Taylor Swift fans battle ‘the Great War’ as they fight for Dublin Era Tour tickets
Taylor Swift performs in Dublin next year. Picture: John Shearer/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
There were mixed emotions from Taylor Swift fans on Thursday as they battled through “the Great War” in the hopes of securing tickets to the singer’s Aviva Stadium concerts next year.
Tickets for Swift’s Eras Tour went on sale on Thursday and for Irish fans who did not qualify for presale, it was the last hope at seeing the singer in Dublin next year.
The critically acclaimed tour has already seen the 33-year-old travel across the US and next summer, it will be Europe’s turn to see Swift travel through her ‘eras’ in the epic three-hour concert. The American singer-songwriter plays Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on Friday, June 28, Saturday, June 29 and Sunday, June 30, 2024.
With such a complex system of registration, access codes, and three different sale times, many fans dubbed the experience of securing a ticket “the Great War”.
Taylor Swift fans are some of the most dedicated in the world. This, combined with the fact that the star has not toured since 2018, meant tickets were as valuable as gold dust for 'Swifties'.
At 10.30am, the candles were lit, prayers had been said and eager fans were already logged on to Ticketmaster and waiting in anticipation for their moment to join the virtual queue. With tens of thousands of people now in said queue, some fans shared videos of themselves with lucky crystals in front of laptops in the hopes of improving their chances.
#ErasTourDublin Pray for me pic.twitter.com/BorLijkPxY
— Adam Devine (@Admdvn) July 20, 2023
By 11am, the tickets were officially on sale for Swift’s first Dublin date and most fans on Twitter were reporting upwards of 20,000 people in front of them in the queue — some posted pictures of over 50,000 people ahead of them. Come 11.30am, fans were advised that ticket availability was “extremely limited” and that the best availability was for VIP packages.
Many Swifties on social media reported being left with the option of these VIP packages, as other tickets were presumably quick to sell out. The packages vary in price depending on the city but typically contain exclusive merchandise. For Dublin, prices start at €371.28 for the We Never Go Out of Style package and go up to €743.62 for the Karma Is My Boyfriend package.
But the 11am ticket sale was just for the first Aviva Stadium gig and there were still two more chances to get tickets for Swift’s two other dates (at 1pm and 3pm respectively) — or so fans hoped.
The next battle at 1pm proved just as tricky. By just after 1.15pm, many fans reported receiving an update to say that the general admission standing tickets had sold out for Swift's second Dublin date. By the time the third sale came around at 3pm, it only took seven minutes for an update to appear to let fans know that ticket availability was extremely limited for general admission standing.
Videos shared to TikTok throughout the day showed excited friends squealing and hugging one another in front of open laptops as the news they were hoping for was confirmed: they were in. However, others still on the battlefield shared their frustration at not getting tickets after three attempts.
“Not the best seats but I won the Great War in Dublin! [Third] time’s the charm,” wrote one excited fan on Twitter. "[Fourth] Dublin show maybe Taylor Swift? As a treat?," joked another.
Despite the hardship, we're sure there is no Bad Blood between Swift and her fans.
