"The 1989 World Tour" was the fourth concert tour by Taylor, in support of her fifth studio album, "1989" (2014). The tour began on May 5, 2015, in Tokyo, Japan, and concluded on December 12, 2015 in Melbourne, Australia, the day before her 26th birthday. It became Taylor's highest grossing and most attended tour at the time, mobilizing 2'278'647 fans and $250'733'097 in revenue. It was the highest grossing tour in the world in 2015.

Taylor’s fourth time around obliterated her previous box office revenue and delivered an electrifying show that reached many new heights for the superstar -- literally, as she danced on a massive rotating platform the entire duration of “Shake It Off.”

The "1989 World Tour" included a massive roster of nightly special guests, some of whom weren’t even musicians: Ellie Goulding, Alanis Morissette, Fifth Harmony, Fetty Wap, Justin Timberlake, Lisa Kudrow (performing as her Friendscharacter Phoebe), Selena Gomez and even Ellen DeGeneres were among Taylor’s celebrity friends to help her take the stage for the spectacle.

But for those who weren’t so lucky to be one of the 2 million-plus fans in attendance, Apple Music released a concert film shortly after the tour wrapped. On December 13, 2015, Swift announced that she had partnered with Apple Music to release a concert film entitled "The 1989 World Tour Live" on December 20, 2015. It was filmed at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on November 28, 2015, her largest show to date with 75,980 attendees.

BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT

The tour was announced via Taylor's Twitter on November 3, 2014 in which she said: "#The1989WorldTour is happening!" before giving a link to her website where fans could find out the list of dates. It was also revealed that Vance Joy would be joining her on tour, and that tickets would go sale on for North American fans on November 14. The tour's European, as well as two shows in Japan, were also announced in November 2014, followed by the Oceania dates in December 2014. Additional dates for Singapore and Shanghai were announced in June 2015 with a third and final Melbourne show announced in July 2015. 

In an interview with Time Magazine, Taylor said that "the setlist will be predominantly songs from "1989":

"I have so many things I've been dreaming up for this. If you look at the makeup of my previous music, as far as production elements go, there are a lot of live drums, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and live bass. And if you look at the landscape of '1989', it's mostly synths and automated drums and these kind of big epic synth pad sounds, and key bass, and layered vocals. I have a very big band, there are, what, 14 of us, so what you’re going to end up with is more of a live feel in that it's going to be filled in and more dramatic with more layers to it, but never to the point where it's going to feel noisy or overcrowded." -- Taylor Swift

Taylor also acknowledged the challenge of playing to stadiums, stating that "the challenge with a stadium show is making those people in the very top row feel like they got an intimate, personal experience." The following month in an interview with KIIS-FM, she revealed that she knew what the stage would look like, as well as knowing that "all the fans seem to be saying that they really don't want any song [from "1989"] left off the setlist".

The tour took seven months to plan before three months of music rehearsals, four weeks of stage rehearsals and ten days of two-a-days dress rehearsals. It traveled with 26 semi-trailer trucks and 11 buses carrying 146 people from city to city. Additionally, about 125-150 people were hired in each city to help with the load in and stage setup. The entire load in and stage setup process took between 6 and 8 hours for arenas, with stadiums requiring an additional day. Many of the traveling crew members had worked on Taylor's tours since the "Fearless" era. Taylor chose two designs for the trucks' vinyl wrap; 13 carried one design and 13 had the other.

FILMING

Signs were displayed at the sold out Sydney concert on November 28, 2015 at ANZ Stadium which said "Today's events are being recorded and filmed for global streaming, and may also form part of a television program...for commercial and promotional purposes." Although there was no further information about what the filming was for at the time, there was speculation that it would form a DVD of the "1989 World Tour" to be released once the tour concludes its run in Melbourne in late 2015. Later speculation involved an Apple Music video launch, which was proved to be correct. Coincidentally, "All You Had To Do Was Stay" and "This Love" were added back into the show after having been left off the set list for several months. This makes the Sydney setlist identical to that of Tokyo when the tour premiered.

On December 13, 2015 (Taylor's 26th birthday), she announced she had partnered with Apple Music to release a concert film entitled "The 1989 World Tour Live" on December 20. Filmed in front of 75'980 fans during her stop at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on November 28, it shows the entire performance and never-before seen footage from backstage and from rehearsals with some of the musical and surprise guests from previous shows.