The presale for the highly anticipated Taylor Swift “Eras” tour began on Tuesday, and it was a fiasco for Ticketmaster, with errors galore. Fans howled and even politicians weighed in as the process failed due to “high demand” for the pop star’s first full scale tour since her Reputation run in 2018.
“There has been historically unprecedented demand,” Ticketmaster tweeted at 1:05 p.m. Tuesday, updating fans about the struggles many had faced in the process of trying to get tickets. “Millions [showed] up to buy tickets for the TaylorSwiftTix Presale. Hundreds of thousands of tickets have been sold. if you have already secured tickets, you are all set.”
The tweet (embedded below) went on to lay out the game plan going forward to help get things back on track. People already in queues were told to remain in place and let them process through. West cost sales that had been scheduled for a 1 p.m. start were pushed back to 3 p.m., and the entire Capital One presale was scrapped, moved back to Wednesday at 2 p.m. local time to the venue.
“Thank you for your patience as we continue managing this huge demand,” the message closed.
— Ticketmaster (@Ticketmaster) November 15, 2022
Fans weren’t particularly mollified by the messaging, with many complaining about the stress that the Ticketmaster failures had brought to their day, and many others railing about having taken time off of work to get their shot at presale tickets, only to see the delay mean they couldn’t make the new sale time. one creative fan even edited the format of the Ticketmaster tweet with their own anti-TM messaging:
https://t.co/xDc36TeXxb pic.twitter.com/ymVJt8taR8
— Sarah 🐲🕵🏻♀️🐉 (@SarahCantSmell) November 15, 2022
Other fans chimed in with a litany woes from their experience, taking broad swings at the much-maligned ticketing company, which seemed stunned by the high demand despite the fact that it had already seen fans required to pre-register for presale codes, giving them an exact and specific understanding of how many fans had codes for the presale because of “verified fan.”
taylor swift eras tour ticketmaster experience starter pack pic.twitter.com/2WvTsE5Knr
— miranda ! (@mirandimoo) November 15, 2022
when you’re trying to get taylor swift tix but ticketmaster keeps crashing pic.twitter.com/FOSdMrIP2Y
— Meg (@mplevz) November 15, 2022
Me to @Ticketmaster when they moved the Taylor Swift Capital One presale with no real warning pic.twitter.com/jo7oVBv9BY
— Bree Aguiar (Sad Girl Autumn) (Taylor’s Version) (@BreeAguiar) November 15, 2022
When you thought you would get Taylor Swift Tickets because you registered as a verified fan four times and then spent all day on the Ticketmaster’s website pic.twitter.com/quB5TrJksK
— Jolee (@JoleeBattles) November 15, 2022
Ticket pricing was also a hot topic for fans, as the “dynamic” pricing model made things painful even for fans who made it through the glitches to the map pages for their events, only to see surged prices force them to make hard choices about their budget.
i am really frustrated taylor didn’t opt out of dynamic pricing. it is so anti-consumer, and it makes it 10x harder for 90% of us to get tickets because prices can change whenever. if ed sheeran could opt out, she could’ve too
— ethan (@kingslugma) November 15, 2022
I’m sorry but…having dynamic pricing for tickets IS 100% on Taylor Swift. I don’t care if people will get mad at me for this. She knows the demand is insane for tickets and it literally GIVES Ticketmaster the opportunity to price gouge us. #TheErasTour
— C ⚔️🩸 (@yelhsagraveyard) November 15, 2022
Tampa – Just paid over 200 for 200 level seats. Nothing on floor under 700 and nothing in 100s under 500.
No dynamic pricing my ass. #TaylorSwiftErasTour #TaylorSwiftTix #TSErasTour
— Kayla (@ktlmccarty) November 15, 2022
I’m really upset that Taylor allowed dynamic pricing on her tickets. After waiting hours for a chance at a ticket, only having $700+ tickets to choose from (when they had been $200-300 earlier) is messed up.
— lindsay 💛 (@umlindsay) November 15, 2022
dynamic pricing is the biggest scam. the way i wasn’t even far into presale and still my 300 lvl tickets were the price of some people’s lower bowl tix? https://t.co/sJQm1vsqEE
— schindie 🤍 (@schindie_) November 15, 2022
But angry fans are one thing. As many pointed out, there’s only so much they could do about anything besides complain – because most seemed resigned to the fact that Ticketmaster’s “monopoly” gave them no other alternative (though it should be pointed out that some venues on the tour were ticketed by SeatGeek, and the issues at those shows seemed to be the same). But Ticketmaster caught some fire from people that potentially have the juice to make a real push for something to be done about it – popular (and polarizing) member of congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter to call for Ticketmaster to be broken up – a familiar refrain in recent weeks.
Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, it’s merger with LiveNation should never have been approved, and they need to be reigned in.
Break them up.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 15, 2022
More Perfect Union – part of the Break Up Ticketmaster campaigning group – was quick to seize the moment:
Ticketmaster is destroying live music.
Their scam fees now cost as much as 78% of a ticket. They control the events, the venues, even the artists.
There’s a movement pushing the Justice Department to take on their monopoly. @Doctorow breaks it down. pic.twitter.com/Ai0AwuEGOX
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) November 15, 2022
All in all – not a good day for Taylor Swift fans. Not a good day for Ticketmaster. What will Wednesday’s resumption of the Era’s Tour presales bring?
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 TicketSmarter
Taylor 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 *&
