Why Taylor Swift Isn’t Playing Brisbane, Adelaide & Perth

Taylor Swift is heading to Australia in February 2024, playing three shows at Melbourne’s MCG (with the additional and final dates announced on Thursday) and four at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.

That’s great news for fans living in those two cities, but for Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth fans, it means either forking out thousands of dollars for flights and accommodation or missing out.

Fans have been desperately hoping for the show to head their way, but according to a source close to Taylor Swift, the directive to only bring the ginormous Eras tour to just two centres might have come directly from her.

According to an insider speaking to The West Australian, there wasn’t enough time for Swift and her crew to take the show around the entire country. “With big tours like this, the directive would come from the artist,” the source said.

“Taylor would have said, ‘I only have time to do two cities. I don't have time to go around the country’. It's a directive that comes from the artist.”

Swift’s Eras tour skipping a majority of the country has even attracted the attention of politicians, with Steven Miles (QLD’s Deputy Premier) hitting out at the Love Story singer for snubbing Brisbane.

Miles quoted an impressive eight Swift tracks in a social media post that read: “Brisbane’s been left with Sweet Nothing, she Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve come to Queensland. It Hits Different that we’ve missed out, especially with the news breaking on Maroon day. I’m seeing Red; I’d be Mr Perfectly Fine if Taylor booked shows here.

“Long Story Short, a new arena at Roma Street and a bigger, better Gabba will Mean we can attract more of the biggest artists like Taylor Swift. That would leave Queenslanders as the Lucky Ones.”

At one point, Brisbane shows were indeed planned for the Eras tour. Harvey Lister (chairman of ASM Global Asia Pacific, the company that owns Suncorp Stadium in the city) recently said in an interview on ABC Radio that Swift’s team was “definitely holding dates” at Suncorp but had to cut them from the itinerary after “Australia got sandwiched” when “dates around the world fell into place”.

He added: “The date period for Australia, which initially was going to be longer, when the tour was also coming to Brisbane, it got sandwiched between other dates in other countries, and effectively Australia was between Japan and Singapore. We’re normally just holding some dates around that and pencilling them out just in case there’s a chance to roll into an additional one.

“There’s no doubt there’s an enormous, enormous interest from Swifties right across the country, and it’s just unfortunate. Brisbane doesn’t miss out on stuff like this very often at all – this is just one of those occasions.”

Lister noted that “there just wasn’t time [for Swift] to keep leapfrogging from city to city”, so her bookers instead opted to have her “play in Sydney and Melbourne where the stadiums can take about 100,000 [attendees]”. He further explained: “She comes through Japan, plays Australia, goes out through Singapore and then straight back to Europe.”

The Australian dates of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour will kick off on 16 February 2024 in Melbourne and 23 February 2024 in Sydney with special guest artist, Sabrina Carpenter.