NEW YORK (AP) – They were supposed to be birthday presents. They were supposed to be Christmas presents. It was supposed to be the ultimate treat for young Taylor Swift fans.
Instead, for many parents, the hours-long Ticketmaster debacle they endured Tuesday trying to get concert seats left them empty-handed and frustrated — and their kids disappointed.
“I was trying to buy tickets so my best friend and I could take our pre-teens to their first concert and we literally waited all day to finally get in to buy tickets and there wasn’t a single ticket left,” Micah Woods, who lives near Little Rock, Arkansas, said Wednesday.
Others fighting on computers eventually scored, some after being kicked multiple times from the online queue or plagued with error messages.
“I was pretty worn out afterwards. Just his stress,” said Natasha Mitchner in Dayton, Ohio. “But it’s worth it. He puts on a good show.”
After waiting in line for nearly six hours, Mitchner frantically bagged tickets for herself and her two daughters, ages 17 and 20. She started for a bonus fourth ticket to be used by her husband or a friend of the children. It will be the fourth time the Swiftie family has seen her live.
“The 20-year-old told me even if you don’t get them, I still love you,” Mitchner said with a laugh. “It’s something for us to do together. I would have been upset. I just tried to stay calm.”
Emails to Ticketmaster representatives were not immediately returned Wednesday. In a tweet on Tuesday, the company called the demand “historically unprecedented” with millions of people trying to buy.
Coming off one of the biggest albums of her career, Swift announced earlier this month that she would be embarking on a new US stadium tour starting next year, with international dates to follow. Fans who received a special code after registering had exclusive access to buy tickets on Wednesday, ahead of the Friday sales for the rest of the public.
The 52-date Eras tour kicks off on March 17th in Glendale, Arizona and wraps up with five shows in Los Angeles ending on August 9th. It’s Swift’s first tour since 2018.
“It was sad. It was so sad,” said Vivica Williams in Clarksville, Maryland.
She lost the effort for her 14-year-old daughter and a friend. The girls were in gym class when the tickets went out, so mom took over. The Philadelphia show would be a birthday present.
“They were so excited. I tried to get it up and I tried to get it up. It ranks and sticks and sticks and sticks. And so I finally, finally get in line, and I’m like yeah! Then, oh, there’s over 2,000 people ahead of you in line,” Williams said.
She was kicked out of the line four or five times after logging on at about 9:30 a.m., which was 30 minutes before the sale.
“I never got past the 2,000-plus people in line. So finally around 2:30 I gave up. I’m like, forget it, I’m a grown man. I can’t sit here all day with Taylor Swift on my phone,” Williams said. “I complained to my daughter all the time. Like, this is for the birds.”
With another chance at tickets on Friday, he has already informed the youngsters: “You now, girls.”
And with advance tickets being purchased in the middle of a school day, Williams wasn’t the only parent stuck with the job.
Jonathan Hickman in Knoxville, Tennessee, managed to snag a pair of tickets for his 15-year-old daughter after doing what his wife, Katie Allison, described as “some crazy Ticketmaster bashing” all day.
The tickets, to a show in Nashville, were supposed to be a Christmas present — and their daughter’s first concert without her parents — but they went ahead and told her now.
“If you’ve ever wondered what teenage girls screaming with incredible enthusiasm for The Beatles sounded like, I can now describe the sound to you with what I’m sure is pretty accurate,” Alison wrote on Facebook. “We’re still not sure how Jon did this. We’re kind of in shock. But boy is it fun to see your daughter SO excited about music.”
