Tay-Tay’s just tae-tae big to ignore Stoney alternative

Hype: 14 million people were vying for 625,000 tickets on pop billionaire’s Eras Tour – it’s worse than the great Hatchimals hysteria of Christmas 2016

relatively recent step from being a highly successful artist to one of the wealthiest and most influential people on the planet.

And it’s the way in which the ticket sales for The Eras Tour were managed.

It was a stroke of marketing genius based on the familiar economic principles of supply and demand.

It’s a world tour with 152 dates over 22 months on five continents at the largest stadiums on the planet.

Anyone who really wanted to see her should have been able to, but then something happened.

Tickets became so prized that absolutely everyone thought they needed one, even if all they’d ever done is sing along in the car to Shake It Off.

There were pre-sale registrations, lotteries, virtual queues and website crashes. At one point Ticketmaster said 14 million users were trying to buy 625,000 tickets.

The Eras Tour became so desirable, exclusive and elusive that everybody wanted in.

It’s one of the greatest marketing triumphs in musical history, but try explaining that to a tweenager who is still planning their outfit to a concert they have almost zero chance of attending.

Cruel Summer is a great song but Jumpin’ Jack Flash is a better one and my own musical loyalties lie firmly with The Stones, Bowie, Blondie and a dozen other artists of that era.

Nevertheless, Swift has got me in such a tizzy I’ve discarded my own taste and common sense to try just about anything for a ticket and as we now know, I’m not alone.

There has been some local benefit in all of this. The Taylor Swift Tribute by Xenna at Stonehaven Town Hall is close to being sold out.

I hope Xenna is ready for what’s about to hit her because she’ll be the closest most of us will ever get to seeing Tay-Tay and excitement is running high. I wouldn’t be surprised if some parents told their very young kids that Xenna is the real thing and I wouldn’t blame them. I strongly advise Xenna to get some merch of her own to sell at the gig, because if parents will pay £13 for a bucket of branded popcorn at The Eras Tour movie, they’ll buy anything.

I tried Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam – even Miami

CRUEL SUMMER: Fans are having to live with the reality Taylor Swift is beyond their reach – and pocket – on her billion-dollar Eras Tour.