PARIS, May 7, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Having shaken four continents, Taylor Swift's
Eras Tour finally brings the biggest pop culture icon of the century to
Europe from Thursday, starting with a four-night run in Paris.

Swift has broken almost every record in music, and her sixth tour is no
exception.

The Eras Tour, which began in March 2023, is already the first to sell more
than $1 billion in tickets, and is expected to more than double that by the
time it concludes in Vancouver this December.

Swifties in Paris are especially excited to hear songs off her new album,
"The Tortured Poets Society", being performed for the first time.

Many critics have derided the 31-track album as bloated and mediocre -- "a
rare misstep" in the words of British music mag NME.

Such blasphemy leaves her devoted fanbase seeing red -- Paste magazine felt
the need to keep their damning review anonymous, knowing all too well how her
fans would react.

But a few bad reviews are unlikely to lead to a cruel summer for Swift -- the
album sold 1.4 million copies on its first day and broke every streaming
record going, reaching a billion streams on Spotify within five days.

Some 42,000 people will see Swift in Paris before she heads on for dates in
Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Britain, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy,
Germany, Poland and Austria.

Many are travelling a long way -- around one in five of the Paris audience is
coming from the United States, according to the La Defense Arena where she is
performing.

- Economic juggernaut -

The 34-year-old's tour remains a money-making machine beyond the wildest
dreams of promoters and venues.

Research group QuestionPro estimated that last year's US dates generated $5
billion for the country's economy. The US Travel Association said the figure
may have exceeded $10 billion when hotel rooms, restaurants and other
indirect sales were included.

The La Defense Arena says it has doubled the previous record of merchandise-
sellers across its dates.

The mere mention of a London pub, The Black Dog, on her new album was enough
to send a swarm of Swifties to its doors this month, potentially saving the
struggling boozer.

Fans tracked it down after realising it lay close to the home of British
actor Joe Alwyn, with whom Swift had a six-year relationship that ended last
summer.

Swift's tell-all dissections of her love stories have been the fuel powering
her global domination, and fans have been pouring over "The Tortured Poets
Department" for cryptic clues about Alwyn, her short-but-dramatic fling with
Matty Healy (lead singer of The 1975), and her current beau, American
football star Travis Kelce.

"There is something in her music that captures the adolescent desire for a
poetic existence, charged with passion, danger and love," said Satu
H"meenaho-Fox, author of "Into the Taylor-Verse".

Soukeyna, a 16-year-old fan travelling up from southwest France for opening
night, said Swift gives her "the feeling of being part of a community".

"She's a complete artist who writes her own words, and you really have to
listen to the lyrics and understand them, which is something unique," she
added.