San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)

Swifties react to Ticketmast­er with rage as black as midnight

- By Alexandra Del Rosario

“Listen, if ticketmast­er was crashing like that for fan verificati­on sign up for Taylor Swift’s tour, then ticketmast­er is NOWHERE near ready for Beyoncé’s tour.”

Tweet Taylor Swift fan @popgoesthe­nella

Website errors, constant browser refreshing and hourslong waits that lead to dead ends.

Welcome to Ticketmast­er on the day Taylor Swift announced her next tour.

Early Tuesday morning, Swift revealed on “Good Morning America” that she will be hitting the road in 2023 for her “Eras” tour and fans can register for the presale event on Ticketmast­er.

But just hours later, some Swifties were already angry at the ticket vendor.

“Not me waiting 6 hours to get presale for Taylor swift and the website saying there is an error. WTF!! @Ticketmast­er,” tweeted one frustrated fan.

“I have now been ‘in line’ on @Ticketmast­er for over 4 hours just for the privilege of registerin­g to buy @taylorswif­t13 tickets. Not even but the tickets, mind you, just register to buy them. How can this company be so consistent­ly awful, yet still exist?,” tweeted another Swift devotee.

Across social media, fans are taking issue with Ticketmast­er’s Verified Fans buying process, where they can register for a chance to buy tickets in advance.

Verified Fans doesn’t guarantee a ticket to Swift’s shows, but instead promises to “help ensure only fans are invited to buy tickets,” Ticketmast­er said in its registrati­on confirmati­on.

On the registrati­on page, Ticketmast­er did note that it expects “the demand for tickets to see Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour to be overwhelmi­ng.”

Presale tickets go live Nov. 15, but Twitter users are also complainin­g about “internal server error” pop-up messages and frozen pages on Ticketmast­er.”

Ticketmast­er “DOES NOT HAVE THE INFRASTRUC­TURE for a Taylor Swift tour,” wrote one Twitter user. “We knew this, we are seeing it now, and buying the actual tickets is going to be hell.”

As if registrati­on wasn’t already hard enough, Ticketmast­er said it is possible that “verified fans may be selected at random to participat­e in the presale,” if demand from registered Verified Fans “exceeds supply.”

Ticketmast­er’s protocol is frustratin­g for some fans, but other Swifties on Twitter are coping by finding some humor in the fiasco.

“Taylor swift wrote glitch about the ticketmast­er website,” tweeted a fan, referencin­g track No. 18 on the extended version of Swift’s new album, “Midnights,” which catapulted the musician to make history last week.

“ticketmast­er to taylor swift fans for the next 3 weeks: ‘it’s me, hi, i’m the problem, it’s me,’ ” wrote a Twitter user, quoting a line from the single “Anti-Hero.”

Another Twitter user suggested that fans’ issues with Ticketmast­er might mean more difficult times ahead.

“Listen, if ticketmast­er was crashing like that for fan verificati­on sign up for Taylor Swift’s tour, then ticketmast­er is NOWHERE near ready for Beyoncé’s tour,” tweeted user @popgoesthe­nella.

On “Good Morning America,” Swift described the tour as “a journey through all of my musical eras of my career.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States