Swifties who had been holding out for one final chance to score tickets for the upcoming Eras tour Friday are out of luck, as Ticketmaster and SeatGeek – the two companies handling primary box office duties for the massive tour’s venues – announced that there will be no Friday general public sale of tickets to the Taylor Swift stadium shows in 2023.
In simple math, that means a run of more than 50 stadium shows – easily 4-5 million tickets in total – has allegedly been run through without a single “general public” access sale. Every single person who bought a ticket from the event organizers aside from whatever number was held-back for distribution through other channels, had to request access through the data-grabbing Verified Fan system, and many thousands of those people didn’t even get tickets.
The news came late afternoon on Thursday, the latest blow in a ticket sale that has drawn enormous criticism from fans and politicians for major issues, high prices, and general anguish.
Due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand, tomorrow’s public on-sale for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has been cancelled.
— Ticketmaster (@Ticketmaster) November 17, 2022
In its decision, Ticketmaster cited “extraordinarily high demand,” causing insufficient remaining ticket inventory for a general sale. What is unclear at this time is how much inventory remains unsold, held back for Platinum pricing options, or intended to be slowly dripped out onto the market as the event dates approach. Swift’s last major tour – in 2018 – saw similar “demand” cited during initial onsale periods, only to morph into rumors of poor sales, followed by major ticket dumps and giveaways for a fraction of the presale ticket prices as it became clear that the stadiums would have been half-empty otherwise.
Whether or not something like that is in the works for the Eras tour, fans were not pleased with this latest development in what has already been a chaotic week in ticketing. The thread of replies to Ticketmaster was filled with angry fans, many of whom have tried and failed to obtain tickets in what has been described as a maddening, glitch-filled process, with many fans being forced to turn to the secondary market now as they are being told there are no tickets left to buy from the box office.
so so SO glad y’all got tickets into the hands of real fans though!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/lUfxPpxFWh
— 🫶🏼 (@sattlerxgrant) November 17, 2022
Don’t worry Brook got two 🙄 seems like a “verified fan” pic.twitter.com/UWX2BmblPw
— Kris ✨ (@KristmasLights) November 17, 2022
Had tickets in the cart 5 times during verified fan presale for 5/20 show, there was an “error on your end” each of the five times, after five times kicked to the back of the queue to have no chance to buy tickets. I had these tickets for around 220 each, now they’re 3600 each pic.twitter.com/flTlqxbwRs
— Anthony Guerriero (@Theroastyo) November 17, 2022
What’s the likelihood that resellers are actually just ticketmaster in disguise?
— a panini | is the anti-hero (@smallpandini) November 17, 2022
Heads-up frustrated fans! https://t.co/YlYDdlQUP8
— Clayton Cubitt (@claytoncubitt) November 17, 2022
To say the Taylor Swift ticket sale was a disaster for Ticketmaster would be understatement. Fans have been trashing the Live Nation Entertainment-owned ticketing giant since before the sale even started, and numerous politicians have called for the company to be broken up amid the chorus of fan anger.
Ticketmaster attempted some damage control with a blog post explaining just how overwhelmed its systems had been by the sales process. It explained the 3.5 million presale registrations, additional dates added, the whole nine yards – but systems fail when demand is unexpected. Ticketmaster required everyone who wanted to purchase tickets in the presales this week to register through verified fan. That means they quite literally knew exactly how many people had a key to enter their system and shop for tickets, but still somehow were unable to keep up.
For now, Taylor Swift fans seeking tickets for her tour will be forced to secondary ticket marketplaces, which have seen prices skyrocket with the news that the whole run is sold out (even if it is extraordinarily likely that there are many more tickets waiting to be sold between now and show dates). A list of sites for purchasing tickets is available below.
Taylor Swift Ticket Links
Tickets at MEGASeats.com | No Service Charge/Free Shipping – 10% Off Using Code TICKETNEWS
Tickets at Event Tickets Center
Tickets at Scorebig
Tickets at StubHub
Tickets at Ticket Club | Free Membership Offer
Tickets at TicketNetwork
Tickets at TickPick
Tickets at TicketSmarterTaylor Swift The Eras Tour Dates
Friday, March 17 – Glendale, AZ | State Farm Stadium !&
Saturday, March 18 – Glendale, AZ | State Farm Stadium !&
Friday, March 24 – Las Vegas, NV | Allegiant Stadium %&
Saturday, March 25 – Las Vegas, NV | Allegiant Stadium %&
Friday, March 31 – Arlington, TX | AT&T Stadium %+
Saturday, April 1 – Arlington, TX | AT&T Stadium %+
Sunday, April 2 – Arlington, TX | AT&T Stadium %+
Thursday, April 13 – Tampa, FL | Raymond James Stadium %+
Friday, April 14 – Tampa, FL | Raymond James Stadium %+
Saturday, April 15 – Tampa, FL | Raymond James Stadium %+
Friday, April 21 – Houston, TX | NRG Stadium %+
Saturday, April 22 – Houston, TX | NRG Stadium %+
Sunday, April 23 – Houston, TX | NRG Stadium %+
Friday, April 28 – Atlanta, GA | Mercedes-Benz Stadium %+
Saturday, April 29 – Atlanta, GA | Mercedes-Benz Stadium %+
Sunday, April 30 – Atlanta, GA | Mercedes-Benz Stadium %+
Friday, May 5 – Nashville, TN | Nissan Stadium $&
Saturday, May 6 – Nashville, TN | Nissan Stadium $&
Sunday, May 7 – Nashville, TN | Nissan Stadium $&
Friday, May 12 – Philadelphia, PA | Lincoln Financial Field $&
Saturday, May 13 – Philadelphia, PA | Lincoln Financial Field $&
Sunday, May 14 – Philadelphia, PA | Lincoln Financial Field $&
Friday, May 19 – Foxborough, MA | Gillette Stadium $&
Saturday, May 20 – Foxborough, MA | Gillette Stadium $&
Sunday, May 21 – Foxborough, MA | Gillette Stadium $&
Friday, May 26 – E. Rutherford, NJ | MetLife Stadium $&
Saturday, May 27 – E. Rutherford, NJ | MetLife Stadium $+
Sunday, May 28 – E. Rutherford, NJ | MetLife Stadium $+
Friday, June 2 – Chicago, IL | Soldier Field #?
Saturday, June 3 – Chicago, IL | Soldier Field #?
Sunday, June 4 – Chicago, IL | Soldier Field #?
Friday, June 9 – Detroit, MI | Ford Field #?
Saturday, June 10 – Detroit, MI | Ford Field #?
Friday, June 16 – Pittsburgh, PA | Acrisure Stadium #?
Saturday, June 17 – Pittsburgh, PA | Acrisure Stadium #?
Friday, June 23 – Minneapolis, MN | U.S. Bank Stadium #?
Saturday, June 24 – Minneapolis, MN | U.S. Bank Stadium #?
Friday, June 30 – Cincinnati, OH | Paycor Stadium ^+
Saturday, July 1 – Cincinnati, OH | Paycor Stadium ^+
Friday, July 7 – Kansas City, MO | Arrowhead Stadium ^+
Saturday, July 8 – Kansas City, MO | Arrowhead Stadium ^+
Friday, July 14 – Denver, CO | Empower Field at Mile High ^+
Saturday, July 15 – Denver, CO | Empower Field at Mile High ^+
Saturday, July 22 – Seattle, WA | Lumen Field *+
Sunday, July 23 – Seattle, WA | Lumen Field *+
Friday, July 28 – Santa Clara, CA | Levi’s Stadium *+
Saturday, July 29 – Santa Clara, CA | Levi’s Stadium *+
Thursday, August 3 – Inglewood, CA | SoFi Stadium *?
Friday, August 04 – Inglewood, CA | SoFi Stadium *?
Saturday, August 5 – Inglewood, CA | SoFi Stadium *&
Tuesday, August 8 – Inglewood, CA | SoFi Stadium *&
Wednesday, August 9 – Inglewood, CA | SoFi Stadium *&
