Taylor Swift hasn’t been here in a while. Here’s what you can do about it.

Taylor Swift hasn’t performed in Maryland in more than eight years. There have been plenty of Taylor Swift concerts here anyway.

Swifties know all too well that the pop icon left D.C., Maryland and Virginia off her global record-breaking, headline-dominating Eras Tour. Call it what you want: perhaps a distaste for Northwest Stadium or just scheduling conflicts. Either way, it made for a cruel summer — or two — for local fans who had to trek to Philadelphia for her closest show.

But for those unable or unwilling to make the trip, or who just miss her nearly two years post-Eras Tour, Swift tribute artists have swooped in to fill the void.

Here’s how faux-Taylor Swift concerts have taken over — and where you can catch the next one.

The Life of a (Maryland) Showgirl

A few years ago, Baltimore pop singer Enslow considered herself an “average” Swift fan. After she was invited to star in a live Swift-themed concert series with Baltimore radio station WTMD, she sees the music icon as a role model.

It’s refreshing, Enslow said, for a budding pop artist to perform in front of a crowd that knows every word of the songs she’s singing. She loves performing the older hits, such as “Mean,” “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me.”

She also slips in a few of her own original songs, likening it to the way Swift would incorporate a couple of surprise numbers in every Eras Tour show.

Enslow’s tribute shows, which take place around Maryland, skew younger. It’s a chance for families to take kids to their first concerts, with far cheaper and more plentiful tickets than the sold-out Eras Tour.

“Being able to perform her music and see the impact that her music has on a really wide variety of people — it’s inspiring to me as an artist to have that impact myself,” she said.

Live music venues typically have licenses that allow artists to perform others’ works, which makes tribute shows possible without getting direct permission — or a cease-and-desist letter — from the original artist. Advertising for these shows makes it clear they star other artists performing her music, not Swift herself.

“She’s so iconic, it would be a disservice if I tried to really impersonate her,” Enslow said. “But I definitely try to think about her performance and energy going into it. It’s fun to be able to channel her and put on that character in a way, while still being myself and taking my own liberties.”

She added: “I like to think of it as ‘Taylor Swift (Enslow’s Version).’”

Swift never goes out of style

Composer and conductor Steve Hackman’s current tour brings an orchestral take to Swift’s music. He posits that Beethoven would have been a Swiftie.

“Classical composers have always relied on and interpolated and incorporated popular music of their era and woven those with their own unique, virtuosic voice,” said Hackman, who specializes in what he calls “symphonic fusions”: blending modern pop music with classical works.

“We’ve gone away from that over the past 100 years. This is my attempt to bring them back together.”

After attending the final Eras Tour show in Vancouver, British Columbia, in December 2024, Hackman came away “awestruck” and felt compelled to weave Swift’s catalog into a symphony.

The show contains about 30 of Swift’s songs across all 12 of her albums, organized into two acts with thematic sections blended with his own compositions. Her unique mix of melody, storytelling and emotion translated beautifully to an orchestral composition, Hackman said. He performed at The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda on Friday and will head to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on Saturday.

“What really surprised me was the depth of the emotion of many of her songs,” he said. “People know the pop hits and they’re magnificent in their own way, but there are some deeper cut-type songs and some fan-favorite songs that are incredibly soulful and genuine and emotional.”

He added: “I think people see the pop star, they see the celebrity and some miss that we’re talking about a profound artist.”

For many younger Swifties, Hackman’s show is their first time experiencing a symphony. The composer said he’s proud to take on the responsibility of introducing pop music fans to a live orchestra.

“I’m excited to deepen, hopefully, their connection with the music that they love,” he said.

Prior to Hackman’s show, audience members are encouraged to show up early for a friendship bracelet trading session in the lobby: a tradition that began at the Eras Tour after Swift’s 2022 song “You’re On Your Own Kid” urged her listeners to “make the friendship bracelets” and connect with one another.

It’s a sentiment echoed throughout these Swift tribute shows.

It’s nice to have a friend

Let’s Sing Taylor, a nationally touring tribute band coming to Frederick this month, stars singer Emily Victoria with two dancers and three musicians. The costumes she wears, designed by her mother, are near replicas of Swift’s Eras Tour costumes, including a pink “Lover” bodysuit and a “Red”-era T-shirt paired with heart-shaped sunglasses.

Even after the Eras Tour craze, there’s a huge appetite for Swift’s music, said Marcus Linial, founder of Let’s Sing Taylor and its management, ML Presents. The band has put on about 250 shows in two years.

Victoria and Linial were surprised to learn at the onset of their tour in 2024 that not many of their audience members went to the Eras Tour. The ones who did, Linial said, claimed they wanted to go to a tribute show to “be around Swifties again.”

“The culture reminds me of Deadheads,” Linial said. “They go see a tribute show because they just all want to be together, sing together and dance together.”

Where to watch Taylor Swift tributes in Maryland

• “Steve Hackman Conducts His Taylor Swift: The Symphony Era”: Saturday at Baltimore’s Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall at 7:30 p.m.
• Enslow’s Taylor Swift Tribute: Nov. 7 at Manor Mill in Monkton from 7-9 p.m.
• Let’s Sing Taylor at the Great Frederick Fair on Friday at 6 p.m.