The Reputation Stadium Tour was the fifth concert tour and the first all-stadium tour by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, in support of her sixth studio album, Reputation (2017). It began in Glendale, Arizona, United States, on May 8, 2018, and concluded in Tokyo, Japan, on November 21, 2018. The tour encompassed 53 shows and visited 7 countries in total.
The set list consisted mostly of the songs from Reputation and some from Swift's other albums. The stage incorporated prominent snake motifs and imagery as decoration, reflecting the album's concept and Swift's public image. The main stage had a wedge-shaped display resembling a skyscraper under construction and was equipped with elaborate lighting, and two smaller B-stages were used for acoustic “surprise song” performances. The October 6, 2018, show at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, was recorded and released as a Netflix original concert film on December 31, 2018; it has since been removed from Netflix for unknown reasons.
Music critics commented that the production evoked Goth subculture and Broadway theatricality, praising the stage design, production, and wardrobe. They lauded Swift's showmanship and interactions with her audience that brought forth an exhilarating yet intimate experience. The Reputation Stadium Tour received 2.88 million attendees and grossed $345.6 million, becoming the highest-grossing US and North American tour upon completion. It was awarded Tour of the Year at the People's Choice Awards, American Music Awards, and iHeartRadio Music Awards.
Background and development Taylor Swift begаn the promotional cycle for her 2017 studio album Reputation with the release of the lead single "Look What You Made Me Do" on August 24. Concurrently, as reported by Billboard, Swift partnered with Ticketmaster for a "Verified Fan" program to prevent bots and ticket scalpers from purchasing concert tickets. The program, named "Taylor Swift Tix", allowed fans to purchase tickets in advance of the public on-sale by participating in activities such as buying Swift's music, streaming her videos, and engaging in miscellaneous "unique activities" to increase chances of getting a pre-sale access code. Reputation was released on November 10, 2017, to immediate commercial success: within first week of release, it sold over one million copies in the US and two million copies worldwide.
On November 13, 2017, Swift's management announced the first 27 dates across the US of the Reputation Stadium Tour; tickets went on sale to the general public on December 13. On November 27, Swift announced the first three UK dates. Two days later, thanks to overwhelming demand even before pre-sale began, Swift announced nine additional dates—three for the UK, five for the US, and one for Canada. On December 3, Swift announced five dates for Australasia. In January 2018, due to high demand, Swift added second dates in Santa Clara, Landover, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Arlington and third dates in East Rutherford and Foxborough, totaling 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 as the shows for her Never Be the Same Tour did not 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 Wembley Stadium in London through a since-deleted post on Twitter, one 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. The following day, she announced two shows in Tokyo in partnership with Fujifilm Instax, with Charli XCX as the opening act. In September, Broods was announced as an opening act for the Oceania leg of the tour.
During the shows, Swift performed "surprise songs" as part of an acoustic segment at different concerts. The songs varied by venue and were taken from Swift's back catalog. A streaming-exclusive compilation playlist, Reputation Stadium Tour Surprise Song Playlist, was released to digital music platforms on November 30, 2018. The playlist was certified triple platinum in Brazil.
Critical reception
Media publications and journalists gave the tour rave reviews and many of them deemed it one of the best tours of 2018. The concerts were complimented for Swift's on-stage persona and intimacy with the audience, the versatile set list and the transition between songs, production value, the stripped-down performances and wardrobe choices, with many commentators noting the Gothic visuals and costumes and Broadway theatricality of the show.
Stereogums Chris DeVille deemed it a "hyper-maximalist" tour and "a perpetual gargantuan flex, a roving musical Infinity War that amplifies everything extra about her persona to an exponential scope" and added that it is designed to be "the biggest spectacle in all of summer entertainment". He also described the tour as "an oversized, high-tech touring Broadway production with a mostly tremendous soundtrack" and concluded that "when discussing the biggest artists of her [Swift's] generation, she's undeniably on the shortlist" and that the singer has ascended to the same "rarefied" tier as the "classic rock deities who've echoed across this venue [the Horseshoe] before her, able to keep commanding stadium status for the rest of her career". Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone named 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 observed the acoustic performances of Swift's fan-favorite deep cuts and dubbed them "a powerhouse performance that made all the different Taylors sound like part of the same story".
The Guardians Bob Gordon thought that "...Ready for It?" is "an appropriate and compelling opener". He opined 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 lauded the set-list and how it "transitions seamlessly from one song to another, crafted out of some of the best from Swift's canon". Also, she compared the tour to a Broadway show because the stage was "flooded with red lighting and dancers swing from trapeze with all the splendour of a Broadway show". Lydia Burgham of The Spinoff defined the tour's Auckland concert a "theatrical, mega-production that somehow also strips down to raw intimate moments". Commenting on the set list, she noted 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 remained "integral to her singer-songwriter origins". Burgham summarized her 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 commended Swift for using her two hours on the stage to "paint a rewardingly holistic picture". Willman believed 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 remarked that the acoustic performance of "Dancing with Our Hands Tied" proved that Reputation worked acoustically as well, without the "Max Martin-izing". Randy Lewis of Los Angeles Times wrote 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 appreciated the stage's resemblance to "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 stated that Swift possesses "a rare gift of turning a stadium spectacle into an intimate setting", with the new persona the singer adopted on Reputation album cycle suiting itself "excellently to a show of this magnitude where she appears larger than life". He thought that Swift fully embraced her vast back catalog and praised her command of the stage—"whether plucking a guitar or leading an army of dancers" that showed that Swift's musical and performance evolution is an "absolute success". Krelenstein concluded that the pop star "delivers in every way to a mesmerized and devoted audience, re-defining what the modern stadium tour can be". Ed Masley of 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 Swift's connection with the crowd. Jim Harrington of The Mercury News asserted that the singer's vocal work and performance skills have improved over the years, and added that "her game is well-rounded enough that she can excel equally at every different aspect of the show." Chris Tuite of 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 of 303 magazine raved that the tour "broke new ground and set the bar high for future stadium tours", burning "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.
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