Is Taylor Swift recording an Eras Tour live album? The surprise song theory explained

28 July 2023, 09:39

Taylor Swift explains why Cruel Summer wasn't released as a single

By Sam Prance

Fans think Taylor Swift is releasing an Eras Tour live album including her surprise songs and we need it immediately.

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Swifties, assemble! There is a fan theory that Taylor Swift is recording an Eras Tour live album with every surprise song on it.

You don't have to be a Taylor Swift fan to know that The Eras Tour is already one of the biggest tours of all time. Not only has Taylor sold out all 131 stadium dates of the tour but Ticketmaster literally crashed during the US presale. As a result, people who didn't get tickets have been gathering outside each concert in their thousands in order to get a glimpse of the show.

With the demand so high, it's no wonder that Swifties want a concert film and a live album. As well as performing 43 of her most iconic songs every night, Taylor sings two different surprise songs at every show, and fans are loving all her new live arrangements. With 89 surprise songs performed to date, Taylor has hundreds of songs to choose from for a live album.

Is Taylor Swift releasing an Eras Tour live album though? Here's everything we know so far and all the fan theories about it.

Is Taylor Swift recording an Eras Tour live album? The surprise song theory explained. Picture: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management, John Shearer/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

Will there be an Eras Tour live album?

As it stands, Taylor is yet to reveal whether or not a live album for The Eras Tour is in the works. However, given the scope of the show fans are convinced that Taylor is putting together something. Surely one of the biggest tours of all time deserves to be commemorated with its very own live album that fans can listen to whenever they want to re-experience the show?

To date, Taylor has released three live albums. In 2011, she released Speak Now World Tour - Live, in 2020, she released Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions and, in 2023, she released Lover (Live from Paris) as a Valentine's Day limited edition vinyl record. If The Eras Tour gets a live album, it will be Taylor's first tour album since 2011.

In 2020, Big Machine also released a Taylor Swift Live from Clear Channel Stripped 2008 album but Taylor took to her Instagram to confirm that the release was not approved by her.

Will there be an Eras Tour live album? Picture: Mat Hayward/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

Will the surprise songs be on The Eras Tour live album?

Since The Eras Tour first began, fans have come up with a theory that Taylor will be including every single live version of her surprise songs on an Eras Tour live album. During the first live show in Glendale, Arizona, Taylor said that she was going to only perform each surprise song once unless he "mess[ed] it up so badly" that she had to do it again in another city.

Taylor has more than enough shows to perform all of her songs before the tour ends.

One fan wrote: "What if the reason taylor performs surprise songs again when she messes them up is because she actually is releasing a live album of the eras tour including all the surprise songs."

Another fan tweeted: "I really really hope that taylor is making some kind of live album with the surprise songs and that's why if she makes a mistake she can sing that one again."

If true, Taylor would own live versions of every single one of her songs alongside her Taylor's Versions.

I really really hope that taylor is making some kind of live album with the surprise songs and that's why if she makes a mistake she can sing that one again
— ros 🦇 ¡!☆ (@ichxlmtlvr) July 24, 2023

Manifesting a whole live album of every surprise song she has done on the eras tour
— rach ☆ 🪩 (@rachelxlily) July 13, 2023

okay but imagine if Taylor released a live album of every single surprise song from the eras tour
— Cami Swaner (@CamiSwaner) July 7, 2023

Whether or not this is feasible is yet to be seen. With The Eras Tour already being 45 songs long, a live album including every song Taylor has ever recorded would be one of the longest albums in history and would require a lot of vinyl as a physical product. For the fixed setlist with 43 songs alone, the vinyl will likely require 4 vinyl discs.

Taylor loves to make different variants of her albums though and it's possible that she could make multiple different The Eras Tour Vinyl variants. Alternatively, Taylor may release a separate surprise songs live album or she will just pick her favourite surprise songs to be on The Eras Tour live album.

We'll be sure to let you know as soon as Taylor reveals more.

Will there be an Eras Tour film or documentary?

Yep! The Eras Tour concert film was released on October 13th, and was filmed over the first three nights of her Los Angeles run. It will remain exclusively in cinemas for 13 weeks, before hopefully coming to streaming.

There is currently no confirmation as to when or if it will be available to stream – the latest reports suggest that Taylor is opting to wait until the SAG-Aftra strike is over before negotiating with streaming services.

And as for a tour documentary? There's no news on that yet, but after staging the highest grossing tour of all time, featuring her entire catalogue of music, fans are hoping Taylor will share the behind-the-scenes of how she pulled it all together.