A member of Taylor Swift’s tour crew nearly passed out after her generous gesture to them at the end of her mammoth world tour.
Whatever you may feel about the ‘Cruel Summer’ singer’s music, there is no denying that her Eras Tour heavily dominated a lot of popular culture between 2023 and 2024.
With 149 shows across five continents, Swift’s concerts were a huge production and the tour has been slated as one of the highest-grossing tours in history.
And with all that effort comes quite the team, from dancers and makeup artists, to pyrotechnics and merch workers - all of whom spent months away from their families and homes at a time
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Fans have now been given an insight into all that hard work that went into it with the new documentary The End of an Era on Disney+. This features the special ‘bonus day’ she prepared with her mum, Andrea, to thank the tour crew.
It was previously reported by PEOPLE that Swift had given out a whopping $197 million (£147.3 million) in bonuses to the Eras Tour performers and crew on top of their salaries over the two years.
During episode two of the docu series, the ‘Shake It Off’ singer prepares handwritten letters for every team member – including truck drivers, caterers, choreographers, physical therapists and instrument techs.
“Bonus day is so important, because setting a precedent with The Eras Tour is so important to me, because people who work on the road, if the tour grosses more, they get more of a bonus,” Swift explained.
And in a later clip, she hands out the letters to her backup dancers as she asks (one of the fan favourites) Kameron Saunders to read it out loud.
It’s fair to say they all seemed pretty shook by the contents, from cheering to just being to stunned to speak, while one even had to have a quick puff on their inhaler.
The cards appeared to read: “We've travelled the world like we set out to do, we've dazzled the crowds but we've missed family too.
“My full gratitude doesn't come from a bank, but here is [bleeped] dollars just so say thanks. Love, Taylor."
In one scene, a production team member could be seen shifting his weight onto a table after finding out the sum he had been given, even saying he felt as though he was about to 'pass out'.
The End of an Era doc gives fans ‘backstage access’ to Swift’s tour, featuring emotional moments and exchanges with her then-boyfriend, now-fiancé, Travis Kelce.
The first two episodes are now available on Disney+.
Topics: Celebrity, Documentaries, Money, Taylor Swift, Music
Jess Battison