By Abigail Olear
“Are you ready for it?”
Taylor Swift’s long-awaited Eras Tour will kick off its U.S. leg on Friday, Mar. 17 in Glendale, Arizona. The northeast will welcome Swift in May — and the University of Maryland’s Swifties are ready for their tour dates after a tiresome ticketing process.
“It was probably the most stressful thing I’ve ever gone through,” said freshman biology major and lifelong Swiftie, Brooke Berry. She proved her devotion to the singer by waiting three hours online for tickets. After enduring numerous website crashes and skipping class, Berry was able to snag two 100-level tickets for $550 total for a show in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Berry’s story is common among fans who braved “The Great War” of the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster fiasco.
“I was refreshing Twitter to see like, if other people were paused, and like, I saw people having full-on meltdowns,” said freshman art history major Rachel Schmid-James. “My friend was crying her eyes out.”
“Long story short,” unprecedented demand for tickets coupled with resellers and bots flooding the site caused chaos during the tour’s presale, canceled the general sale of tickets, and led to astronomical resale prices.
Many fans were left without tickets after the fiasco. Julia Baumel, a senior psychology major, did not receive a presale code for Swift’s show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After learning that the general sale had been canceled, she scoured the internet for tickets for shows as far as the West Coast with no luck.
Ticketed or not, Swifties certainly have “Bad Blood” with Ticketmaster.
Berry thinks that fans who were snubbed by Ticketmaster should be given a presale code to another concert of their choice. Baumel suggested that Ticketmaster could team up with a music streaming service like Spotify in the future to ensure that people who are receiving presale codes are those who actually stream the artist, not bots or resellers.
Overall, fans agree that Ticketmaster must be held accountable for their actions to prevent similar situations from occuring in the future. The Justice Department is currently launching an antitrust investigation against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation.
For fans who were able to secure tickets, planning the perfect concert outfit is the next priority. Social media sites like TikTok, Pinterest, and Twitter are flooded with tour outfit ideas.
Sophomore journalism major Sophia Slaughenhoupt and Berry are planning to become “Bejeweled” for their respective tour dates, dousing themselves in sparkles to “make the whole room shimmer.” Some Swifties are planning on recreating one of the singer’s iconic looks for tour. Schmid-James is going for a “Midnights” inspired look with a navy blue dress and sparkly stars.
Swift has not been on tour since her Reputation Stadium Tour in 2018. Since then, the singer has released four new albums and two re-recordings of her stolen classics. Due to the sheer amount of music she has released since 2018, Swift’s Eras Tour will celebrate all of her albums. With 229 songs total with genres ranging from country to pop to alternative indie folk, she certainly has a lot of ground to cover.
“I think it’s definitely gonna be a feat for her because like, I don’t know how she’s gonna pull it off. But, she’s Taylor Swift, of course she’ll pull it off,” said Slaughenhoupt.
With too many number one hits to count, Swift’s setlist is unpredictable. It is logical to expect many mashups — something the singer has done numerous times on her previous tours. Many fans are keeping their fingers crossed Swift will perform “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” but will not get their hopes up due to time constraints.
With the stressful ticketing process behind them, UMD’s Swifties are ready to finalize their outfits and see what Swift has in store.
“It’s like one of the biggest tours of my entire life,” said Schmid-James. “I think being able to be a part of something that I think might be historic is special and I’m just excited to hear her music.”
Featured image: Taylor Swift’s musical career has spanned numerous iconic eras. Graphic by Abigail Olear.