In Taylor Swift’s ‘End of an Era’ docuseries, Philly is everywhere
Philly over everybody: From her sweatshirt to the directors involved, a look at all the Philly connections throughout Taylor Swift's new docuseries, 'The End of an Era' we've spotted so far.
She may be a Chiefs fan now, but Taylor Swift can’t just shake off ties to her home state.
In The End of an Era, the six-part docuseries about the pop star’s monumental Eras Tour, small nods to Philadelphia can be found laced throughout.
The Disney+ series debuted on Dec. 12 and its final two episodes dropped Tuesday.
From a certain sweatshirt, to her audiobook of choice, to the series’ directors, here’s a quick look at all the connections we’ve spotted so far.
1. The Eagles sweatshirt
At the beginning of Eras Tour rehearsals, in a before-Travis Kelce (BTK) timeline, the Berks County native is shown wearing a gray oversized Eagles sweatshirt as she walks into a practice space.
Paparazzi have spotted Swift repping the crew neck before, which is fitting since she’s discussed at length over the years her memories of her dad watching Eagles games and her love for the team.
In fact, on her first Philadelphia night of the Eras Tour, Swift sang “gold rush” as a surprise song and confirmed the lyric “my Eagles T-shirt hanging from the door,” was in fact about the team and not the band.
“I love the band the Eagles, but guys, like, come on, I’m from Philly,” Swift said that night in 2023 (and yes, a celebratory Birds chant did break out from the crowd).
It’s also worth noting that Swift’s Eagles sweatshirt appears to be unofficial — the team’s house style dictates that the eagle profile should always face left, with the plumage forming a subtle letter ‘E.’
Of course as the docuseries progresses, we see an After-Travis Kelce (ATK) style evolution, and a lot more red and gold — gross.
2. The audiobook
At a point in the series where Swift is trying to calm her nerves, she lies on a couch and starts listening to an audiobook.
It turns out, that book excerpt was from none other than South Philly author Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods.
Moore and her book, which is a multigenerational mystery drama set in the Adirondacks, are having a good year. The God of the Woods was on multiple book club shortlists, including Barack Obama’s, and was just announced for a Netflix adaptation last week. Moore will serve as a co-showrunner, writer, and executive producer.
Swift wasn’t alone in her book selection. The God of the Woods was the most checked-out print book of the year across all of Philadelphia’s library branches. (We don’t know about audiobook stats because those are managed by a third party.)
3. Scenes from Philly shows at the Linc
In the portion of the series that discusses the sheer pandemonium that The Eras Tour caused, with epic tailgates (known as Taylorgates), economic boosts, and overall good vibes, it seems only right that footage from outside the Philly shows were used as the ultimate visual aid.
The docuseries even relies on a Philly voice to summarize things best:
“I’ve never seen this before in my life,” Jon McCann, a local content creator who goes by the Philly Captain says in a perfectly thick regional accent. “It’s like Woodstock but without the drugs.”
4. The directors and post-production
The End of an Era was directed by Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce, the local duo behind films including Rock School, Batman & Bill, and notably, Kelce — the documentary about Swift’s soon-to-be brother-in-law and former Eagle, Jason Kelce. The directors are both based in Philadelphia.
All six episode credits also list Philadelphia as a post-production location.