Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is almost here. Inside the pop megastar’s long history with Toronto

With Taylor Swift‘s record-busting Eras Tour nearing its six-show stop in Toronto, Swifties might be surprised at the pop superstar’s long history with the Six.
From opening shows at Scotiabank Arena (then Air Canada Centre) when she was just 16 to her long (and wildly successful) relationship with Rogers Centre, it’s clear the singer-songwriter is no stranger to the city.
But her six concerts at Rogers Centre in November will mark her longest stop in Toronto so far — not to mention one of the Eras Tour’s longest stops in any one individual city. Toronto is tied with Los Angeles and Singapore for that honour.
Here’s a quick primer on Swift’s 12 previous Toronto shows ahead of her upcoming concerts.
You might be surprised to learn Swift’s very first concert outside the U.S. was in Toronto, according to the Concert Archives.
In 2006, a 16-year-old Swift fresh off her self-titled debut album “Taylor Swift” wound up opening for country music trio Rascal Flatts’s Me and My Gang Tour. She was a last-minute addition after their previous opening act, Eric Church, reportedly got the boot for playing too long.
“Oh my God,” Swift wrote in a diary entry dated Oct. 18, 2006. “I am on the Rascal Flatts tour! I got the call yesterday and I screamed louder than I can ever remember screaming before.”
A month later, on Nov. 1, Swift appeared before tens of thousands at the Air Canada Centre alongside Gary Allan and Rascal Flatts — one of her first tastes of the big stage.
“I’ll never forget having Taylor Swift on tour with us,” Gary LeVox of Rascal Flatts recalled in 2019. “It was her first tour ever and now she has truly changed the face of music and the world with her music!”
Swift would return to Toronto a year later, again as an opening act — this time for Brad Paisley’s Bonfires & Amplifiers Tour.
She played alongside Paisley and Rodney Atkins on Sep. 8, 2007, at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre (now called Budweiser Stage) at Ontario Place.
The same tour took her on a jaunt across Canada, with stops in cities from Saskatoon to Vancouver.
The next time Swift stopped by Toronto, the fast-growing artist was embarking on her very first headlining concert tour for her second studio album “Fearless.”
She returned to Air Canada Centre for two sold-out shows near the tail end of the massively successful tour on May 21 and 22, 2010, playing to more than 30,000 fans.
The concerts were opened by Kellie Pickler and Gloriana. Ironically, Swift would be joined by Canadian pop phenom Justin Bieber — but only for the UK leg of the tour.
The very next year, Swift would return for another two shows in Toronto — this time on her second headlining world tour, in support of her third studio album “Speak Now.”
The two sold-out shows at Air Canada Centre on July 15 and 16, 2011 were opened by artists Needtobreathe and Danny Gokey. They would also be her last concerts at the increasingly-familiar venue.
While Swift’s set list mostly featured songs from “Speak Now,” she also paid homage to her northern audience with covers of Canadian hits like Bieber’s “Baby,” “You Learn” by Alanis Morissette and Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated.”
Another year (or two), another blockbuster world tour by Swift. The wildly-successful Red Tour, in support of Swift’s fourth studio album “Red,” would shatter records, eventually becoming the highest-grossing country tour of all time — a soon-to-be trend in Swift’s long career.
The star played another two dates in Toronto, this time at Rogers Centre, on June 14 and 15, 2013. She would be joined by Austin Mahone, Joel Crouse and a little-known singer-songwriter named Ed Sheeran.
Swift-mania had reached new heights — the two dates at the nearly 50,000 seat stadium reportedly sold-out in just five minutes.
Swift would embark on yet another world tour following her pop masterpiece and fifth studio album “1989,” marking her transition from country singer to full-fledged popstar.
Surprise surprise, it would also go on to break records, cementing itself as the highest-grossing tour of 2015 after selling more than two million tickets worldwide.
Her two sold-out Toronto concerts on Oct. 2 and 3, 2015 — again at Rogers Centre — featured Vance Joy and Shawn Mendes. Charli XCX joined in on the last date.
Swift’s most recent visit to Toronto came during her Reputation Stadium Tour in 2018, the popstar’s first all-stadium world tour. It was in support of her sixth studio album, “Reputation.”
The tour once again shattered all precedence, becoming the highest-grossing U.S. and North American tour on completion. You’d think Swift would get tired of selling out the Rogers Centre, but it happened once again for her two dates on Aug. 3 and 4, 2018.
Swift was accompanied by Camila Cabello and Charli XCX. On her last date, she was joined by surprise guest and Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams, with whom she sang Adams’ smash-hit “Summer of ’69.”
The superstar’s visits to Toronto aren’t limited to playing shows. Swift has been spotted at the Toronto International Film Festival over the years; her last public appearance in the city was at TIFF in 2022, during which she screened her short film “All Too Well” to yet another sold-out audience.
She later appeared onstage for an hour-long conversation with TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey, offering a sneak peek into the making of the film: “The next step would be making a full film,” she said. “And I’m privileged in that I self-funded this film.”