When Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour was announced in 2022, I thought nothing of it. I had attended her 1989 and Reputation tours, and although I didn’t plan on going this time around, if my mind changed I didn’t expect getting tickets to be a problem, as she was playing multiple nights at stadiums that sat 65,000+ people. Boy, was I wrong about that one.

Securing Eras Tour tickets became a challenge more difficult than your hardest exam. Fans waited for hours on end simply to enter the presale, and when they did get in, tickets were either gone or unimaginably expensive. Bots had swarmed Ticketmaster and acquired a majority of the tickets, ready to sell them for twice their value. 

Fans wanted to see Taylor, so they quickly did whatever it took to secure tickets, even if that meant buying tickets from random websites and sketchy resellers, costing upwards of $1,000. 

Because of how difficult it was to get tickets, people expected every seat to be filled. Instead, many seats were left deserted as they were purchased by bots and were never able to be resold. So even though the fans who waited for hours weren’t ever able to get tickets and were under the impression that the stadiums were completely sold out, some seats were available, just completely inaccessible. This was completely unfair to the fans who waited for hours to purchase tickets.

After this fiasco, one may think that ticket-selling companies would see this issue and make a change, but instead, the opposite was done. Presale codes, waiting for hours on crashing websites, and bots spam-buying tickets have become the new norm. Prices are initially listed as somewhat affordable, but when all is said and done, and fees and taxes on the prices are added, tickets cost as much as double the original price.

For example, in 2015, my dad and I drove to Quicken Loans Arena the day of Taylor’s 1989 tour, bought fairly inexpensive tickets there, walked in and enjoyed the show. Now, to see newcomer Olivia Rodrigo, the cheapest ticket available for her show in an arena seating 20,000 is $381 before fees, with an obstructed view. To sit on the lawn at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls for Noah Kahan’s concert later this year, the cheapest available ticket is $317 before fees. 

Buying concert tickets can no longer be spontaneous. Unless you have days to wait in virtual lines, unlimited emails to sign up with, or thousands of dollars, getting anywhere near tickets for popular artists is nearly impossible. 

My advice to break this trend? Don’t fall for it. No matter how excited you may be to see your favorite artist in concert, think about if the price matches the ticket, and who or what site the tickets are coming from. If we continue to purchase tickets at these insane prices, websites and resellers will continue to hike them up. 

Don’t forget to support local artists at small venues as well. Tickets are usually available at the door, and buying tickets through scalpers or shoddy websites loaded with fees isn’t necessary. 

I hope this trend comes to an end soon, as it’s simply unfair to the fans who only want the chance to see their favorite artists in concert.

Ava Branz is an opinion writer. Contact her at [email protected].