Reviews- The Beatles final song & Taylor Swift's Eras tour film

 Past and present icons..

 The Beatles? Didn’t they break up fifty- three years ago? Well in a way they did but in another way they have never and will never break up. The Beatles will always be with us and future generations. That’s quite a weight for the Fab Four to carry and means that however much they did or continue to do they can never escape that legacy. Increasingly as they reach their eighties the two remaining Fabs seem all too eager to embrace it hence the strong concept of a new Beatles song featuring their sadly long deceased colleagues. In a way this is a superb meeting of past and present, a temporal collection from 1978, 1984 and 2022 stitched together complete with a video to boot. Now we all recall the somewhat underwhelming last `new` Beatles songs which were, with the best intentions, slightly thin for such legends. They sounded like out takes that you’d leave off an album or in the old days use as B Sides. `Now and Then` with its spot-on title reflecting not just the lyric but the circumstances is much better.

 

It really does kind of sound like you imagine what would have resulted had the original four really got back together in the last seventies. Led by John Lennon is doesn’t sound unlike his latter day solo material being musically simple and lyrically direct probably written with Yoko in mind. Or perhaps some thoughts about his estranged colleagues? The words certainly suit the mood whatever their original intent. The “always to return to me” bit sounds so Beatley its crazy! I feel the balance of the song reflects the group fairly well thought it is a shame there can’t be one of those elegant George Harrison solos in a middle part that meanders a bit without vocals. Though it sounds more Lennon than McCartney its existence owes much to the latter’s tenacity in insisting on going back to it. And he must love the sweet melody that shows there is often less of a gap between McCartney and Lennon’s solo work than is often believed.

The video is a fun attempt to have all four Fabs in the same room and the fact that the archive Lennon is basically messing around the whole time undercuts any slide into over sentimentality. Still its hard not to be moved by the final frames in which the vintage mop top Beatles bow at the end of a performance and then fade away.  Of course, they never will fade away but given the circumstances `Now and Then` is a dignified note on which to complete their story.

 

I wonder how many miles Taylor Swift walks during the two and a half hour plus film of her Eras Tour. She works every corner of a massive stage that reaches out into the audience of an enormous venue and the cameras are with her the whole time. Even though we often see her close up, the wide views show how her charisma reaches everyone in the stadium helped by screens even larger than the spectacle they are showing. There are sets, digital visuals, explosions, costume changes, a large band, a team of dancers and backing singers plus an audience clearly in rapture if the cutaways to their reactions are anything to go by. Even the sound- too often a weakness of live footage- is rich, loud and full just as it would be if you were there. And with tickets at a premium it’s probably the best option if you want to see an artist at  her commercial apogee.

I’m not that familiar with the broad range of Taylor Swift’s career, like most people over the age of about twenty- five the first time I was aware of her was the `1989` album but this concert film brings her music to life vividly. As the name suggests the set list covers her entire career though unlike the traditional mixed bag of hits, each segment focusses on a particular album. So there’s a more considered flow to proceedings and with each `era` comes a completely different stage visual giving the show a theatrical feel. At different points Taylor is strutting confidently up and down the stage, playing acoustic guitar or piano, sat on what looks like the roof of a shed, or in an office and in the most gasp inducing moment seemingly diving into water. A multitude of on the stage floor screens enable this though some the crowd seem to think she is really swimming in a  pool under the stage. Yet there are physical sets too and even one of the pianos she uses is dressed with moss. 

Such differences reflect her music which has evolved through several styles while maintaining a penchant for sharp, sassy lyrics that are sometimes inspirational and other times confessional. Her stage presence is confident whatever she’s singing and while some of her early interactions with the crowd can seem a little precocious as she channels her earlier teenage self you warm to her ability to involve the very enthusiastic audience making each of them believe she is singing directly to them.

The impeccably deployed cameras pick up every nuance of the busy concert with triumphant editing. Even if you were there you would never notice everything that this film notices so it is a marvellously complete record of the event. She has lately been re-recording her music in what she dubs Taylor’s Version and this movie sometimes gives us Taylor’s View as we follow her out into a sea of lights and screams. Its one of the best records yet of what it is actually like to be a global star. This is not however a peak behind the curtains. All the action remains on stage and with the film ditching breaks that took the show’s running time above three hours and a handful of songs that didn’t make the final cut the results can seem air brushed. Mind you neither does the film try to present Taylor as some machine- yes she does sweat! And her vocals are superb throughout.

I realised all the recent concert footage I’ve seen has been of older artists so close up you can sense the strains showing because live performances get more difficult the older you are. Compared to the likes of modern day Elton John or U2, Taylor still  has youth on her side; at thirty three she is surely approaching her peak.  As an older observer rather than a fan I did find some of the songs less relatable though her catalogue is so broad that there is still something for most people even if they conjure up memories rather than present day concerns. The ten minute showstopper `All Too Well`, which I’d never heard before was my highlight and also shows that however young her following she is trading in quite traditional music, Not that there is anything wrong with that. The `Red` section of the show was the best for me as a whole along with the strident opening. I really like the more recent `Midnights` material too which shows a real musical maturity.

Her lyrics seem to be nearly all personal ones about relationships or interactions. I wonder what Taylor’s version of political engagement would be like. She is now in a position where she has enormous sway over a generation and it would be a pity if she didn’t at least engage more with the wider world. People mock U2 for their conscience endurance but, you know, at least they have tried to do something positive with their fame. Perhaps Taylor’s next Era will see her tackle wider issues and grow as this audience inevitably will? In the meantime this tour is due to run through 2024. Both as a record of an artist in her Imperial period and a state of the art show the Eras film is a must see.