This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s summer editorial intern Connor Hanrahan. Find him on Instagram at @hannerhansmh. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
The Eras Tour has been going strong now for over a year and a half, with its debut show presented in Glendale, Arizona on March 17, 2023. Since then, Taylor Swift has awed city after city for month after month with zero to few mishaps to show for it… But the few errors we have seen immediately took over the internet in memes, articles, forums, pins, and subreddits. They’ve been so culturally relevant, in fact, that they have earned Taylor’s tour the affectionate nickname: The Errors Tour.
Time and time again, Taylor met her mishaps with a grin, a laugh, and the occasional swear word while fans within the stadium lost their minds. Let’s take a look back at her most notable hiccups.
And don’t worry, we’re including ALL the clips below 🙂
“Still Swift AF Boi”
During the Reputation era at a Cincinnati show, the platform that she was supposed to ride down beneath the stage during an era transition failed and she was left to her own devices, though this time she did NOT end up in crisis. She quickly fled through her fleet of backup dancers to the stage backdrop in a manual effort to get herself to her wardrobe swap as quickly as possible.
When a TikTok of her doing so emerged after the show, she commented “Still swift af boi” under the clip.
Pull the Chair Far Back so I Miss the Seat
Taylor almost missed her chair while attempting to sit down during the choreography of “Vigilante Sh*t”. You can almost see her soul leave her body as the drop was further than she was expecting. A nice wipeout during her sassiest song would’ve gone viral immediately and heaven only knows how long that clip would have circulated the internet.
Her mother must have had a good laugh as she explicitly disapproved of the routine.
Taylor vs Bugs
Taylor swallowed her first bug of The Eras Tour last year during her set at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. After a brief hacking fit and a series of hilarious faces, she exclaimed, “I swallowed a bug, I’m so sorry.” She laughed and so did everybody else because let’s face the facts: If you’re at The Eras Tour, you know that Taylor can do no wrong and every minor spill immediately becomes the lore of that show.
She then said, “Is there any chance none of you saw that? It’s fine, I swallowed it.” The crowd again uproar in laughter before she went back about business as the consummate mother figure she is for her audience.
This was the first bout with bugs on the tour but she has since swallowed more bugs during her Milan and London shows earlier this year.
Whose Line Is It Anyways?
Taylor has forgotten or butchered the lyrics to her songs a couple of times so far. For most artists this would be an atrocity, but her image is beyond reproach in the eyes of Swifties and every one of these instances have been captured forever by fans who will cherish these moments for eternity.
The most notable of these instances was her butchering of the lyrics to Last Kiss off of her Speak Now album.
After the mishap, she apologized to the fans and told them that she and her tour have a policy where she can repeat a surprise song if she messes up the lyrics and asks the crowd if they’d allow her to start over again. The crowd emphatically agrees and she begins again.
This time, she messes up the SAME LYRICS and apologized profusely:
“Oh my god! No, those are the right lyrics,” exclaimed the popstar, blushing and embarrassed. “I swear that I won’t mess this up again! Oh my god. This one? I love this one! Why am I doing this to THIS song?!”
It is a clip that will live forever within the annals of Swiftie lore.
She also flubbed lyrics to Dear Reader and Right Where You Left Me during her Santa Clara and Tokyo shows, respectively.
Swift, Yet Static
It always seems to be the Reputation era… While performing in Mexico City, Mexico, Taylor’s hair began levitating around her due to static electricity in the air. Some fans joked that she would begin tumbling through the air like P!NK does during her shows, while others felt it in their own hair. There was concern that lightning would strike due to an old omen about static in hair, but it never did and the show continued as planned.
No Diving
Taylor’s post-surprise song swan dive into the stage immediately became a crowd favorite, but in Tampa Bay, FL, The Errors Tour struck again. As she sauntered over to where the trap door was supposed to open, it never did. The accompanying sound effect played, and Taylor could be seen mouthing, “The f*ck?” as she stared at the solid stage in front of her.
A few confused moments later, the door gave way and she dove through the stage, much to the delight of the crowd.
Test, Test… Is This Thing On?
Back to December… I mean, *ahem* back to Chicago. During the Lover era, her glitzy patel colored microphone ceased all operations and despite her best efforts, she couldn’t get it to work. She even tried the age old holistic microphone cures of banging it really hard on her hand and screaming into it to no avail.
Eventually, a crew member brought her a backup stock black microphone to use for the rest of the era.
The Ghost of Pianos Past
During a rainy show in Foxborough, Massachusetts, Taylor flinched after her piano began to play itself. “Did you hear that? Do you hear the piano?” she asked the audience after it began playing a couple notes on its own. She even lifted her hands where all could see them in an effort to emphasize her surprise.
Moments later she told the crowd she would be playing a different song on guitar because she was too shook to play that piano.
Did I miss anything? I sure hope not! We at The Zillennial love Taylor and are so happy to have had the opportunity to cover different aspects of her career as they’ve happened. Let us know in the comments below what your favorite moment of The Errors Tour has been!
Leave a Reply