The Ticketmaster Great War (And the Aftermath)

If you, dear reader, haven’t been living under a rock for the past eight months, you would have heard about the ‘Ticketmaster Great War’ that left Swifties (fans of Taylor Swift) everywhere haunted, leading to outbursts on social media and Swifties wishing for closure from Ticketmaster. 

When global phenomenon Taylor Swift announced her Eras Tour which was described to be ‘a journey throughout all the eras’ of her music career, including songs from her debut album (Taylor Swift) to her most recent release in October 2022 (Midnights). With openers such as Beabadoobee, GAYLE, Phoebe Bridgers and Gracie Abrams, this was one for the books. Once the ‘Verified Fan’ presale for tickets was announced by Ticketmaster, fans scrambled to get tickets as if it was a gold rush. Call it what you want, but Swifties are truly dedicated. 

With an overwhelm of desperate fans wanting tickets, the Ticketmaster site crashed and glitched for thousands of fans, giving out error codes and having frozen queues. Swifties were outraged, and treated Ticketmaster as a picture to burn. Ticketmaster sold two million tickets, which was a record high, so what made Swifties sue?

Yes, you read that correctly. It was truly nothing new, as Swifties across 13 different states sued Ticketmaster for fraud, misrepresentation and antitrust violations. People who had achieved Verified Fan status had purchased larger amounts of tickets, knowing all too well that they would make a good profit if they sold the tickets at higher, marked-up prices to fans who couldn’t buy tickets firsthand. 

But were these prices and these fights worth it? Yes. 

Once the Eras Tour officially began at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on March 17, 2023, fans were pleasantly surprised by a three hour, 45 minute set with two surprise songs per night. Most recently at the time this article was written; ‘I Wish You Would’ and ‘The Lakes’. Swift took little-to-no breaks, and her performance featured mesmerizing transitions between eras (such as Swift diving into the stage) as well as Swift handing out her hat from her performance of ‘22’ from the ‘Red’ studio album to one lucky fan in the audience each night! 

Fan projects before the concert also took place, such as the ‘Make the Friendship Bracelets’ project where Swifties would make beaded bracelets as odes to Swift, and trade them with other Swifties. Some fans would go into the venues with empty wrists, but by the end of the night, their arms would be bejeweled.

Although Swifties had to find their way out of the woods and through the lavender haze in order to get their hands on even one ticket, they managed to find the afterglow and the glimpse of daylight that we call international superstar Taylor Swift. 

Photo Credits : New York Times