Taylor Swift kicks off final Eras Tour show with ‘one last grand adventure’

US pop superstar Taylor Swift has kicked off the final night of her juggernaut Eras Tour in Canada.

The 14-time Grammy-winner is rounding off her record-breaking tour with her third and final night at the BC Place in Vancouver, having begun her mammoth string of dates in March last year.

Launching into her final three-hour show, Swift told the audience: “We have toured the entire world with this tour, we have had so many adventures.

“It has been the most exciting, powerful, electrifying, intense, most challenging thing I have ever done in my entire life.”

She continued: “We have got to perform for over 10 million people on this tour and tonight we get to play one last show for you tonight, in beautiful Vancouver.

“You and I, we’re about to go on one last grand adventure together and that adventure is going to span 18 years of music and we’re going to be doing this one era at a time.”

The billion-dollar tour takes fans through Swift’s back catalogue, including hits from albums 1989, Red, Midnights and her latest chart-topping 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department.

The tour has seen the pop star play cities across the world, making history as the first solo artist to perform at London’s Wembley Stadium eight times on a single tour.

Swift said the Eras Tour has been “different from any tour I have ever done before”.

“The craziest thing about this has been, and the reason this has been the longest tour I have ever done, I have never ever done this many shows on a tour ever, is because you guys have made this into something completely unrecognisable from anything I have ever done in my life with your traditions, with your passion, the way you care about this tour, it is unparalleled – I have never experienced anything like it,” she said.

“The lasting legacy of this tour is that you have created such a space of joy and togetherness and love, and I couldn’t be more proud of you.”

Opening the final show, US star Gracie Abrams told fans: “I’m not ready for it to be over”.

Abrams praised Swift’s music, as well as her “generosity, curiosity, her wild and unparalleled pen, her superpower of seeing into our lives and creating soundtracks for every single formative moment that we’ve had that we will have”.

Among stars at the show were musician Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam and The Office US star Jenna Fischer, who recently announced she is cancer free after being diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of the disease.

Canadian superstar Michael Buble and his family were guests of Swift’s “kindhearted” parents during her penultimate show in his hometown.

“I witnessed something last night that I’ve never experienced before and, frankly, may never experience again. Taylor is truly an incredible entertainer,” Buble said in a post on Instagram on Sunday.

Buble said his daughters were “in awe” of Swift, and watching the joy on their faces “is something I will never forget as long as I live”.

“The power of connection and the shared experience between generations is a testament to Taylor’s incredible talents,” he said.

“I am grateful to have seen the Eras tour and in my very own hometown. What an unforgettable night.”

Swift wrapped up the European leg of the tour in August before further dates in the US and Canada in October and November.

Hollywood actor Tom Cruise, film director Greta Gerwig, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the Prince of Wales and his two eldest children were among those who attended her shows in London earlier in the year.

The singer also played shows in Edinburgh, Liverpool and Cardiff before arriving at Wembley amid a frenzy of fan excitement.

To celebrate her arrival in the UK capital, murals, a special Tube map, a Taylor trail and a series of events were created.

The show has produced a blockbuster concert film and boosted economies around the world as her fans, named Swifties, travelled to attend her tour.

In the summer, Swift had to cancel three sold-out shows in Vienna after police uncovered an alleged plot by terrorists.

The CIA’s chief later said the suspects had sought to kill “tens of thousands” of fans before the agency discovered intelligence that disrupted the planning and led to arrests.

After finishing the European leg of her tour, she said it was “devastating” to cancel the shows but the reason “filled me with a new sense of fear”.

Earlier this week Swift was named Spotify’s most-played artist of the year with more than 26.6 billion streams.

She also won seven awards at the MTV Video Music Awards and was nominated for six Grammy Awards.

The Tortured Poets Department soared back to the top of the UK album charts this week after a new anthology version was released.