The Eras Tour
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Tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour are being protected by some of the most advanced ticketing technology ever created, but it’s done little to stop some Swifties from falling victim to fraud.
With what’s likely to be the year’s most in-demand tour has come a wave of online scams that mix high-tech identity theft with low-tech social engineering to target frustrated fans unable to buy tickets during the initial sale in November. Now ticket prices are going for up to 10-times face value on secondary sites and many fans are desperately looking for more affordable options. That’s also leaving them vulnerable to too-good-to-be-true swindlers selling fake tickets. In many cases, the fans don’t even realize they were ripped off until they get to the show.
Nationwide, consumer fraud was up 30% in 2022 over 2021, according to the Federal Trade Commission, costing consumers $8.8 billion. Fake ticket scams fall under what the FTC labels as “imposter scams,” second in total cost only to investor scams according to the FTC, which notes that individuals aged 30-39 are the most likely to be defrauded in 2023 with social media sites listed as the most common place where fraud occurs. The targeting of Taylor Swift fans and offering cheap tickets the seller doesn’t have (and then disappearing on the buyer after they send over the money) is in part due to enormous publicity around the tour and the huge demand for tickets and low supply.
“Con artists will seize any opportunity to rip people off and as soon as the tours for Taylor Swift or artists Beyoncé or The Cure were even announced, scammers trying to figure out ways to capitalize on people’s desperation to get tickets,” says Teresa Murray, a consumer watchdog with the Denver-based Public Interest Research Group. Murray says her group saw an uptick in forged barcodes, fake websites and spoofs on legitimate sights like StubHub and Ticketmaster popping up hoping to profit off the frenzy around the Eras tour.
Fans who have fallen victim to Taylor Swift ticket fraud often say they are lured into the scam through a post on Facebook, listed on regional group pages from seemingly legitimate accounts offering to sell tickets for an upcoming Swift show below the current asking price on secondary ticket markets.
“When you have people who are desperate [to buy tickets] and vulnerable to fraud, they tend to suspend their common sense and make decisions they wouldn’t normally make,” says Murray, adding that this type of fraud is perpetrated by both “people living in their mom’s basement” and sophisticated criminal groups operating in an organized manner.
What victims do not realize is that instead of talking to person living in their city, they are often talking to a hacker who has recently taken over someone’s Facebook account to appear like a real person with ties in the community. After some back and forth, the scammer convinces the victim to send them money though a cash app like Venmo or Zelle in exchange for tickets that either never arrive or are obvious fakes.
This increase in fraud is happening against a backdrop of transformative technology at Ticketmaster, deployed at a large scale for the Eras tour with the potential to drastically reduce and even eliminate most instances of ticket fraud. Whereas it used to be fraudsters could buy a print-at-home ticket and then sell multiple copies of that, Ticketmaster is now employing its Safetix technology for Swift’s tour and others to issue digital tickets that live exclusively within the Ticketmaster app and are impossible to duplicate in this way. Safetix creates an entire digital ecosystem around the life of the ticket, from its original purchase, through resale and up until the ticket is redeemed on the night of the show. The scam Swift fans describe operates completely outside of that ecosystem, without any protections for consumers.
For scammers, demanding payment upfront is a low-tech way to defeat an otherwise sophisticated security system. The only way to curb this type of fraud, Murray says, is to educate fans on how digital tickets work. Much of Ticketmaster’s consumer education efforts have focused on Swift fans who successfully bought tickets and need to know how to load tickets into their accounts, transfer them to friends and redeem the tickets on show night. While this effort to educate fans is important, it does little to inform fans who were unable to buy during the public sale so that they are better equipped to avoid being sold fake tickets when they attempt to buy secondary tickets
Murray recommends only purchasing resale tickets from official sellers with a clearly visible fan guarantee listed on their site, to only use credit cards (not debit cards) and to match up the seats being sold with a seat map of the venue to verify the seats and rows actually exist.
“Often times the con artists don’t bother to check if the seating section, row and seat numbers they claim to hold tickets for actually exist on a seat map,” Murray says. “A little research on your own might help you determine if the tickets being offered actually exist.”
Taylor Swift‘s trio of Eras Tour shows in Philadelphia couldn’t have been more nostalgic if she tried. In a Tuesday (May 16) post about her weekend spent at the city’s Lincoln Financial Field, the singer reflected on the full-circle feeling of performing at her hometown venue, celebrating Mother’s Day, family memories and more.
“Philly was a dream, honestly,” the pop star began, tweeting out four mesmerizing photos taken at her most recent shows. “Playing three nights in the stadium I used to see on tv when my dad watched Eagles games every Sunday. The most magical 3 hometown shows a girl could hope for.”
Speaking of the Eagles, Swift played Evermore deep cut “Gold Rush” as one of her surprise songs at the Friday (May 12) show and clarified that one of the lyrics — “Eagles T-shirt hanging from the door” — definitely refers to the Philly football team, not the band. “I love the band the Eagles, but guys, like, come on, I’m from Philly,” she quipped.
Then, two nights later, the “Anti-Hero” singer got to celebrate her mom, Andrea, with a sentimental surprise song performance of her 2008 Fearless track “The Best Day,” which she wrote as a teenager about their close bond. “Plus I got to emotionally hobble my way through singing The Best Day for my mom on Mother’s Day,” she added in her tweet. “I love you all so much.”
The 12-time Grammy winner had also confessed to feeling emotional about the performance while onstage Sunday night. She told the crowd about how she once surprised a tearful Andrea by secretly recording “The Best Day” all those years ago, and warned that, even a decade and a half later, she’d likely get choked up while performing it live.
Swift’s next stop on the Eras Tour will be Foxborough, Mass., about which she wrote she’s “counting down the hours” ’til she gets to play three consecutive shows at Gillette Stadium starting Friday (May 19). The week after, she’ll hit MetLife Stadium just outside New York City before heading over to Soldier Field in Chicago.
After Taylor Swift finished out her trio of Philadelphia Eras Tour shows on Sunday night, one fan went viral for her dedication to the pop star’s lyricism. At the Friday show, 62-year-old Maureen Gregory helped light up Philly’s Lincoln Financial Field with her trusty reading light as she followed along with Swift’s setlist by reading […]
Taylor Swift and her mom had the best day this Mother’s Day. While closing out her three-night Eras Tour run at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Mother’s Day (May 14), the pop star gave an emotional performance of her 2008 tribute track for Mama Swift, “The Best Day” — but not before recalling the sweet story of how she sneakily surprised her mom with the song all those years ago.
“I secretly recorded a song on Fearless,” she told the crowd, sitting at her piano for the second of her two nightly surprise songs (the first one was “Hey Stephen,” another Fearless favorite). “It was very sneaky and fun.”
The “Anti-Hero” singer went on to say that it was very difficult to write and record “The Best Day” without her mom knowing, as she was just 16 or 17 at the time. “I wrote this song just compiling these sort of core childhood memories I had of not just her as a mother, but her as a friend,” she continued.
After playing it for the first time for her mom, Andrea Swift, she asked, “Did you like the song?”
Andrea, however, didn’t even realize it had been written about and for her. “It’s such a beautiful song. Where did you find it? It sounds exactly like the things we went through,” Swift’s mom replied, according to the star.
“I was like, ‘Mom, I wrote it and recorded it secretly, it is our memories,” Swift explained to her, which she said moved Andrea to tears. “It was the sweetest thing ever because I just think she couldn’t have comprehended that I would write a song about the two of us.”
The 12-time Grammy winner admitted that the song makes her emotional as well, and that she would try her best to get through the whole thing without getting choked up.
Swift also gave another shoutout earlier in the night to Andrea, who was seen watching the show from a box seat with the musician’s dad, Scott, as well as The 1975’s Matty Healy, Swift’s rumored romantic interest. “Mother’s Day’s awesome,” she said during the Evermore portion of the setlist. “My mom’s my best friend, I’m obsessed with my mom.”
See clips of Taylor sending love to Andrea at Sunday night’s Eras Tour show below:
taylor wishing her mom a happy mother’s day then saying “MOTHER IS MOTHERING ” which i think you mean it in a totally different context than mothers daypic.twitter.com/1UpZr7Ytno— Taylor Throwbacks (@ThrowbackTaylor) May 15, 2023
Taylor Swift‘s The Eras Tour is preparing to touch down in Philadelphia this weekend, and to celebrate, one radio station is doing a major overhaul to get fans hyped for the pop star’s return. On Thursday (May 11), Audacy announced that 96.5 TDY (WTDY-FM) in Philadelphia is renaming the station to Ninety-Swift-Five T-A-Y starting through […]
With Swifties, she’d dance in a storm in her best dress, fearless. Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour performance in Nashville was delayed more for hours Sunday night (May 7) thanks to severe weather warnings, but that didn’t stop the pop star from eventually getting through her three-hour show underneath a downpour of rain.
Two days later, Swift is thanking her fans at Nissan Stadium for sticking with her. “WELL,” she posted on social media early Tuesday (May 9). “We had our first rain show of The Eras Tour. And it was SO MUCH FUN. The dancers, band, crowd and I all pretty much turned into little kids joyfully jumping in puddles all night.”
“I wanted to thank the crowd again for waiting for the weather to clear,” she continued. “And my amazing crew for keeping the stage, lighting and equipment all dry and working so we could play. That was a late, great night I won’t forget.”
The “Anti-Hero” singer also shared four photos from Sunday’s show, each of them showing a completely drenched Swift looking unbothered by the rain falling around her. The performance didn’t begin until after 10 p.m., hours after the Eras Tour’s usual start time of 7:50. Openers Phoebe Bridgers and Gracie Abrams didn’t get to play at all.
A shelter in place alert was sent out an hour before Abrams was supposed to take the stage, and Swifties were directed to pack into the roof-topped parts of Nissan Stadium, which is an open air venue. It wasn’t until about 9:30 p.m. that fans were allowed to leave shelter and take their seats.
“We’ve been waiting for hours to play for you,” Swift told the crowd after the show was finally underway. “You’ve been waiting for hours. The mutual love between us right now. You waiting and doing that for us is making me feel fantastic, Nashville.”
Sunday’s concert marked the final of three shows at Nissan Stadium, a weekend that unlocked several exciting surprises for Swifties. Not only did the 12-time Grammy winner and Bridgers perform their Red (Taylor’s Version) duet “Nothing New” live for the first time Friday night (May 5), but Swift also announced that her long-awaited Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) re-record will arrive this summer.
“I first made Speak Now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20,” she later wrote on Instagram, revealing that the updated version will include six previously unreleased vault songs. “The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness. I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing … and living to speak about it.”
Even though Nashville Swifties faced a downpour of literal midnight rain over the weekend, they still got to enjoy some of the best surprises to come out of Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour yet. In addition to witnessing the Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) announcement in person — and not to mention the first ever live performance of the pop star’s “Nothing New” duet with Phoebe Bridgers — fans at the trio of Nissan Stadium shows also got to see a pair of very special guests, Aaron Dessner and The 1975’s Matty Healy.
Healy made his appearance during Saturday night’s (May 6) concert, joining Bridgers on stage during her opening set. He was spotted wearing the “Motion Sickness” singer’s signature band gear — a full-body skeleton suit — and played guitar alongside the rest of Bridgers’ backup musicians. The two stars have performed together in the past, and Bridgers made a cameo in The 1975’s “I’m In Love With You” music video in September.
This came one day after the “Somebody Else” singer was seen watching the first Nashville show from a VIP tent on Friday (May 5), something that some fans took as confirmation of recent rumors that Healy and Swift are dating. The speculation started shortly after multiple publications reported in April that the “Anti-Hero” singer split from Joe Alwyn, her boyfriend of six years
But that’s not all. Following delays caused by massive storms in the area, Swifties were treated late Sunday night (May 7) to one of the most coveted surprise songs — “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve,” during which Swift brought out co-writer Aaron Dessner to help perform. “It’s one of our favorite songs we’ve done together,” she said as she introduced the track, the National musician standing at her side. “We hear you guys request to play this song all the time, so we figured we’d wait for a really special moment to play it. And you guys have earned it.”
See clips of Swift’s Nashville Eras Tour surprises below:
City officials have been pulling out all the stops to welcome the superstar.
You always find your way back home. Taylor Swift is homeward bound this weekend for a trio of Eras Tour shows in Nashville, and Music City just welcomed her home with a custom bench in one of her favorite spots.
Mayor John Cooper unveiled the new Swiftie seating area, located in the city’s popular hub, Centennial Park, on Twitter Thursday (May 4) — one day ahead of the pop star’s first of three concerts at Nissan Stadium. “Welcome home, @taylorswift13,” Cooper captioned two photos of a dark wood bench surrounded by bushes. “As of today, you now have the perfect place to read at Centennial Park. Nashville is READY for this weekend.”
“For Taylor Swift,” reads a small green plaque on the top plank of the bench. “A bench for you to read on at Centennial Park. Welcome home, Nashville.” The plaque is, of course, a reference to Swift’s Folklore song “Invisible String,” which opens with the lyric: “Green was the color of the grass where I used to read at Centennial Park.” Toward the end of the loved-up track, the 12-time Grammy winner references the park again: “Gold was the color of the leaves when I showed you around Centennial Park.”
The bench isn’t the only way Nashville is honoring Swift, who moved to Tennessee’s capitol from Pennsylvania as a young teenager to start her music career. Cooper also named this weekend “Taylor Swift Homecoming Weekend,” issuing an official proclamation filled with cheeky references to the singer’s lyrics.
“Long story short, Taylor Swift is a legendary musician, producer, and director,” it reads. “Karma is Taylor Swift coming straight home to Nashville to play three sold-out tour performances at Nissan stadium.”
See the new Taylor Swift bench in Centennial Park below.
Taylor Swift put a bow on her stop in Atlanta on Monday (May 1) following three nights of The Eras Tour.
“WOW Atlanta just… wow,” the superstar wrote alongside an Instagram and Twitter slideshow of photos from the trio of concerts. “The band, dancers, and I can’t stop talking about how insanely magical it was playing for you guys the past 3 nights. You were always bouncing, dancing, screaming every lyric. And you created so many breathtaking moments for us, you know what I mean. Looove yooouuu. Hey Nashville you’re NEXT.”
During the Atlanta shows, Swift surprised the audiences at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with Fearless bonus track “The Other Side of the Door,” the live debut of Evermore deep cut “Coney Island” (sans collaborators The National), Midnights (3 am Edition) track “High Infidelity” (on April 29, no less!), “Gorgeous,” “I Bet You Think About Me” and “How You Get the Girl” as surprise songs in her sets.
Speaking of The National, Swift also made sure to plug her new ditty “The Alcott” with the Bryce Dessner-led band from the stage her first night in the ATL, telling the giddy crowd, “I was lucky enough to be able to write a song with them for their new album, which is called the First Two Pages of Frankenstein. Check it out, stream it, buy it on vinyl. I love them so much. They’ve been so kind to me. So, I’m not gonna sing the song that we have on this new album — it’s called ‘The Alcott’ — check that out, though.”
Earlier Monday, the Country Music Hall of Fame unveiled a new pop-up dedicated to the “Bejeweled” singers many eras, complete with 10 outfits representing each of the studio albums in her storied discography.