Unprecedented demand as second Taylor Swift Australian tour presale starts

Trying to get your hands on Taylor Swift concert tickets in today’s presale? You and the rest of Australia.

The second presale for Taylor Swift’s Australian stadium tour is underway today – and so far, it’s been just as stressful for fans as the first.

Aussie Swifties today have the chance to grab tickets via the Frontier Touring presale: Those who’ve already signed up as Frontier members and received a unique presale code can visit Ticketek for the chance to snap up tickets.

Pre-sale tickets for Swift’s three shows at Sydney’s Accor Stadium went on sale at 10am today, with tickets for her two shows at Melbourne’s MCG following at 2pm.

News.com.au understands there has been unprecedented demand for the presale, with 800,000 people in the queue to access the Ticketek website before the presale started this morning. Capacity for Swift’s three Sydney concerts combined is around 250,000 people.

Tens of thousands of tickets were purchased in the Sydney presale, and Ticketek reported that there were still tickets available several hours after 10am.

Then, at 1:43pm, came the news Sydney fans who’d been in the online queue for hours were dreading:

pic.twitter.com/4vUSN2IxzC

— Ticketek Australia (@Ticketek_AU) June 28, 2023

Now it’s Melbourne fans’ turn to run the ticketing gauntlet, with presale for Swift’s two MCG shows starting at 2pm.

Throughout the day, many fans have complained of being stuck in the online queue to enter the Ticketek website, waiting for hours with no way to tell if they had progressed.

“I’m slowly losing all hope though,” replied one.

I love how they call it ‘lounge’ more like the pits of HELL #ticketek

— chelsea (@sweetenedqueen) June 28, 2023

me in queue and the ticketek site refreshes once again and i move nowhere: pic.twitter.com/h6HR70yP1T

— teresa (@augustfallin) June 28, 2023

I’m just saying but being in the queue for as long as the concert goes is not the same as going to the concert #Ticketek

— Hannah (@HannahWolfy) June 28, 2023

And I can personally attest to the demand: I was one of the ‘lucky’ ones, moved from the queue onto the Ticketek website almost immediately after the clock struck 10am.

But with the timer counting down for me to complete my purchase, I was unable to find a pair of tickets in any price tier for any of the three Sydney shows, before I was booted back out of the site to rejoin the queue by 10:07am. Here were the scenes inside the Swiftie-infested news.com.au offices, shortly after 10am:

Many others are still waiting in the queue for their chance to try and buy a ticket - some using multiple computers:

Taylor Swift tix are on sale in Australia, and it is reported that 800,000 people are in line... Now, only tickets for the Sydney show are for sale, and it's a city of 5.3 million, suggestion that around 1-in-7 Sydneysiders are in the same queue I'm currently in. pic.twitter.com/1bu4BuL25T

— Justin Wolfers (@JustinWolfers) June 28, 2023

This + my phone is what my setup for taylor swift presale looked like LMAO but I CANT BELIEVE I GOT TIX THROUGH MY ANCIENT LAPTOP??? pic.twitter.com/XwaBsddei8

— danie ᜇᜈᜒ (@ddaengchwiita) June 28, 2023

I’ve been on queue for Taylor swift’s ticket for the last 13 minutes🧎‍♀️

— g (@jumyoungs) June 28, 2023

need the people who actually make it through the ticketek taylor swift queue to yell it out on twitter because i have seen no one make it through in these ten minutes

— cath 🌪️ (@DIRECTORHILL) June 28, 2023

has anyone gotten through the queue yet @ taylor Swift Sydney fans 😭😭😭

— krystal (@krystal1l1l1) June 28, 2023

Is anyone in for Taylor swift Sydney presale cos WTF

— martin scorslayse (@japanesebrekkie) June 28, 2023

Others have today reported issues trying to buy tickets via the Ticketek app:

Ticketek app is going well pic.twitter.com/YQxkDavYC0

— jac 🤞🏻Eras Tour Tickets🙏🏻🕯️ (@JackieWarner13) June 27, 2023

is anyone else ticketek app down??

— kennedy ⸆⸉ (@australiaswift) June 28, 2023

This is the second and final presale after the Amex presale on Monday – which crashed the American Express website for several hours – and before the general release of tickets go on sale on Friday.

Taylor Swift’s Australian tour is sending Swifties into a frenzy. Picture: Kevin Mazur/TAS23/Getty

A Ticketek spokesperson urged Swifties to be patient as they try to access the site for today’s presale:

“Queuing is a necessary part of the purchasing process. A way of ensuring fair access to tickets for all fans.

“Fans must remember to not leave the Lounge page or refresh their browser. The page will refresh itself frequently to let more fans through to purchase. Once fans are in the Lounge, they should sit tight and wait to be let through to the event page. And then once they’re through they need to remember to keep an eye on the timer and complete their purchase within the time frame.”

The venue map for Taylor's Melbourne shows.

The venue map for Taylor's Sydney shows.

Standard tickets for the shows range from $79.90 for the cheapest seats to $379.90 for those in A reserve. VIP packages run up to $1249.90 for the top-of-the-line package – which gets a ticketholder a guaranteed A reserve seat plus a tote bag and other merchandise. The relatively meagre VIP ticket inclusions have caused some controversy among fans.

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.

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.