Behind the eye-catching music nights, ticket sales and seating arrangements during Taylor Swift’s concerts in Europe made many audiences angry.
Taylor Swift has just finished 3 shows (from June 7-9), within the framework of the Eras Tour, in Edinburgh (Scotland’s capital).
However, behind the eye-catching music nights, the show’s organization was entangled in controversy when many audiences recently complained about inadequacies in ticket sales and seating arrangements.
Specifically, on the Daily Mail, Katrina – a mother harshly criticized the ticket company for 662 pounds (about 843 USD) per ticket to see Taylor Swift with her 15-year-old daughter.
But when she arrived at Murrayfield Stadium, which can accommodate 73,000 people, Katrina discovered that her seat was blocked by the VVIP tent. This is where celebrities and guests of the artist stand during the performance.
Katrina added that people sitting near her also complained about their obstructed view to the Organizing Committee staff. Then they were taken to another location, but not different from the old location.
Katrina said she couldn’t see Taylor Swift even though she spent £662.
It is known that the ticket price of 662 pounds is the most expensive ticket package to enter the Taylor Swift show called “It’s been a long time coming package”.
In addition to admission tickets, Swifties (as Swift’s fans are called) who buy this package also own many special items such as souvenir concert tickets, pins, stickers, postcards, tote bags… The female singer describes this as Unforgettable pre-booked seating tickets.
Another audience member, named Michael, also boldly bought a ticket package priced at 662 pounds and felt unworthy because his position looked directly at a pillar blocking the stage.
“I had a great time, but I could barely see Taylor. VIP seats but limited visibility, what does that mean? Can anyone explain? I spent a lot of money to have a limited vision”, Michael was frustrated.
Audiences in Europe complained about the ticket sales and organization of Taylor Swift’s show.
Not only in the organizing stage, Ticketmaster’s ticket selling stage also encountered controversy when ticket price gouging and price gouging occurred.
Specifically, tickets to Taylor’s UK shows (which took place in April) appeared on platforms like Stubhub and viagogo within minutes of officially going on sale. The listed price shocked many people.
Tickets with a face value of 170 pounds (216 USD) were raised to nearly 3,000 pounds (3,818 USD).
Even some tickets to Wembley Stadium in London (UK) cost more than 9,800 pounds (12,474 USD) even though they are not VIP class.
Welsh MP Cardiff Brennan described his feelings after seeing the prices for Taylor Swift show tickets on resale sites as “appalling”.
According to him, the black market was active within just an hour of admission tickets to the concert at Principality Stadium going on sale. What’s more shocking is that the normal class seat costs 3,352 pounds (4,267 USD).
Not only that, fraud is also a painful problem. British Lloyds Bank even warned that since July 2023, at least 3,000 individuals have been tricked into buying fake tickets, resulting in losses of more than 1 million pounds (1.24 million USD). .
On average, each victim was scammed out of 332 pounds (413 USD), and in some cases, the amount of money scammed was more than 1,000 pounds (1,243 USD). Scammers often prey on the psychology of Swifties (Taylor Swift fans) when selling discounted tickets or at “sold out” shows at higher prices.
Not only in the UK, many of Swift’s audiences in Singapore (which took place in March) and many countries around the world are also in the same situation.