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Taylor Swift fans are once again pulling out all the stops to try to secure tickets to her Sydney and Melbourne shows, as a new batch of seats, many with obstructed views, goes on sale today.
The US pop star will play seven dates in Australia early next year, as part of her much-anticipated Eras Tour.
An emotional Taylor Swift superfan Kasey Theuma from Carlton on hearing she can access tickets from Ticketek in Exhibition Street.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Frontier Touring would not disclose how many tickets were on sale on Friday, in a tranche that included the cheapest yet released at $79.90, described as partially-obstructed side view tickets. There was a limit of four tickets per sale.
The system for purchasing on Friday is the same as it was for the first release in June, when Ticketek used an online “lounge”, according to Frontier. That release broke records when four million fans tried to secure tickets.
21-year-old Kasey Theuma from Carlton camped out in front of the Exhibition Street Ticketek office from 4am Friday to ensure she nabbed tickets.
“We’ve had no sleep at all and are running on adrenalin but I imagine we’ll be crashing after we secure the tickets. [I was] surrounded by six other people in line, we’re all in the same boat so we bonded pretty quickly,” she says. “We had Taylor blasting on the speaker, in terms of keeping morale up, we did 100 metre sprint races, we were asking deep questions. I have to admit there were a number of energy drinks consumed, the heart was racing. Surprisingly, the night went quicker than I thought. Lack of sleep is temporary but this experience is forever.”
Taylor Swift performs in her Eras Tour.
Theuma wept when she secured tickets, including for herself, her older sister and her younger sister, who is 10. She opted to attend the Sydney show, as they were available at 10am, rather than Melbourne, which will go on sale at 4pm. “We wanted the best and quickest opportunity to secure them, if we need to drive nine hours, we will drive nine hours, if we need to buy upscaled flights, we will do that.”
Dedicated fans have also outsourced the work – and presumably the emotional load – of waiting, staring at their screens, desperately hoping to get through the lounge to the next step, paying $50 via Airtasker to anyone willing to do stand in line, virtually, for them.
In good news for anyone not yet successful, this is not the last chance available to fans: resale tickets, according to Ticketek’s website, will be available from 10am AEDT on Friday, November 24; on this platform, tickets cannot be sold for more than 10 per cent above the original cost.
Theuma says there’s a particular simpatico between fans of Taylor Swift. “The fandom, it probably sounds really cringy, but it’s like a family, people you can trust and feel, ‘I get you, I might not know who you are but I get you’,” she says.
Tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour helped Ticketek break sales records this year.Credit: AP
She argues Swift’s music contains important messages, including advocating for social change. “Society has given her a tough time in terms of shaming and so many things, and she has constantly persevered, as long as you know who you are you will get far.”
“When I hear my sister sing some of her songs, I’m so excited that these lyrics will guide her and I’m excited to see how they shape her. A lot of people underestimate how impactful music can be; I’m just stoked to see how this generation of Swifties evolve.”
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