On November 1st, 2022, I awoke to some crazy news. Taylor Swift had just announced her brand new tour: The Eras Tour. This was during the tail end of the Covid-19 lockdown and still in the midst of the Midnights Era. I was very excited. I have been a Taylor Swift fan since 2007 after hearing “Our Song” on the radio. My first ever album was the platinum edition of Fearless, and I spent so much of my childhood with Speak Now playing cover to cover. I grew up in a small town over an hour away from Toronto, and whenever she came to the big city, I would beg my parents to let me go, with no luck. After all those years of asking and pleading, I knew I didn’t need to ask this time. I was 20 and had money saved up from part-time jobs to pay for some tickets. Thankfully, Detroit is just across the river from Windsor, so I didn’t need to worry about traveling. I knew this would be my one and only chance to see Taylor.
I signed up for presale as soon as I could, not fully grasping how drastic this battle would be as I was against over 3.5 million other accounts. On the evening of November 14th, I received the news that I had been selected to receive a code for my first venue of choice. By this point, I understood the demand a bit more. Additional dates were announced for every stop going from 21 to 52 shows. At 10 am on Tuesday, November 15th, I would be joining the Ticketmaster waiting room to attempt to get tickets. There was just one problem: at 11:30 the same morning, I had an online midterm. I originally thought I had enough time to get tickets before my midterm began, but just to be safe, I did have two devices on hand.
Tuesday morning I woke up and made sure my devices were fully charged. My sister was kind enough to let me use her computer that day, and I had mine ready to go for my midterm. I joined the Ticketmaster lobby just after 9:30 am and entered the queue shortly after 10. My position was 2000+. I had never seen a line so long but I figured it would start moving shortly. It didn’t. I went an hour and a half with no movement, but unfortunately, I had to start my online exam. It wasn’t until after I started my midterm that the number slowly went down. By the time I finished (rushed) my midterm, it was almost my turn. By this point, it was almost 1 pm, and my hopes went out the window. I was surprised to see so many tickets still available, maybe just less than half. As I scrolled through the $79 tickets, something caught my eye. Hidden in the list were tickets for $49 each. I immediately added three to my cart and attempted to check out but was denied. “Someone has already purchased these tickets” the screen read to me. No problem, I’ll just search for more. The cycle repeated itself at least 7 or 8 times before I finally moved through to checkout. I could not believe it, I had secured tickets for my sister, my mom, and me to see Taylor Swift at Night 1 Detroit. Those 7 months could not have come any slower. As somebody who now attends concerts as much as I possibly can, Taylor Swift’s show is by far the greatest performance I have ever seen live. To this day, my mom still talks about how electric and vibrant everything was. I was content, another sought-after item removed from my bucket list. I thought I would never get a chance to see her again, and I was satisfied with that, until August 3rd, 2023.
Nearly 2 months after the most magical night, Taylor announced she would be coming to Toronto. I was ecstatic but realistic. I knew that I was lucky enough to have gotten the chance to see her once and that my Ticketmaster account had that data as well. There was no way I was going to be selected again. With not much thought, I signed up for presale again, and once again, I received a presale code. I was so happy, but I also pondered it. I had so many friends who didn’t get codes for any shows. I also saw countless stories of people online being unable to get a chance to see Taylor. I considered not trying to get tickets but decided against that. I had signed up fairly. I only used one account, and I was only planning on getting the number of tickets I needed. I know people might see me as selfish or cruel for trying to get tickets twice, but I also know that if they were given the same chance, they would go see Taylor more than once. People have been doing it since the dawn of time. There are HUNDREDS of Swifties who have seen her every tour, over multiple nights as well. If they aren’t being ridiculed, then I shouldn’t be either. People shouldn’t be mad at genuine fans for attending multiple shows, but rather scalpers that buy up tickets and resell them for 10x their worth, or the way the presale system was set up in the first place.
On Wednesday, August 9th, I held my breath as I joined the Ticketmaster lobby once more. I genuinely think it was fate, as within 13 minutes, I secured 4 tickets to see Taylor Swift once more. Over 15 months have gone by since that day, and I am just as excited to see Taylor today as I was in 2023. The fact that it’s almost here and that the Eras Tour is almost complete is both incredible and heartbreaking. I will be seeing her on Friday, November 15th for her 2nd night in Toronto, and I just know that like me, Toronto is ready for Taylor once again.
