Fans clamoured to secure tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. But were their ticket-buying strategies in vain? Photo / Getty Images
Fans clamoured to secure tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. But were their ticket-buying strategies in vain? Photo / Getty Images
Thousands of Kiwis have sat online this week hoping to nab tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. And as they waited and waited, many would have assumed they were stuck in a queue.
But the truth about the chaotic clamour to secure seats has now been revealed by Ticketek insiders after the service faced unprecedented demand yesterday when pre-sales went live.
According to news.com.au, while the advice for hopeful concertgoers may have been not to refresh browsers to hold their place in queue, Ticketek has explained that’s not how its system works.
In fact, any of the reported 800,000 fans who sat in Swift’s ticket lounge at the same time held equal chance of selection to buy tickets, no matter how long they had been waiting.
Taylor Swift performs in Nashville, Tennessee. Photo / AP
A spokesman told news.com.au:“Everyone in the Ticketek lounge has an equal opportunity to get into the site regardless of when they have arrived”.
So if you happened to swoop in and grab A Reserve seats after just 10 minutes, you can only count yourself “the lucky ones”.
The revelation goes some way to explaining why some fans were able to buy two rounds of tickets while others sat waiting for hours without ever seeing the ticket map.
And for those diehard fans who got up early or kept their browser open all night - it was a waste of time.
Following Ticketek’s official advice would have had the same result: log on 15 minutes before pre-sales started at 10am in Sydney and 2pm in Melbourne.
It’s a tactic still-hopeful fans can employ as it was announced this morning that two more dates had been added to the Australian leg of her tour.
The additional shows will take place on February 18 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on February 26.
Swift will be the second artist to perform three concerts at the MCG – the first was Madonna – and she will also be the first artist to perform four concerts at Accor Stadium.
Tickets for the added shows will go on sale tomorrow along with the scheduled general sale for her other five shows. Frontier Touring confirmed these will be the last dates added to the Australian leg of the Eras Tour.
Taylor Swift fans trying to access the American Express Australia pre-sale will only have access to the top two VIP packages. Photo / Twitter
Show schedule
February 16, 17 and 18 - Melbourne Cricket Ground
Febuary 23, 24, 25 and 26 - Sydney Accor Stadium
How to get tickets
The general sale – which is open to anybody – will begin tomorrow, with Sydney tickets available from 10am (noon NZT) and Melbourne tickets on sale from 2pm (4pm NZT).
Costs will vary from A$79-$379 ($86-415) depending on the seats, while VIP packages range from A$349-$1249 ($382-$1368). Tickets will be available on the Ticketek website.
If you miss out on presale tickets, don’t enter your anti-hero era just yet.
Plans change so it’s worth keeping an eye on the Ticketek website because even though it feels more impossible than not crying during All Too Well (10-minute version), sometimes resales are your only way into the Swiftie-filled arena.
