you think it's pap because you aren't in the demographic her songs are aimed at? Because you aren't a Gen Z or Millennial woman who can relate to her music and lyrics? But yeah, tell me more about the garbage music you like from the 60s and 70s.
Heard that upon completion of her current Eras Tour, Swift's net worth will climb from $700+M to over $1B.
Your tweet seems to support that.
I'll still expect a song within the next year or so about a guy she met on a lunch date who had the audacity to want to split the bill.
He was like, "Let's split the check"
I said, "Check YOURSELF, boy"
Now you're my new first single
And it's your life Imma destroy!
And keep in mind that TM/Live Nation greatly underpriced the tickets. She doesn't get paid off of what Stubhub and other resellers make off of them. Had LN had a better read of demand, she may have made double or triple. I mean those uppers, which couldnt have been much more than a couple hundred bucks were selling for $1500 each.
She added another show in LA today to make a total of six, and they've added tour legs in Latin America and Europe. So the tour that looked like a 45 show tour a week ago now has a total of around 100 dates.
If they sell tickets around the rest of the world at a similar rate and at similar prices to what they are getting in the US they will gross way over $1 billion in ticket sales by the time the tour ends. She's playing three and four nights in a row in places like Mexico City, Buenos Aries, Tokyo and London.
The mysterious hands of fate are interesting. I was in da iggel the other day with my 20ish daughter, a moderate TS fan (not enough to care to go to the shows though…thankfully for her and my bank accounts).
Some pleasant pop song began playing over the PA and I recalled it from the (mind numbing) car trips from the past decade when she was younger and wanted Radio Disney played on the radio. I remarked that the song was Taylor Swift. My daughter immediately corrected me that it was Colby Caillet (sp?). I listened a bit more and still really couldn’t discern much difference (other than the lyrics of the Caillet song was not hating on a mean boy, at least not in any way that I could discern).
Point is that here were two contemporaries, very similar, Next to impossible for most laymen to distinguish… but one leveraged her career into Royal Family wealth, and the other is making pennies on replays of her songs over scratchy super market PA’s.
Some pleasant pop song began playing over the PA and I recalled it from the (mind numbing) car trips from the past decade when she was younger and wanted Radio Disney played on the radio. I remarked that the song was Taylor Swift. My daughter immediately corrected me that it was Colby Caillet (sp?). I listened a bit more and still really couldn’t discern much difference (other than the lyrics of the Caillet song was not hating on a mean boy, at least not in any way that I could discern).
Point is that here were two contemporaries, very similar, Next to impossible for most laymen to distinguish… but one leveraged her career into Royal Family wealth, and the other is making pennies on replays of her songs over scratchy super market PA’s.
Someone here mentioned that one Springsteen show in Philadelphia isn’t yet sold out, and used that as evidence she is more popular. I would suggest that is not an apt comparison.
I would bet that show and any other show on his tour will sell out. I’m not sure, but was that one of the shows cancelled and then rescheduled because of COVID?
He sold out, I believe, every show on the opening leg of his US Tour and so far has sold out every show in Europe. I don’t know if Taylor Swift is touring Europe, but somehow I don’t think she would sell out a 70,000 seat stadium in Barcelona two times.
There obviously is a big difference between their audiences. I mentioned that on the first of his two concerts in Barcelona, just in our section there were people born in six different decades. I don’t think she draws much of the over 40 crowd unless they are there chaperoning their daughters. Also, his crowd is probably 55/45 male to female. I doubt hers has nearly as high a male percentage.
I would bet that show and any other show on his tour will sell out. I’m not sure, but was that one of the shows cancelled and then rescheduled because of COVID?
He sold out, I believe, every show on the opening leg of his US Tour and so far has sold out every show in Europe. I don’t know if Taylor Swift is touring Europe, but somehow I don’t think she would sell out a 70,000 seat stadium in Barcelona two times.
There obviously is a big difference between their audiences. I mentioned that on the first of his two concerts in Barcelona, just in our section there were people born in six different decades. I don’t think she draws much of the over 40 crowd unless they are there chaperoning their daughters. Also, his crowd is probably 55/45 male to female. I doubt hers has nearly as high a male percentage.
She's is way more popular imo. Personally, I didn't even know Bruce was still a thing to anyone prior to this thread lol.
At Heinz, they converted the men's bathrooms to additional women's bathrooms. I would guess the ratio was 85/15 women/men.
Swift is touring Europe next spring/summer, all stadiums shows, she's also playing Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne in February.
Only baby boomers and early gen x'ers care about Springsteen, the young people at his shows were dragged there by a parent, kind of like the kid from the Titanic sub.
This is one of the most uninformed takes ever on this board, and that covers a lot of territory.
There were tons of teens and 20s something’s at his show, and I don’t think any of them were dragged there by their parents. The ones in our section were singing the lyrics just as well as us older folks.
His music resonates with people of all ages, which is why he can still sell out huge venues around the world night after night. I’ve been listening to him for 48 years, but many of the younger fans in our section haven’t been alive half that long. And, they were singing the words of “Thunder Road,” “Born To Run”, “The River,” and a dozen more as loudly and from memory as I was. None of them were born when any of those songs were written.
People were already waiting for the European leg tickets to go on sale. I bet they'll be sold out in minutes.
Not Philadelphia. He hasn't sold out in Pittsburgh yet. She sold 146,000 tickets in Pittsburgh. He's have a problem selling 18,000 (or whatever the arena will seat that night). And even with having nearly 130,000 more tickets in circulation her tickets sold for more, a lot more, on the secondary market than his tickets are.
I'm not saying all time, or over their whole careers, or anything like that. I am saying that right now, in 2023, she is more popular that he is. And it's not even close.
And by the way, you don't think she can sell out two shows in Barcelona. And yet the tour dates that she just announced, all stadiums, no arenas, includes three nights in Paris, two nights in Stockholm, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Dublin, Amsterdam, Zurich, Hamburg, Munich, Warsaw and Vienna, and a total of five nights in London at Wembley. That's to go along with SIX nights in LA at SoFi, plus the Latin American shows, inculding three nights in Mexico City, and two nights in Buenos Aries and Sao Paulo.
She is, by far, the most popular music act on the planet right now. Whomever is in second is not even close. And Springsteen almost certainly isn't in second.
I know not everyone is a fan, but Coldplay is putting up some huge numbers in their world tour right now setting records in stadium shows. It's definitely a show I want to go to the next time there is a U.S. tour. The concerts look awesome.
Using a college football analogy, if Taylor Swift is Georgia, #2 is W&J. I dont know if Springstein is #2 or not, maybe he is but no one is remotely close to Taylor Swift. This is possibly the biggest live event phenomenon in Earth's history. I mean 20K-30K people are gathering outside of stadiums just to listen.
I'm probably biased, while the scene outside of Philly with just the massive amount of fans was impressive, Pittsburgh by far had the most scenic event with fans outside the stadium, sitting at the Point, and on the boats. I'm not sure another city will be able to match something like that.
Bruce not selling out all his shows isn’t a reflection of political boycotts IMO. Cons inevitably need entertained, but entertainers are typically liberals who dislike them; likewise liberals inevitably need boring professionals, but most of them are apt to be conservatives who dislike THEM. Each have come to terms with those realities. But everyone are equal hypocrites in taking each other’s money.
No, Bruce is merely losing his rapidly aging fans to inevitable infirmities, nursing homes and mortuaries.
No, Bruce is merely losing his rapidly aging fans to inevitable infirmities, nursing homes and mortuaries.
