When pre-sale tickets went on sale for a number of dates on Taylor Swift’s upcoming The Eras Tour, her first tour in five years, at 10 a.m. local time on Nov. 14, fans were more irate than excited about the upcoming concerts when the Ticketmaster site appeared to have crashed after millions of fans logged in to buy tickets, leaving some customers who had a verified pre-sale fan code waiting for an extended period of time with no option to purchase their tickets.
Videos by American Songwriter
“There has been historically unprecedented demand with millions showing up to buy tickets for the TaylorSwiftTix presale,” read a recent statement on the Ticketmaster Fan Support Twitter page. “Hundreds of thousands of tickets have been sold. If you have secured your tickets, you are set.”
The statement continued, “If you are currently in a queue, please hang tight. Queues are moving and we are working to get fans through as quickly as possible.”
West coast sales that were previously scheduled for 10 a.m. PT will not take place at 3 p.m. PT, according to Ticketmaster, while the Capitol One sale has been rescheduled for 2 p.m. local time on Nov. 16.
The apparent freeze on the Ticketmaster site forced some buyers to leave the ticket queue for purchasing and start all over again, while others were having trouble logging on to the site, presumably due to the volume of traffic. “We are aware fans may be experiencing intermittent issues with the site and are urgently working to resolve,” read the first post on the Ticketmaster Fan Support Twitter page responding to the halt of ticket sales.
Customers quickly expressed their outrage on Twitter after the Ticketmaster page failed to load and allow them access to tickets despite their pre-sale code for verified fans. “I got a code and am logged in to the correct account but it’s saying I’m not verified,” wrote one fan on Twitter. “What do I do?”
Though it appears as if the Ticketmaster site was not prepared for the volume of fans logging on for the pre-sale, in an earlier statement, Ticketmaster said that the “site is not down” and that “people are actively purchasing tickets.”
Prior to the morning pre-sale, a Ticketmaster Fan Support post read, “Fans who have received a code to the TaylorSwiftTix Pre-sale should login and access the queue through the link they received via text rather than entering through the Ticketmaster homepage. This will ensure an optimal shopping experience.”
Swift recently added 17 more dates to the Eras Tour in support of her tenth album, Midnights, released on Oct. 21 and featuring guests, including Paramore, HAIM, Phoebe Bridgers, MUNA, beabadoobee, and more.
The U.S. leg of 2023 The Eras Tour kicks off on March 18 at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, and concludes Aug. 9 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
(Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
