Hours spent refreshing Ticketmaster and SeatGeek has been the story for thousands of Taylor Swift fans across the country, waiting to get tickets for her upcoming tour. Due to COVID-19, Swift hasn’t toured since her 2017-2018 Reputation tour 5 years ago.

While the general sale was supposed to begin Friday, the success of presale has led to high demand and insufficient supply of tickets. Many fans tried to get tickets through pre-sale on Nov. 15 and Nov. 16.

“So I’ve done two presales. I did the verified fan presale, which is when you sign up for Ticketmaster Verified fan program and then they send you a link and an access code if you get selected,” senior Sherry Hu said. “So I got that. And then  I’m doing Capital One presale, which is for a Capital One free card cardholders so that you have you can have like two chances to get like tickets before a general sale.”

For some, such as journalism adviser Brian Higgins, the presale process was relatively smooth.

“I got lucky. I had been kind of monitoring it on my phone with no luck, but then when I opened up my laptop, the box to fill in the access code was there,” Higgins said. “I put in my code, I got taken to the option to buy tickets and it went really relatively easy for me, and I got pretty good seats, but I know it was just random luck that things worked out well for me.”

Others have been able to purchase tickets, but didn’t get  their pick of seats.

“I did the verified fan pre-sale through Ticketmaster,” math teacher Julia Ridgway said. “Got the pre-sale code, actually got picked with the lottery. Both me and my sister did. We attempted to get tickets yesterday. It took all day until like 6:30 p.m. and then we got terrible tickets that were available.”

Although Ridgway was able to get tickets, many others spent hours in line with no tickets to show for it.

“The other day [my wife and friend] put in for that whole pre-sale thing, got their pre-sale code, and then they were in this queue all day,” science teacher Richard Sabatier said. “There’s like a little red line moving to be like you’re getting closer and closer, getting to buy your tickets and then like get crashed on them and they weren’t able to get their tickets and that was sad.”

Although Taylor Swift broke records by selling over 2 million tickets in one day, many fans were unable to secure tickets to see the tour during presale due to malfunctions with Ticketmaster.

“It’s been really stressful, mainly because there’s just been a lack of communication between Taylor’s team, the fans, Ticketmaster, an ticket selling platforms,” Hu said. “Also like the platforms keep crashing. The other day when I was in verified fan presale, I made my way to number one the queue and then when I was trying to get tickets, it literally kicked me out again and I had to start from like 20,000 people.”

For Hu, the process to purchase tickets this year has changed since the last time Swift toured.

“It was so much easier,” she said. “I didn’t do pre-sale back then, but general sale was like really easy to get and they were like way cheaper. It was a lot less stress and I just think that it was a lot easier to get tickets back then than it is now.”

There are many contributing factors to the changes in the ticket purchase process according to Sabatier.

“I think that the thing to remember is like, obviously Taylor Swift is Taylor Swift,” he said. “The whole concert industry like it’s a monopoly by Ticketmaster, right? [Taylor’s] like huge right now, more so than usual. So just kind of shows clearly your business model isn’t working for the consumer because a lot of people were trying all day to get it and didn’t get it.”

Despite problems with ticket purchasing, many Redhawks are still searching for tickets to be able to see Taylor. For Hu, she’s looking at the opportunity to end her senior year off on a high note.

“So personally, I really love Taylor Swift just because like I love her music and I’ve really like grown up with her music throughout the years,” Hu said. “And so I think part of her what this concert appeal is, is that not only is she performing like midnight, she’s also performing every single like album. This is also like, it’s my like last year of high school. I feel like I deserve something good for myself.”

Others are looking forward to seeing Taylor perform past hits live.

“I haven’t really liked the past few albums, but since she said it’s the eras of Taylor Swift, we want to see all of Taylor, especially the old Taylor,” Ridgway said. “She does a great presentation of like every song and really puts a lot of effort into her sets and all the pyrotechnics and fire and it’s just really entertaining.”

Although most Swift ticket seekers are trying to purchase tickets for themselves, Higgins was doing it for his daughter.

“I’m not going because it’s Taylor Swift,” Higgins said. “I’m going because my daughter wants to see Taylor Swift, and it’s on her Christmas list. She still believes in Christmas magic, and so this present will probably be from that jolly old guy from the North Pole. And being there and seeing her face when she sees Taylor Swift for the first time will be one of the best moments of my life.”

This story was originally published on Wingspan on November 17, 2022.