I spent a year covering Taylor Swift's Eras Tour around the world. Here's what it was like

I'm not being hyperbolic when I say Taylor Swift's Eras Tour has been my job — and really, my life — for the past 13 months. I've posted 501 articles, made 42 television appearances, published 974 photos, edited 38 videos, filmed a documentary and written a book on Swift.

It all started with USA TODAY's viral job posting for the world's first full-time, dedicated Taylor Swift reporter. Earning the position led me to four continents to cover the record-shattering Eras Tour.

Swift will wrap her magnum opus in Vancouver, Canada, on Sunday. And while many fans are theorizing what surprises she may have in store, I can't help but reminisce on the rollercoaster ride of the past year.

I've watched the show in-person and on livestreams 89 times and, at 3 hours and 15 minutes a show, that's roughly 12 full days. The choreography, Swift's speeches and fan traditions are engrained in my DNA to the point I double clap during "You Belong With Me" like a dog conditioned by Pavlov's chime.

It's been the adventure of a lifetime.

Celebrate the Eras Tour with our enchanting book

It's me, hi

After accepting the position in October 2023, I had two weeks to pack up my life of 12 years in Phoenix and move to Nashville. Under the veil of secrecy, I said goodbye to friends who would find out with the rest of the world that I had been chosen.

For days, I sat in anticipation of my career news going viral. Before announcing my new job on social media, I sat in the parking lot outside Percy Warner Park, where Swift used to run. I pushed "share" and switched my phone to airplane mode. I played "Fifteen (Taylor’s Version)."

"Count to 10, take it in, this is life before you know who you’re going to be," echoed between my ears. How did a teenage songwriter pen the mantra of my 35th year?

Want more Taylor Swift news? Sign-up for a free, weekly newsletter on the superstar.

One of my close friends housed me for two weeks, and my focus turned to setting up the new beat. His spare room had a walk-in closet with a desk that became a makeshift office. In my first TV appearance in this position, Gayle King and Charles Barkley asked me if I would be going to the Eras Tour concerts and I replied, "I would love that. ... I've been watching the livestreams, honestly, from my friend's closet." And we just moved on without any context.

Covering this Swift beat

I would in fact soon book a trip to Japan and Australia for the spring. For the Eras Tour dates in Argentina and Brazil, I relied on new internet friends to keep me informed over WhatsApp with the help of Google Translate.

Fan accounts from different countries proved pivotal in covering Travis Kelce's first Eras Tour appearance as the singer's boyfriend and the campaign to project a Swift-themed T-shirt on the Christ the Redeemer statue.

Concert nights became my days and, because of the different time zones, that meant covering the tour at all hours. In the beginning, all the livestream watching paid off when USA TODAY was one of the first outlets to report the famous lyric change "Karma is the guy on the Chiefs, coming straight home to me."

Swift and her Eras Tour hit every news beat: business, crime, politics, weather, sports and of course, music.

Perfect Christmas gift for Swifties: Celebrate Taylor Swift's unprecedented Eras Tour with USA TODAY's enchanting book

I was driving to Sparta, North Carolina, to report a story on a viral candle and soap company when news broke of the tragic death of Ana Clara Benevides Machado during a show in Rio de Janeiro. I repeatedly pulled to the side of the road to publish updates about the evolving situation in Brazil. I then switched gears to report on the mountain town small business.

Domestic and international markets charted mini economic booms as the three hour show danced across Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas. Swift brought an estimated $228 million to Japan’s economy. In Sydney, she raked in an estimated $43 million on merchandise. Indiana University economists reported the singer brought in $100 million to Indianapolis.

Southeast Asia politicians were bitter about an exclusive deal Singapore struck with the singer. The Phillippines announced they would build a Taylor Swift-ready stadium by 2028 to court future shows.

A thwarted terrorist plot rattled Vienna before tens of thousands of fans gathered in the streets to sing together. The teenager arrested told officials he planned to kill as many people as possible. I covered that the week after my birthday, on the one vacation I took. As I was having lunch at a restaurant, my phone blew up with texts and alerts. I sprinted down a Rehoboth, Delaware, boardwalk to my AirBnb to chase the story as it unfolded on the other side of the ocean.

The singer released three albums — "Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)," "1989 (Taylor’s Version)" and "The Tortured Poets Department" over the two year tour. She debuted three music videos and brought out special guests. One weekend, a story included Paul McCartney handing out friendship bracelets.

Headlines about Swift attending Chiefs games because of her relationship with Kelce overran sports media. Dads and daughters bonded over touchdowns. And Brads and Chads clutched their pearls when broadcasts showed the superstar for less than 30 seconds a game.

Some of the biggest stories broke during gaps in Swift's schedule. She bypassed production studios to release her blockbuster concert movie. She was crowned Time Magazine Person of the Year. She released an 11th studio album. She endorsed a presidential candidate.

I joked with my co-workers at The Tennessean: "Taylor, it's a Monday in June, please don't announce anything on your travel day to Cardiff, Wales."

Getting seats to the hottest show

I experienced the Great War to get tickets on multiple continents. I am in no way affiliated with Swift or her team, and they declined to provide me media passes to cover the tour. With resale prices for her last show in Vancouver hitting four digits, fans might be shocked to know a restricted view ticket in Lisbon, Portugal, was $81 while a floor seat in Paris was $150.

The hardest stops to get tickets were in Australia, where the law requires that resale tickets have no more than a 10% markup for certain events. And even though the Melbourne stadium was the tour's largest, holding 96,000 concertgoers each night, the insurmountable demand and price cap made it nearly impossible to get inside. I was lucky that a friend of a friend had a last-minute cancellation in her group and asked me to go with her and her daughters.

When I didn't attend shows in person, I watched livestreams broadcast from fans' phones for the entire three-plus hours. It was one of the incredible ways Swifties created community around this tour. Those without tickets would Taylor-gate together outside open-roofed stadiums where they could hear the concert for free. Fans exchanged friendship bracelets, showed off bedazzled outfits and shared innumerable acts of kindness.

Introducing 'Female Rage: The Musical'

The show evolved. Before this job even existed, I bought two tickets to the first Paris show. That proved immensely beneficial as the Eras Tour ringleader scrambled her eras and made room for "The Tortured Poets Department" section. Sitting in the lower bowl, I sent my editor stanzas, every once in a while snapping a photo and texting it over.

Kelce appeared at the final night in Paris, concert No. 87, as Swift sang a love mashup to her tight end boyfriend. I had a ticket for the floor — where there were no assigned seats — allowing me to stand by the barricade he walked by as Swift played "Karma." He showed off his waving hand dance moves and gave a few fans next to me some high fives.

In Lisbon, I was grabbing a video of the singer exiting through a tunnel when she looked up. Just like when covering a politician or sports team, you can’t dress up as your beat so I always wore a single-color polo or Tennessean T-shirt, which ironically made me stick out among the sea of bedazzled outfits. Swift smiled, pointed and mouthed what looked like "I’ve seen you" or "I know you."

In summation

I'm often asked about my favorite moment from the past year, and the truth is, there isn’t a specific one among the garish kaleidoscope of memories. The highlights include: witnessing the wristbands shining bright purple during "Long Live" in Melbourne, going live on Australian television in the pouring rain, meeting influencers who I've interviewed over FaceTime in real life in Paris and London, watching the production staff behind the curtain from a restricted view seat in Lisbon, standing next to the diamond stage in Madrid with the fan who runs the Eras Tour Instagram account, touring the Victoria and Albert Museum's Swift collection before doors opened, being a guest on a Swift podcast I've listened to for years in Miami, surprising a fan who had never been to a show with a ticket in New Orleans and turning my phone off in Indianapolis to watch the final American show.

The memories may be unique to me, but the overall themes are common to anyone who went to one or more Eras Tour shows. And even though this chapter is wrapping up, Swift is already working on her next project. In the foreword to her official concert book, she wrote, "See you in the next era." It's one I plan to cover.

Don't miss any Taylor Swift news; sign up for the free, weekly newsletter This Swift Beat.

Follow Bryan West, the USA TODAY Network's Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: A year following the Eras Tour: The Taylor Swift reporter looks back