Eagerly awaited, the sale of tickets for the six concerts of Taylor Swift scheduled for Toronto began on Wednesday. Result of this highly anticipated day: many called, few chosen. And above all, thousands of disappointed admirers.
After the fiasco of ticket sales in the United States, the extreme popularity of the Eras tour was no longer to be proven. However, it never ceases to amaze, so impressive is it.
“I have never been so stressed for a show. Yesterday, I wasn’t working,” said Béatrice Beaulieu, a few hours before the ticket office opened on Wednesday morning.
Ask any Canadian fan trying to get their hands on a ticket to one of the superstar’s six scheduled concerts in Toronto in the fall of 2024: it’s like winning the lottery.
Last week, tens of thousands of fans signed up for Ticketmaster’s “Verified Fan” program – the only way to see their idol in Canada. Although compulsory, this step did not guarantee a concert place. A small portion of registrants – chosen at random – received a unique code allowing them to access the official ticket sale, spread over three days.
To increase her chances, Béatrice Beaulieu had recruited her sister, her parents and her friends, who all signed up for the program. She had dreamed of seeing her idol on stage for years. And until the last minute, she believed in it.
Tuesday evening, the e-mail fell into his inbox. No codes. She was placed on the waiting list. In other words: better luck next time.
The young woman is far from the only one in her situation. Online, hundreds of internet users shared the same disappointment. “To all Canadian swifties, see you at Niagara Falls to jump in two hours,” joked a young woman in a post that went viral on the X platform.
Véronique Doré had a little more luck, and again. Her best friend received the famous code, but the traffic on the ticketing site was such that she never managed to obtain tickets, the limit of which is set at four per person.
“She was 11,000th in line. Around noon, it got buggy. She told me that she didn’t think there were any more tickets, ”says Véronique.
Eventually, we found just one person who had managed the feat of getting their hands on a ticket.
Tracie Bélanger had prepared for this moment like an athlete training for a race. She knew all the possible tricks – such as signing up with more than one account and not opening different tabs at the same time – and had studied videos from fans who had gone through the same process.
The last hours before the opening of the sale ticked away like a countdown as exciting as it was scary. “I was really stressed, but I was well prepared,” she says.
Before the Canadian dates were announced last week, the young woman had tried to buy tickets for the shows in London and Paris, without success. The third time was the good one.
The young woman managed to obtain two well-located places for a total of just over $900. It was more expensive than she imagined, but she couldn’t miss it.
Disappointed fans can still hold out hope. Some are registered for the RBC-sponsored presale scheduled for next week. And there is always the possibility of buying tickets on resale, at the risk of having to pay a fortune.
On the resale site StubHub, a pair of tickets on the floor could be sold for up to more than $ 4,000, La Presse was able to see on Wednesday afternoon.
Besides the disappointment of the fans, the first day of sales went smoothly. The sale that closed on Wednesday was for the first two shows in Toronto, November 14 and 15, 2024. Tickets for the other four concerts will go on sale the same way this Thursday and Friday.
Last November, the pre-sale of tickets for the American leg of Taylor Swift’s tour turned into a fiasco. Endless waits, skyrocketing prices, computer bugs: fans of the star had all the difficulty in the world to obtain their precious tickets – if they succeeded at all. The official sale to the general public had even been canceled due to the insufficient number of tickets for demand. The outcry was such that Ticketmaster was targeted by about 20 lawsuits, which forced the United States Senate to study the question of the company’s monopoly in the market for the sale of tickets for shows.