This was published 9 months ago
Gone: Final release of Taylor Swift tickets sell out
By Kate Lahey, Kerrie O'Brien and Thomas Mitchell
The remaining batch of Taylor Swift tickets sold out within two hours on Tuesday, leaving some fans elated but even more devastated.
Ticketek announced it would release more tickets to Swift’s sold-out concerts earlier in the day, starting at $65.90 and including seats with a “restricted” view.
The Melbourne tickets, which went on sale at 2pm, sold within 50 minutes. The Sydney allocation was exhausted in 80 minutes after becoming available at 4pm.
Ticketek has announced that the latest release of tickets for the Taylor Swift shows in Melbourne have sold out.Credit: Ticketek
Caitlin Egerton, 33, began lining up outside the Ticketek box office on Melbourne’s Exhibition Street at 11am, only to be told at about 2.30pm that the tickets were all gone.
“It’s so frustrating,” said Egerton, who stood in 35-degree heat while waiting in the queue. “I just want to take my mum to a show, and she’s out here in the heat with me. We were halfway around the block. I think we were, like, number 130.”
But Egerton won’t give up. “It’ll just be more all-nighters on Marketplace,” she said.
Taylor Swift fans suffered through the heat to get newly released tickets at Ticketek in Melbourne.Credit: Jason South
For Sydney’s Jessica O’Connell, 35, the restricted view tickets were a final attempt at seeing Swift after failing to secure tickets in every previous sale.
“This is my fifth attempt at getting tickets. I tried for both Sydney and Melbourne multiple times and had no success,” O’Connell said.
Fans buying the restricted tickets had first to acknowledge that they knew they wouldn’t be able to see the whole stage.
Jessica O’Connell is a Taylor Swift fan and this afternoon she tried to get some of the new Taylor Swift concert tickets that went on sale this afternoon. Credit: Jessica Hromas
“At this point, I just want to be in the room; I don’t care what I can see; the vibe will be incredible either way,” O’Connell said.
“I have been a fan since her debut album, and the idea that I might miss out when I’ve been a fan since day one is crazy. Also, I am on a budget, saving for a big trip, so the fact that they’re $65 is very attractive to me.”
Meanwhile, Ticketek confirmed some ticket holders’ accounts had been compromised and urged account holders to change their passwords.
“Ticketek is aware of unauthorised access to individual accounts via information that has been obtained from other sources,” a spokesperson told this masthead. “As good online practice, we recommend that account holders are changing or updating their passwords frequently to safeguarded their interests.
Hannah Brown and Selena Cardillo, both 21, passed the time waiting to buy Taylor Swift tickets by making bracelets of Swift’s song lyrics and titles. Credit: Max Mason-Hubers
Last year, the first tranche of tickets for Swift’s Sydney shows sold out within two hours of going on sale, while Melbourne seats were snapped up in just under an hour. Diehard fans slept out overnight to secure seats, bonding over their love of Time’s 2023 person of the year, while others used Airtasker to secure them.
The Eras Tour broke the Australian record for the most people attempting to buy concert tickets, with more than 4 million fans attempting to purchase them during the second presale.
Kicking off in Melbourne this weekend, the show takes fans through each of Swift’s musical “eras”, with highlights from her 10 studio albums. The show runs for about 3.5 hours, and Swift will sing 44 songs that span her musical career. She will play three shows in Melbourne at the MCG, and four in Sydney at Accor Stadium next weekend.
The Eras Tour is officially the highest-grossing music tour ever, becoming the first to exceed $US1 billion in revenue, breaking the record set by Elton John’s five-year farewell tour.
In Melbourne, people who miss out on tickets can try their hand at Swift-themed ice-skating at Reservoir’s IceHQ, attend a panel at Fed Square about the phenomenon that she is, or check out Taylor Sheesh, a Filipino drag queen paying homage to the pop star, also at Fed Square.
In Sydney, fans can attend a Taylor-themed karaoke night, bingo or trivia night at the Soda Factory, a crafty workshop at the Pole Space to create an appropriate outfit for Swift-related events, friendship bracelet-making classes, themed paint and sip classes, or high tea.
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