How Taylor Swift Incorporated The Tortured Poets Department into the Eras Tour

After taking a two-month break, Taylor Swift returned to the stage today as she embarked on the European leg of her Eras Tour. Swift performed the first of four nights in Paris, about three weeks after releasing her latest album Midnights.

Soon after the album’s release, fans were convinced Swift would add The Tortured Poets Department to the Eras Tour setlist, based on clues from the star’s social media. On April 25, Swift posted a short YouTube video of her rehearsing for the tour, where the album’s opening song “Fortnight” could be heard, with the caption “A fortnight til Paris.”

In an interview, Swift’s French tour promoter said she would be including new songs from Midnights on the next leg of the Eras Tour. “We are going to discover a slightly modified show since she has released a new album,” he said.

As the show kicked off in Paris on Thursday evening, signs pointed to the inclusion of The Tortured Poets Department on the setlist. Fans noted its inclusion in the tour intro:

🏟️| Tortured Poets Department added after 1989 and before Red in the Eras intro!! — Taylor Swift Updates 🩶 (@swifferupdates)

Taylor Swift makes changes to the Eras Tour set in Paris

Swift added The Tortured Poets Department to the Eras Tour intro and reordered the setlist on the first night in Paris. Previously on the “Lover” portion of the show, Swift ended with the song “The Archer,” but on Thursday, she skipped it, going from “Lover” to “Fearless.” After the “Fearless” era, Swift went right into the “Red” era instead of “Evermore,” and followed that up with songs from Speak Now and Reputation. Fans noted that Swift skipped performing “Long Live” from Speak Now, which she added to the setlist last July.

🚨| New “Lover” era setlist for Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’! – Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince– Cruel Summer– The Man– You Need To Calm Down– Lover — The Eras Tour (@tswifterastour)

Other changes followed when Swift went into the “Folklore” era. While the “Evermore” and “Folklore” eras typically occurred at different parts of the show, in Paris, Swift announced she was combining them, since they are “sister albums.”

“On the Eras Tour, we have now reunited the sisters, combined them into one chapter. You can call it “Folkmore,” you can call it “Everlore,” she said, before performing “Champagne Problems” (from Evermore) followed by “August” (from Folklore).

🚨| TAYLOR SWIFT HAS WALKED OVER TO THE EVERMORE PIANO AFTER PERFORMING BETTY— The Eras Tour (@tswifterastour)

According to Pollstar, in December 2023, the Eras Tour became the highest-grossing tour of all time and the first-ever tour to gross over $1 billion.

How The Tortured Poets Department is included in the Eras Tour

Swift introduced the “Tortured Poets” section of the Eras Tour after a performance of “Bad Blood,” with the set turning into an image of a long road. She opened the new era with a performance of “But Daddy I Love Him.”

The second song in the “Tortured Poets” era was a shortened version of “So High School,” followed by a performance of “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?”

Swift then sang “Down Bad,” as an image of a UFO flew above her, before performing the album’s opening track, “Fortnight.”

🚨| TAYLOR SWIFT IS CURRENTLY PERFORMING BUT DADDY I LOVE HIM AS THE FIRST SONG OF THE TTPD SET ON THE ERAS TOUR IN A WHITE DRESS! — The Eras Tour (@tswifterastour)

The Tortured Poets Department set the record as the most streamed album in a single day, accumulating over 300 million streams—beating the previous record holder: Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter. It also became the fastest album to amass over one billion streams in just five days, making it the most streamed album in a week with over 799 million streams. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with 2.61 million equivalent album units (this includes vinyls, CDs, cassettes, and digital album downloads). Swift celebrated the album’s success with a post to Instagram sharing photos of her and her collaborators making the project.

The caption reads, “2.6 million ARE YOU ACTUALLY SERIOUS?? Thank you for listening, streaming, and welcoming Tortured Poets into your life. Feeling completely overwhelmed,” she writes. “I was already so fired up to get back to the tour but you doing THIS?? May 9th can’t come soon enough.”