Taylor Swift fans face another scramble for tickets to her Eras Tour: Swifties rush to buy final general sale seats for shows in London and Cardiff – after dozens told how missed out when they were flagged as potential ‘bots’
- READ MORE: The expert guide to getting your hands on Taylor Swift tickets
Thousands of Taylor Swift fans are bracing for the last chance to buy tickets to the UK leg of her Eras Tour this morning.
At 11am, the final general sale will open on Ticketmaster and AXS for the remaining dates in London and Cardiff – with seats expected to sell out within minutes.
Taylor fans – aka Swifties – will have access to an online waiting room up to 30 minutes beforehand, after being sent an email with a purchasing code on July 14.
But scores will be disappointed as not everyone with a code is guaranteed a ticket, with demand far outstripping supply. The tour is on track to become the highest grossing of all time after already surpassing $300m in revenue, with experts predicting it will rake in more than $1billion, reports Forbes.
It comes after fans yesterday complained of being unable to purchase tickets after being flagged as potential bots – while others who admitted securing seats at multiple dates were savagely berated by envious Swifties online.
Thousands of Taylor Swift fans are bracing for the last chance to buy tickets to the UK leg of her Eras Tour this morning (Pictured: Swift in Kansas City, Missouri, on July 8, 2023)
Pictured: What the AXS online queue looks like. The website automatically redirects customers from the virtual waiting room
READ MORE: The expert guide to getting Taylor Swift tickets – from waitlists to resale sites, and how not to get scammed
Tickets went on sale on Tuesday for two of Swift’s London shows in June and August 2024 and three shows in Liverpool next June.
Thousands of fans logged on to the Ticketmaster and AXS websites to attempt to purchase tickets, which ranged from £57 to £661 for the most expensive VIP package.
Hundreds of fans were left ticketless and disappointed, with many taking to social media to express their frustration and upset.
Some AXS customers had received an error message that they had been ‘identified as a potential bot’ and were unable to proceed with a purchase.
The error message received by many Swift fans on the AXS website read: ‘To protect fans, we actively identify and block automated bots from visiting or using our site.
‘Your session has been identified as a potential bot.’
AXS customers were told to ‘please try logging in through another device, clearing your cache, turning off VPN, or going off wi-fi data’.
Helen, 35, in Crewe, Cheshire, told the PA news agency she was ‘very disappointed’ to not get a Swift ticket ‘because my six-year-old niece was really looking forward to seeing her idol on stage’.
She attempted to purchase tickets on the AXS website but was flagged by the site as a bot.
She said: ‘Being flagged as a bot is just frustrating especially when they’ve already been put on resale sites and I’d imagine that bots have been able to purchase tickets.’
Fans anxiously waiting in the queue for the chance to purchase tickets to The Eras Tour dates in the UK
Taylor Swift pictured performing All Too Well (10 Minute Version) at her Eras Tour show in Denver, Colorado earlier this month
The Eras Tour is on track to become the highest grossing of all time after already surpassing $300m in revenue, with experts predicting it will rake in more than $1billion
Jennifer Bradley, 26, told PA that her experience trying to purchase a Liverpool ticket was ‘awful’ after she was flagged as a potential bot on the AXS website.
She said: ‘It’s been a nightmare! Worst part is they let you get into the queue and then you once you are through (they say) that you are a robot!’
Fans who had received a code in advance could attempt to purchase tickets on ticketing websites Ticketmaster and AXS, with many fans being waitlisted before the general sale took place. PA has contacted AXS for comment.
It comes as a super fan has been subject to a brutal online pile-on after revealing that she purchased tickets to three consecutive nights of The Eras Tour.
Iona Fyfe, 25, a Scottish singer who regularly covers Swift’s hit songs, was desperate to get her hands on tickets to the tour after spending 16 years as a fan, but never getting seeing her idol in person.
She took to Twitter ahead of purchasing the tickets to reveal that she very much needed left alone to wait in the pre-sale queue, and she was delighted when she managed to bag four tickets, the maximum per household, one of which is for her mum.
But her joy was not shared by social media users, who said she was selfish for buying multiple tickets.
One Twitter user slammed: ‘Pure greed. Loads of kids have been left devastated as they couldn’t get a single ticket to see their idol Taylor Swift. All because of grifters like Iona Fyfe snapping them up for every single show..’
Another added: ‘Why do you need to go and see Taylor Swift three nights in a row! Totally selfish, give other people a chance to go and see her!’
Iona, from Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, said: ‘I never got to see the Speak Now tour, or the 1989 tour, or the Reputation tour. This is my first time seeing Taylor.
‘There are some Swifties in the US that have attended upwards of ten shows. Buying four tickets (three for me, one for my Mum) out of the 200,000 odd that’s available for Murrayfield, Edinburgh, is not a sin.
‘I’m a musician myself and Taylor has been my idol for around 16 years. I’ve translated ‘Love Story’ into the Scots language and recorded it with my band. It’s being released on 13th September.
Taylor Swift accepts the award for video of the year for ‘All Too Well’ (10 Minute Version) (Taylor´s Version) on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards 2022 (Doug Peters/PA)
‘I didn’t buy the tickets outright. I put them on my AMEX credit card after a pause in touring and work due to complex knee reconstruction surgery in December which flared up my fibromyalgia.’
But while Iona explained her reasons for buying multiple tickets to the highly sought-after tour on Twitter, for which the general release tickets only went on sale on July 17, she received a divided response to her actions on social media.
After revealing that she purchased the tickets on an AMEX credit card, one social media user decided to contact American Express and claim that the singer couldn’t afford tickets to see Taylor, 33.
Others, meanwhile, suggested that Iona was planning to re-sell the tickets, which she bought ahead of general release on July 10, for a profit, but she stressed that she is simply a super fan and that’s why she had early access.
One speculated: ‘Taylor Swift fans, greedy people like Iona Fyfe buying up all tickets and selling them on at a massive profit are the reason why mean you all can’t get to see Taylor for face value.’
Iona explained: ‘I got them in the pre-sale because I’m an actual fan and bought a jewel disk CD of Midnights.
‘With the pre-sale code, tickets went from as low as £60 (for a restricted view). Taylor wanted all fans to be able to access the sale.
‘My plan was always to go to all three shows. Taylor changes her set list daily and performs ‘secret songs.’
Other fans of the global superstar took to social media to express their delight at securing tickets, such as Maxwell Dwyer, 17, who told PA that he was ‘so excited’ after he purchased tickets for an August 2024 Swift show at Wembley Arena.
Mr Dwyer said: ‘I practically screamed when I got them.
‘I have never been to a concert before, and concerts aren’t really my sort of thing, but because it’s Taylor Swift, I had to get them. I’m just thrilled that I did.’
In the run-up to the general sale and in the hours after, scalpers utilised automated bot accounts on social media to attempt to sell tickets.
Taylor Swift attending the MTV Europe Music Awards 2022 (Ian West/PA)
Social media expert Matt Navarra told PA that the ‘hallmarks’ of automated posts from scalpers include ‘the same tweets being tweeted multiple times across multiple accounts’.
He said: ‘Scalpers will buy tickets using automated means to then get them at the lowest price possible and get as many tickets as possible with the goal being to sell them on at massively inflated prices using social media platforms like Twitter for distribution.
‘When you have an artist as globally famous and as iconic as Taylor Swift, with demand being as high as it gets when it comes to pop concerts and gigs, there is money unfortunately to be made by people who are able to secure a large amount of tickets using automated means and then sell them on at a huge margin.
‘Because of the lack of capability or maybe the motivation by those in the industry to tackle the problem effectively, the issue continues, much to the frustration and upset to the true Taylor Swift fans around the country who are desperate to get hold of these tickets.’
The Eras Tour UK and European dates
- May 9, 2024 – Paris, France – Paris La Défense Arena
- May 10, 2024 – Paris, France – Paris La Défense Arena
- May 11, 2024 – Paris, France – Paris La Défense Arena
- May 12, 2024 – Paris, France – Paris La Défense Arena
- May 17, 2024 – Stockholm, Sweden – Friends Arena
- May 18, 2024 – Stockholm, Sweden – Friends Arena
- May 19, 2024 – Stockholm, Sweden – Friends Arena
- May 24, 2024 – Lisbon, Portugal – Estádio da Luz
- May 25, 2024 – Lisbon, Portugal – Estádio da Luz
- May 30, 2024 – Madrid, Spain – Estadio Santiago Bernabéu
- June 2, 2024 – Lyon, France – Groupama Stadium
- June 3, 2024 – Lyon, France – Groupama Stadium
- June 7, 2024 – Edinburgh, UK – BT Murrayfield Stadium
- June 8, 2024 – Edinburgh, UK – BT Murrayfield Stadium
- June 9, 2024 – Edinburgh, UK – BT Murrayfield Stadium
- June 13, 2024 – Liverpool, UK – Anfield Stadium
- June 14, 2024 – Liverpool, UK – Anfield Stadium
- June 15, 2024 – Liverpool, UK – Anfield Stadium
- June 18, 2024 – Cardiff, UK – Principality Stadium
- June 21, 2024 – London, UK – Wembley Stadium
- June 22, 2024 – London, UK – Wembley Stadium
- June 23, 2024 – London, UK – Wembley Stadium
- June 28, 2024 – Dublin, Ireland – Aviva Stadium
- June 29, 2024 – Dublin, Ireland – Aviva Stadium
- June 30, 2024 – Dublin, Ireland – Aviva Stadium
- July 4, 2024, Amsterdam, Netherlands – Johan Cruijff ArenA
- July 5, 2024, Amsterdam, Netherlands – Johan Cruijff ArenA
- July 6, 2024, Amsterdam, Netherlands – Johan Cruijff ArenA
- July 9, 2024, Zurich, Switzerland – Stadion Letzigrund Zürich
- July 10, 2024, Zurich, Switzerland – Stadion Letzigrund Zürich
- July 13, 2024, Milan, Italy – San Siro Stadium
- July 14, 2024, Milan, Italy – San Siro Stadium
- July 17, 2024 – Gelsenkirchen, Germany – VELTINS-Arena
- July 18, 2024 – Gelsenkirchen, Germany – VELTINS-Arena
- July 19, 2024 – Gelsenkirchen, Germany – VELTINS-Arena
- July 23, 2024, Hamburg, Germany – Volksparkstadion
- July 24, 2024, Hamburg, Germany – Volksparkstadio
- July 27, 2024, Munich, Germany – Olympiastadion
- July 28, 2024, Munich, Germany – Olympiastadion
- August 1, 2024, Warsaw, Poland – PGE Narodowy
- August 2, 2024, Warsaw, Poland – PGE Narodowy
- August 3, 2024, Warsaw, Poland – PGE Narodowy
- August 8, 2024, Vienna Austria – Ernst-Happel-Stadion
- August 9, 2024, Vienna Austria – Ernst-Happel-Stadion
- August 10, 2024, Vienna Austria – Ernst-Happel-Stadion
- August 15, 2024, London, UK – Wembley Stadium
- August 16, 2024, London, UK – Wembley Stadium
- August 17, 2024, London, UK – Wembley Stadium
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