Taylor Swift knew that when she teased her new album “The Life of a Showgirl” on her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast, she would set the rumors flying.
On the show, which Travis co-hosts with his brother Jason, Swift confirmed the album’s title and that it would come out Oct. 3. That was essentially the only hard news she confirmed, but she also shared a series of photos.
Those images showed the singer dressed as a showgirl in a style reminiscent of “Jubilee,” the classic, long-running showgirls show that closed in 2016.
That ended an era, and showgirls are no longer an actual Las Vegas thing, but the image projected by those outfits remains a key part of the Sin City mythology.
Swift did not mention Las Vegas or directly hint at a a Las Vegas residency, but just her use of a showgirl motif has people speculating about a Taylor Swift Las Vegas residency, or more specifically, a residency at The Sphere Las Vegas.
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour by the numbers:
- Taylor Swift’s tour grossed about $2.08 billion from 149 shows, averaging roughly $14 million per show.
- Official total ticket revenue: $2,077,618,725 over 149 shows (≈ $13.94 million average).
- Average merchandise revenue could add an additional $0.3 to 0.9 million per show.
Image source: MSG Sphere Las Vegas
What Swift shared about “Life of a Showgirl”
During the “New Heights” interview, Swift shared that her new album would include 12 songs with no bonus tracks. She did that to keep “the bar really high” and make the record “just right” with a holistic theme.
Her inspiration, despite the Las Vegas showgirl imagery, was going “behind the curtain” of the Eras Tour.
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“This album was about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour,” Swift said, “which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant.”
Swift promised an upbeat album (and made it clear that Travis Kelce has already heard all 12 songs).
“It just comes from the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in in my life, so that effervescence has come through on this record,” she shared.
Swift also said that the “Eras Tour” was physically taxing. Playing a residency, something she never mentioned, reduces travel demands and expenses.
What would a Taylor Swift Las Vegas Strip Sphere residency look like?
While The Sphere only has about 20,000 seats, those seats tend to sell for a premium price. Every act that has performed at the Sphere in its short life has been a massive success.
Revenue for top-4 Las Vegas Sphere residencies:
- U2: UV Achtung Baby Live
- Gross Revenue: $244.5 million
- Number of Shows: 40
- Average Revenue per Show: $6.11 million
- Eagles: Live in Concert
- Gross Revenue: $135.5 million
- Number of Shows: 28
- Average Revenue per Show: $4.84 million
- Dead & Company: Dead Forever
- Gross Revenue: $131.4 million
- Number of Shows: 30
- Average Revenue per Show: $4.38 million
- Phish (limited run)
- Gross Revenue: $13.4 million
- Number of Shows: 4
- Average Revenue per Show: $3.35 million
Playing stadiums on “The Eras Tour,” Swift earned a little over double, selling 3 to 3.5 times more tickets per night (based on 60- to 70,000-seat stadiums).
How Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour compares
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour
- Gross Revenue: $2.078 billion
- Number of Shows: 149
- Average Revenue per Show: $13.94 million
- Average Ticket Price: $204
You can assume Swift would have lower expenses staying in one city. Selling out the Las Vegas Strip Sphere would be easy for her, since “The Eras Tour” included 20 sold-out nights at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, selling nearly 170,000 tickets.
Ticket prices generally cost more for shows in smaller venues if the artist could sell dramatically more seats elsewhere.
Swift has not made any comments about touring (she typically does that about three weeks after an album announcement). Collider’s Jazmin Kylene thinks it’s a logical idea.
“Bringing her upcoming album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl,’ to Las Vegas only makes sense. It’s the home base of the aesthetic she’s building this era around, as showgirls performed in every hotel and casino on the Las Vegas strip during the 1950s and 1960s. It’s glamorous, raunchy, and camp, which is the distinction of this new era for Swift,” she wrote.
A residency in Las Vegas, she noted, will also allow Swift to grow as an artist.
“She’s played with showgirl costuming various times throughout her career, and bringing this album to the vibrant city would be an invitation to go be bolder,” the writer added.
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