Taylor Swift “bejewels” the stage

Despite issues with fans purchasing tickets for her Eras Tour, Taylor Swift has set new records.

On opening night, she broke the record for the most attended female concert in the U.S. with over 69,000 attendees, according to iHeartRadio. This record was previously held by Madonna at 63,000 attendees.

The 52-date U.S. tour encompasses the singer’s 10 albums. Taylor jumps across many genres such as country, pop and folk while performing for over three hours. The first dates of the tour were held in Glendale, Arizona, at State Farm Stadium on March 17 and 18.

The city of Glendale anticipated her arrival by renaming their city to “Swift City” for both nights. To make “Swift City” even more about the singer, concert attendee and senior Coastal Carolina University student Brittney Plusnick said there were even Swift-themed traffic signs on the way to the venue. One read, “Cut off? Don’t get bad blood, shake it off.”

As well as setting new records for the industry, the Eras Tour also brought to light ongoing issues with the company, Ticketmaster. According to the company, fans entered for the chance to get a presale code for first access to tickets. 3.5 billion total system requests happened the day of presale, causing many to have to wait
in the queue for hours or to get kicked off the website completely.

Plusnick and junior Kayleigh Howard said they struggled to purchase tickets back in November of 2022. They both said that their friends who purchased their tickets waited on Ticketmaster’s website for over five hours.

“I was just lucky to even have tickets, no matter where they were,” Howard said.

Despite struggles buying tickets, Howard said she thinks Swift manages her great following through close interactions with fans. According to Howard, she gives the fans what they want. They asked her to perform tracks from her ‘vault’ including the 10-minute version of her song “All Too Well.”

“She continuously finds ways to stay connected to her fans,” she said.

Although all tickets for the tour are sold out, resale tickets for certain dates are still available on websites like StubHub, Seat Geek, and Vivid Seats. The pricesfor these tickets range from $400 to over $5,000.

The closest tour dates near Conway, South Carolina, are her shows in Atlanta, Georgia. There are three dates in this city on April 28, 29 and 30. From Coastal, Atlanta is about a 5 ½-hour drive.