Scalpers Warned As Taylor Swift Australian Tour Tickets Go On Sale

Today’s the day: presale tickets for the five Australian shows on Taylor Swift’s Eras tour have gone live in Sydney (Eora) and are hours away from being available for Swifties in Melbourne (Naarm). But if you’re thinking of scalping them to make a quick buck, think again. 

ICYMI, Swift announced five shows for local Swifties last week, hitting Melbourne (Naarm) and Sydney (Eora) next February – she’ll play two dates at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and three at Sydney’s Accor Stadium. 

Aside from just being a really shitty thing to do in general, scalping tickets to the Eras tour will be especially difficult. As presale tickets went on sale this morning (June 28), Frontier Touring warned buyers that special anti-scalping measures have been enacted for the shows. 

Victorian premier Dan Andrews has declared the local stops on Swift’s tour to be a Major Event, meaning it’ll be protected by laws prohibiting resales above market value. Promotor-led restrictions on ticket purchases have also been put in place for Sydney’s shows – prospective concertgoers are only allowed to buy up to four tickets each, and the tickets themselves will only be sent out a few days before the shows themselves.

As noted in a guide Frontier posted on social media, reselling and/or advertising the resale of a ticket for more than 10 percent above its face value is prohibited. 

A spokesperson for Ticketek confirmed to TheMusic yesterday (June 27) that the company has prepared for today’s influx of ticket-hunting Swifties, after the American Express website crashed during its presale earlier in the week. 

For more info on the Australian leg of the Eras tour, head here. You can also see here for both the general ticket sale (starting this coming Friday, July 30) and ongoing Frontier presale. 

Following the news that Swift would only visit Melbourne and Sydney on the Eras tour, fans in cities outside those areas took to social media to share their outrage. Politicians joined them, with Parliamentary figures in Perth (Boorloo), Brisbane (Meanjin) and Adelaide (Kaurna) all hitting out at Swift for dodging their venues.

Earlier this week, though, we got a glimmer of hope that Swift might announce further shows Down Under: she’s just added three new dates in Singapore, sparking wishes that she might do the same for her fans in Australia.

The local leg of Swift’s Eras tour will mark her first time Down Under since 2018, when she hit four cities – Perth and Brisbane alongside Melbourne and Sydney – in support of her Reputation album. She’s since released four original studio albums (Lover in 2019, Folklore and Evermore in 2020, and Midnights in 2022) and two Taylor’s Version remakes of previous efforts (Fearless and Red, both in 2021).

A third Taylor’s Version remake album – a new take on her 2010 LP Speak Now – will be released on July 7 via Republic, as revealed at one of the Nashville dates of the Eras tour. Earlier this month, Swift shared the album’s full tracklist, sporting guest spots from Fall Out Boy and Paramore’s Hayley Williams. That news came shortly after Swift was named the second richest woman in music, with a net worth of $740 million.

Also this month, the Eras tour was hyped up by none other than Gwen Stacy (RIP) herself, Emma Stone. In a chat with Vanity Fair, the Hollywood heavyweight raved about her time at the opening date of Swift’s tour in Arizona: “The concert was pretty amazing,” she said. “I was lucky ’cause we’ve been friends for a really long time. I’ve known her since we were 17 and 18, so she hooked me up, which was very nice ’cause I know those tickets are impossible to get.

“She’s a wonderful friend. She blows my mind. I mean, the amount of sheer stamina to do three and a half hours and perform 44 songs and to maintain the extreme energy of the audience – I’ve never seen anything like it.”

TAYLOR SWIFT
‘ERAS’ 2024 AUSTRALIAN TOUR
with special guest SABRINA CARPENTER

Friday February 16 – Naarm/Melbourne, Melbourne Cricket Ground
Saturday February 17 – Naarm/Melbourne, Melbourne Cricket Ground
Friday February 23 – Gadigal/Sydney, Accor Stadium
Saturday February 24 – Gadigal/Sydney, Accor Stadium
Sunday February 25 – Gadigal/Sydney, Accor Stadium

Tickets: frontiertouring.com