Taking to Facebook, many fans expressed their disappointment about the tour statement which saw Swift’s team announce shows in Melbourne and Sydney but none in Aotearoa and some believe it’s because we don’t have a big enough venue.
Commenting on the Herald’s Facebook post, one person said, “NZ doesn’t have a venue big enough is probably the main issue here, both for the size of the Eras Tour production and also the demand,” while another said, “Her stage is too big to fit into any of our stadiums (one of the reasons NZ didn’t get the 1989 tour) so unless she makes her space smaller I highly doubt she’ll make it.”
Swift has visited Aotearoa three times before, first in 2012 as part of her Speak Now Tour, the second in 2013 as part of The Red Tour and most recently in 2018 as part of her Reputation Tour.
Taylor Swift performs onstage during her Eras Tour. Photo / Getty Images
The first two shows were at Auckland’s Vector Arena, now Spark Arena and saw more than 10,000 people attend each performance, while the third show took place at Mt Smart Arena to an equally impressed - and slightly larger - crowd coming in at approximately 40,000 people.
Stadium Database currently states Eden Park is New Zealand’s largest venue with a capacity of 50,000 people but can go up to 60,000 with temporary seating, the numbers are ones that are consistent with Swift’s current tour audiences in the United States.
Her largest crowd was 73,117 people at Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium earlier this week and broke a world record according to CNN.
The Herald has approached Frontier Touring for comment, however, a statement as to why the beloved pop singer has snubbed New Zealand is yet to be released.
Despite the news which has devastated some fans, others chose to see the positive in the situation and appear to be planning trips across the ditch to attend the shows. One person said, “off to Aussie I go”, another commented, “looks like I’m going to Australia” and a third added, “girls’ trip!”
Taylor Swift wears an All Black rugby jersey as she performs live on stage at Vector Arena on March 18, 2012 in Auckland, New Zealand. Photo / Getty Images
The pop star announced at 4am today she has added tour dates in two major Australian cities.
Between February 16 and February 25 next year, the Blank Space singer will perform two shows in Melbourne and three in Sydney. A Frontier Touring representative later confirmed there will be no New Zealand dates in Swift’s upcoming tour schedule.
Swift is performing the Eras Tour - her first in five years - and it is on track to become the highest-grossing tour of all time. Recent predictions anticipate the shows will make US$591 million ($942m) for the US leg alone.
What makes the show so special is its 44-song strong setlist that takes fans on a journey of Swift’s “eras”, from her first album to her last - including Lover, folklore, evermore and Midnights, which she has never performed before.
Coming in at just over three hours, the concert is roughly twice the length of an average pop stadium show and is split into 10, non-chronological “eras” for each of her albums.
As it stands, the star begins with Lover (she performs six songs from this album), then moves onto Fearless (three songs), evermore (five songs), reputation (four songs), Speak Now (one song), Red (four songs, including the 10-minute version of All Too Well), folklore (seven songs), 1989 (five songs), Taylor Swift (one song) and concludes with seven songs from Midnights.
