Emotions are running high for Australian-based Taylor Swift fans. The US pop artist will play a trio of shows at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and four shows at Sydney’s Accor Stadium in February 2024. Swift will not be performing in any other Australian cities.
Tickets went on sale in June and, as anticipated, promoters Frontier Touring experienced extreme demand for tickets. The company sent out a media release prior to the pre-sale, encouraging fans to “stay calm and be kind” when trying to secure their tickets. All seven shows are now sold out.
Inevitably, given Swift’s near-unrivalled popularity, many hardcore Swifties came up empty-handed. A number of these fans have reached out to X user @erastouraus to voice their frustrations with various components of the ticketing roll-out. Seventeen of these submissions can be read below.
Music Feeds does not endorse the views expressed below. All responses were supplied anonymously.
Anonymous Swiftie 1
“I felt that it was a pretty bad experience. I had multiple friends trying for me, and they had started waiting 30 mins before the presale/general sale opened. They all waited for about six hours each day and not once were they let in to even purchase tickets.
“I’ve contacted some people selling tickets but realised quickly they were scamming, so stopped immediately. It’s been extremely hard to get tickets to an artist I’ve loved since she started, when I was 5. It’s seriously so unfair.”
Anonymous Swiftie 2
“I waited for 20 hours over two days, staring at the same screen. I took off work, saved my money for ages, and talked to everyone about it. Nobody who I knew was able to get through.
“I don’t understand why Frontier had a pre-sale code that was accessible for every single person who signed up? What’s the point? That’s just a general sale. I was already a Frontier Member, so if it was just for existing members, I would have scored a ticket.
“I’m so upset. I’ve literally been depressed since I didn’t get those tickets and Ticketek now delaying the resell and not giving dates is literally the last straw.”
Anonymous Swiftie 3
“I tried to get a Taylor Swift ticket for a Sydney show in both the pre-sale and general release. For the pre-sale, the website crashed just as I got through from the queue and I missed out. For the general sale, I never got out of the queue. Over these two days, I spent 11 hours at my computer in the hope of getting a ticket, just one ticket for myself. As a long time Taylor Swift fan I was extremely saddened by not getting a ticket to a show especially having been to previous Taylor Swift concerts and never having an issue obtaining a ticket.
“It’s very disappointing that the website had so many issues with crashing and not coping with the amount of traffic – the seven-minute timer that timed out so many people I know when they were checking out so they didn’t get tickets either, the lack of communication, answers, updates from Ticketek and Frontier Touring about resale ticketing information on Ticketek’s Marketplace.
“I would love answers to all of these questions as would so many other disappointed fans waiting for the opportunity to purchase a ticket to see The Ears Tour.”
Anonymous Swiftie 4
“I tried during both the pre-sale and general public sale in June and was stuck in the Ticketek waiting lounge for hours on end. I never made it to the purchase page. I was constantly checking social media for updates. Hardly any were provided by Ticketek and Frontier Touring until allocation was almost gone.
“Fans were sharing updates on social media. Some people got through the queue multiple times on both sale days for multiple shows whereas the ones like me didn’t even get the opportunity to secure one ticket. Some fans realised that Ticketek kiosks were selling tickets during the general sale in person, but this was advertised as an online purchase event. Some even tweeted that kiosk staff let them go over the limit of 4 tickets per person per show, which isn’t allowed. I directed that message to Ticketek and still haven’t received an explanation as to how that was allowed. And that was in June – we are now in September.
“Many like me were counting down to the resale date of September 4th but the FAQ page for Taylor’s upcoming events was updated secretly with no public announcement on either company’s social media. It was written that the commence date of the resale was postponed and gave no reasoning or a new date. I and other fans have contacted Ticketek and have received no answers to what we have asked. They ignore our messages and send us automated messages that are copied and pasted to each fan.”
Anonymous Swiftie 5
“As much as they’ve tried to keep the system fair, it definitely wasn’t their best. Not having a queuing system like Ticketmaster was a big mistake and made the whole experience so much worse because people were waiting for almost 10 hours to get in, and they never did. They definitely should have had some sort of system that proved you are a fan so scammers were not able to get in as easily. This should be for all ticket buying, but they need to make people put their code in before they enter the queue. This made the queuing a lot more difficult because people were in the queue when they had no intention of buying tickets and it just clogged it up.
“Only allowing resale on the marketplace is a great idea, however not allowing for VIP to be resold is not fair. Thousands of fans who missed out would love for the opportunity to be up close or get special merch, so it’s not very nice that this gets taken away.”
Anonymous Swiftie 6
“I spent over 16 hours staring at the Ticketek screen and was never let it. I wasted so much of my time and effort, it honestly affected my mental health.
“The companies have also given big companies ways to reserve tickets and sell them for only specific people that have memberships, which you need to be rich to have. Literally taking away tickets from real fans and giving them out to rich people. I felt so horrible that because I wasn’t rich, I couldn’t get another chance even after over 16 hours of trying.
“I am an experienced concertgoer and have been to many concerts, some where tickets were extremely limited and it seemed impossible to get them, but every time I was able to secure them. This time I didn’t even get let in. On another ticketing company, I got in straight away for a very limited event. This was beyond ridiculous and has put so much stress and sadness on my heart.
“Regardless, Taylor is not coming to my city so I have to spend so much more. Then for this to happen really breaks your heart. These companies don’t care about fans. They care about money. You cannot change your conditions randomly and frequently. You’re a huge company that should not be doing this. Fans are forced to get scammed just for the chance of getting a ticket but yet they said there was higher security so scammers couldn’t do this. They did. I see tickets listed everywhere. The only difference is they hike up the prices, or the tickets aren’t even real.
Anonymous Swiftie 7
“I think it’s extremely ridiculous that for this Taylor Swift concert you can’t resell VIP packages when for every other concert you can, aka P!nk and Jonas Brothers. They have also waited until last minute to postpone the marketplace date when the Jonas Brothers went on sale way after Taylor and they already have tickets for sale on marketplace.
“They have also collaborated with two companies, Crown and Accor, which is okay but to give the existing tickets to members that have to spend thousands of dollars to get them is disgusting. Ticketek have also changed the description of what is in the VIP packages after selling to customers.”
Anonymous Swiftie 8
“The no line thing was unbelievable and disgusting. It should’ve been done in an actual queue as people had been waiting the recommended time before the actual sale time, which was 15 minutes before, which was recommended by Ticketek themselves. Yet people who joined the queue past the time they went on sale got in first?”
Anonymous Swiftie 9
“As someone who had been a Frontier member for years, it was so unfair that they kept giving out codes to people even on the day of the sale – this just gives access to everyone and makes it just like a general sale rather than presale. I was waiting all day online for 2 days only to find out through social media you could have gone to a box office to get tickets. My sister lives 5 minutes away from one and was also trying to get tickets however was unaware of this either.
“I saw multiple people get tickets to multiple shows when I couldn’t even get in once? How was this fair? They set up this system because the ‘queue isn’t fair’ but at least if you know you are 100000th in the queue, you can give up and move on, whereas with this system you are just sitting there hoping. I had multiple devices and a single device signed in early, and later nothing worked. As someone who has had a really bad year this was the one thing I was looking forward to and now we don’t even know if they are having a resale?”
Anonymous Swiftie 10
“In June, I spent over 18 hours in the ‘queue’ for The Eras Tour Australia. I did not make it to the purchasing page once during presale or general sale while people were getting in over and over again buying the maximum amount of tickets.”
Anonymous Swiftie 11
“I think Ticketek has a flawed system when it comes to their queueing process. The queue should not be randomised but have a set number so potential buyers are aware where they are in the queue so they are not sitting around for hours waiting to be let in to see what tickets are left. Also, when I went to purchase tickets during the presale, I was at the payment section when the website froze and was kicked out. I was never able to get back in through that account. Later that evening, when they had VIPs left, the page was glitching at the payment section. It was as if their system could not handle the traffic despite it being the country’s main ticket system.
“Also, Frontier should’ve never given out that many codes. There should’ve been a limit even if it was 500k. Yes, Frontiers pre-sales are good but there needs to be time limits on having people register.”
Anonymous Swiftie 12
“So I went through the presale and the normal sale. I got through right before the presale sold out but only the very back seats were left and only individual seats so I thought I would wait for normal sale as I was sure there would be more seats. Day of normal sale I’m in the queue for hours only to never actually get through. I know people who got through several times – someone I know got through 4 times and was able to buy tickets.
“Now I hear there’s a resale, so I put that date in my calendar. Then they cancel it, without any official post, no communication at all and worst of all, no rescheduled date. It’s like they just don’t want fans to get tickets. Also, in my opinion, a queue for Ticketek would’ve been more fair. That would’ve stopped people getting through several times too.”
Anonymous Swiftie 13
“I haven’t received any responses back from Ticketek (I emailed twice) and Frontier. Most of us weren’t let into the queue early enough to purchase tickets on the day of both sales. If you did get let in, it was very limited availability that just wouldn’t proceed to the next step or some of us couldn’t afford the highest package, unfortunately.
“The issue I’ve had since the beginning was the fact that Frontier allowed basically all of Australia to sign up for the presale code. I don’t see the point of a presale when everyone can access the code. It should’ve been limited to a couple of hours within the announcement of the tour. This would have avoided the amount of people trying to purchase on that day.
“I would also like to point out how Frontier/Ticketek have advised that VIP/hotel packages cannot be resold on Ticketek Marketplace but they don’t advise to sell/purchase from Tixel etc. There has been no communication to advise why they cannot allow resale of VIP on the marketplace. Other artists (basically all of them) are allowing VIP tickets to be resold officially on Marketplace. It usually isn’t an issue so I don’t see why it is now.
“The lack of communication from Ticketek and Frontier has been terrible. The resale date gets cancelled and no word of a new date. They then choose to not make a comment which leads to fans continuously have to send emails or DMs in hopes of finding out information.”
Anonymous Swiftie 14
“I tried for the AMEX presale. Didn’t get anywhere but wasn’t too concerned as I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend so much. I went hard on the Wednesday presale. I spent from 2pm through until around 6pm trying without getting anywhere. Followed all the advice given out by both Frontier and Ticketek.
“Friday was the biggest, hardest day. My friends and I did so much research, we went against the advice and opened multiple tabs, different browsers, and refreshed like mad. Two of my friends got in within a few minutes of the Melb tickets opening at 2pm and not only that, they got in on repeat and could buy more tickets than Ticketek had communicated.
“Meanwhile, I got in at 9am on the Saturday morning. I couldn’t bring myself to close it down. I just needed proof that i could get in. Fans were tweeting saying tickets were gone well before Ticketek made the official announcement. In fact, Ticketek kept saying, ‘Hang in there, there’s tickets available,’ when they weren’t. The whole thing was actually really traumatic and unfair and Ticketek need to explain themselves. Add that they kept tickets for Crown high rollers was just disgusting.”
Anonymous Swiftie 15
“During both the initial sale and presale, I had spent four hours in the queue waiting to be let in. Ticketek never informed us that the tickets were sold out so we kept waiting. We were willing to buy any ticket and it was advertised there were still VIP tickets available. However, we still could not purchase tickets. I have been waiting for the resale since, only to be shattered as they changed the dates. I just wish Ticketek would be honest with their customers.”
Anonymous Swiftie 16
“I tried to get tickets for the Eras tour and I honestly found the whole system ridiculous. The fact that it was a lucky draw and not a queue system just made the whole process unbearable. VIP tickets not being transferable has honestly bummed me out as this would’ve been my first Taylor Swift concert and I really wanted the VIP experience.
“Ticketek needs to do better with the way they handle their customer service and the way they handle the supply of tickets. They knew of the demand for tickets and decided that the best queuing system was no queuing system.”
Anonymous Swiftie 17
“Us fans have been constantly reaching out for answers but haven’t been receiving any updates. I’m glad someone has started this submission form. We need updates and answers to our questions. If there’s nothing to hide, I don’t know why things have taken so long. Things have been so mishandled since the beginning of June.”
Further Reading
A Guide to Every International Tour Coming to Australia in 2023/24
Accor Stadium Are Not Selling Extra Tickets to Taylor Swift’s Australian Tour Despite Reports
Ariana Grande Follows Demi Lovato in Leaving Manager Scooter Braun
