After 15 months, it’s finally here.
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour will open Thursday at the Rogers Centre. It marks the first of six sold-out shows that have been more than a year in the making and which are expected to bring Toronto’s downtown core to a standstill.
Toronto is the second-last stop on Swift’s two-year, 149-show, multibillion-dollar tour that long ago became the highest-grossing concert series of all time. Swift, the superstar of nearly two decades and author of hits including “I Knew You Were Trouble,” “Shake It Off” and “Anti-Hero,” is expected to bring more than 500,000 visitors to the downtown core and more than $282 million in economic impact.
For those inside the Rogers Centre, it will be an experience that costs thousands of dollars. For those outside, it could mean a frustrating commute, swamped local bars and packed city sidewalks.
Here’s a how-to guide on how to navigate the chaos.
Getting around the city
Organizers are encouraging fans to use public transit. The TTC expects an additional 20,000 passengers each night and a total bill of as much as $1.2 million for the additional service it will run. Metrolinx is adding trains and buses to its GO system.
Two Bike Share valet stations will be operating, one at Roundhouse Park and another at Lower Simcoe Street and Bremner Boulevard.
If you do decide to drive — or if you’re dropping someone off — Bremner Boulevard will close at 2 p.m. on concert days, as will Blue Jays Way between Spadina Avenue and Front Street. After the concert, both eastbound and westbound off ramps of the Gardiner Expressway will close. These closures are expected to lift around 1 a.m.
There are five designated drop-off and pickup spots for the concert: Front Street (between Bathurst and Spadina), Lake Shore Boulevard (between Rees and Spadina), Queens Quay (between Bay and Freeland), Bay Street (between Richmond and Wellington) and York Street (between Wellington and Adelaide).
The city has also instituted a limited activity zone — south of King Street between Spadina Avenue and Jarvis Street — inside which construction and filming that occupies the road is banned.
What to do in the city
If you’re one of the many who do not have a ticket to the show — and you don’t want to spend $3,000 for a ticket with an obstructed view — there are plenty of cheaper options. After all, businesses across the city are expected to bring in $152 million in direct spending, and they are eager to sell themselves as the top Swift experience.
What won’t be available is a listening party outside the Rogers Centre. In many cities, fans without tickets have gathered outside the stadium — like in Munich, when over 20,000 fans crowded a nearby hill to listen and sang along. But the Rogers Centre will be closed for all six concerts and organizers say non-ticketholders will not be allowed to stand outside the stadium.
Perhaps the easiest way to find something to do is simply look down. The city has placed tourism stickers along the sidewalks surrounding the Rogers Centre, each featuring a QR code that advises fans on how to make the most of their visit.
The largest external event will take place around the corner at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, where thousands are expected for the Taylgate event. Organizers boast it will be the “biggest-ever TSwift dance party in Canada” and include spaces to make friendship bracelet.
If you’re more of a stay-at-home person, the Eras Tour film — which is the highest-grossing concert film of all time — is streaming on Disney Plus.
Getting in
The Eras Tour is a sweeping, three-and-a-half hour tour through Swift’s career, featuring 44 songs plus a pair of surprise songs performed acoustically on the guitar and piano.
None of that will matter if you can’t find your way in.
Officially, the Rogers Centre won’t let fans line up before 3:30 p.m. But when merchandise went on sale on Tuesday and the stadium instituted a similar rule, fans simply started their own line just off Rogers Centre property.
The stadium is instituting a security perimeter around the venue on concert days, with four designated entrances: the northeast corner (for Gates 1, 2 and 3), the southeast corner (for Gates 4, 5, 6, 6A and 7), the southwest corner (for Gates 10, 11 and 12) and the northwest corner (for Gates 13, 14 and 15).
Fans can bring one small bag, either a clear bag smaller than 12 inches by six inches by 12 inches, or a non-clear bag smaller than 4.5 inches by 6.5 inches.
Importantly, all friendship bracelets must be on your body. Fans in line for merch on Tuesday joked they would put hundreds of bracelets on their arms and accidentally cut circulation.
Enjoying the show
The show will begin at 6:45 with opener Gracie Abrams, the 25-year-old singer-songwriter that has penned hits including “The Secret of Us” and “That’s So True.” She’s nominated for best new artist at the 2025 Grammy Awards and is “one of the buzziest names in music right now,” Star contributor Sarah Laing writes.
Once she wraps, it’s Taylor time.
The Eras Tour is typically a 10-act show that includes songs from almost all of Swift’s studio albums — or, as they’re known in the Swift world, eras. The tour has undergone several changes since it started in March 2023, most notably to include Swift’s new album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Keep an eye out for celebrities. Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce, tight end for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, is playing in Buffalo on Sunday and could be in attendance.
Thursday night will be one unlike any other — for good or for bad, sure to complicate the lives of Torontonians.
It’s only night one of six. Buckle up.
With files from Andy Takagi and Abhiraj Lamba.
