Chaos as first Taylor Swift Australian tour tickets go on sale

The first tickets for Taylor Swift’s upcoming Australian stadium tour just went on sale – and it’s been as chaotic as you’d expect.

The first tickets for Taylor Swift’s upcoming Australian stadium tour went on sale today – and it was predictably chaotic.

American Express cardholders had access to the first pre-sale for the tour, which will see Swift visit just two Australian cities in February next year.

Only the two top-priced VIP ticket packages were put on sale for Amex customers, priced at $1249.90 and $899.90 respectively.

Despite the eye-watering price, demand for tickets managed to crash the American Express site by about 9.30am on Monday, 30 minutes before the presale was set to begin. An hour later, the site remains down:

Taylor Swift has crashed Amex, half an hour before pre-presale tix go on sale. pic.twitter.com/S9DDiJtG7w

— NickdMiller ❔ (@NickdMiller) June 25, 2023

I thought I'd check out how the Taylor Swift Amex pre-sale is going... they go on sale at 10AM and the site already isn't working. Doesn't bode well for the Ticketek general sale on Friday. pic.twitter.com/prk6QDvmuL

— Jordan Fennell (@jordaaaye) June 25, 2023

Amex website for VIP ticket sales for Taylor Swift in Aus has crashed in the 1st minute.
Ah well.

— Richard Welsh (@WelshyKnows) June 26, 2023

Amex be like..
Technical Issues not tickets #TaylorSwift#Sydneypic.twitter.com/UREwC9goQU

— Mikey Cole (@themikeycole) June 26, 2023

AMEX au has entered its Eras era. Taylor Swift presale has crashed the local site. #ErasTourticketspic.twitter.com/hLaryTVHpZ

— Jenna Clarke (@jennamclarke) June 26, 2023

Amex customers visiting the site would have clicked through to Ticketek to complete their purchase.

Contacted by news.com.au this morning, a Ticketek spokesperson provided the following statement shortly after the presale went live: “We’re sorry that Taylor Swift fans are experiencing problems with the AMEX presale. The Ticketek site is working as expected, however there is currently a problem with the AMEX site. The AMEX team are currently working on the issue, and we will advise as soon as it has been rectified.”

Meanwhile, an American Express spokesperson told news.com.au shortly after midday that the issue had now been fixed.

“Following some technical difficulties this morning as a result of high demand, we are pleased to report that the website link to the American Express VIP Package Pre-Sale for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, is now back up and running.

“To visit, click here: www.americanexpress.com.au/experiences.”

Australian Swifties will next get to try their luck at scoring tickets when the Frontier Touring pre-sale happens at 10am on Wednesday. Ticket buyers will need to have signed up as members of Frontier Touring website, where they will receive a special code they’ll need to use to buy tickets on Ticketek.

Want a Taylor Swift ticket? You and the rest of Australia. Picture: Getty

The general ticket release will go on sale this Friday June 30 on Ticketek at 10am for the Sydney shows and 2pm for the Melbourne shows. Outside of the higher-priced VIP packages, tickets for the tour range from $379.90 for seats in A reserve, down to $79.90 for seats in G reserve.

The presale has also given fans some other information they’ve been eagerly awaiting – exactly where in the stadium these seating tiers are located. Here’s the seat map for the Melbourne shows, at the MCG:

The seating plan for the MCG.

And the seat map for Sydney’s Accor stadium:

A look at the seating tiers in Accor stadium.

The tour will be the first time Swift has visited our shores since the Reputation tour in November 2018.

Since then, she’s released four new studio albums and re-released several of her earlier records, with this latest tour – called ‘Eras’ – a mammoth, career-spanning show that runs for more than 40 songs and three-and-a-half hours.

The show is split into 10, non-chronological ‘eras’ for each of her albums, kicking off with Lover (she performs six songs from this album), before moving 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 wrapping with seven songs from Midnights.

The multi-Grammy winner’s set is also peppered with dozens of costume changes to fit the aesthetic of her respective ‘eras’, with reputation considered her more edgy phase, while folklore represents bohemian whimsy.

Swift’s Melbourne shows will take place on February 16 and 17, with shows at Sydney’s Accor Stadium to follow on February 23, 24 and 25.

Originally published as Chaos as first Taylor Swift Australian tour tickets go on sale