Inside the desperate hunt for Taylor Swift tickets
Taylor Swift has returned to London as she performs the final European gigs of her sellout Eras tour, prompting a scramble to get hold of last-minute tickets.
Swift is playing five concerts at Wembley Stadium, the first happening on Thursday night with a special appearance from Ed Sheeran for a medley of their collaborations.
It is expected that 450,000 Taylor Swift fans or ‘Swifties’ will have attended these London concerts by the time they come to an end on Tuesday (20 August).
This is the singer’s second trip to London this summer, after her three consecutive nights in Wembley this June.
Swift’s immense popularity means that the vast majority of tickets for this spell of concerts have already been snapped up, and others are being sold for thousands of pounds on secondary ticketing websites.
One ticket for the final show on Tuesday was on sale for £4,728, the Evening Standard reported yesterday.
It may therefore seem nigh on impossible get tickets, but fans shouldn’t give up hope yet, as tips and explainers on how to get to Wembley have abounded on social media in recent days.
Check Ticketmaster
Videos have been shared on TikTok telling Taylor Swift fans that Ticketmaster has released more tickets for the latest Wembley dates for those who have a code allowing last-minute access.
Codes have been sent out over the past few days so if you signed up for one you might have had one through recently.
Ticketmaster says that it is not possible to transfer codes to other people because they are linked to a particular account.
Ticketmaster also has some resale tickets available, which you can find here.
Resale ticket sites
Websites such as Viagogo and Vivid Seats offer resale tickets obtained from other fans, although they may be more expensive than the initial face value. Viagogo tickets appear to start from around £350, while on Vivid Seats they are around £450.
It should also be noted that many event promoters do not allow for ticket resales after the initial purchase and they can be voided if found to be second-hand, so if you are buying through a resale site you should double check the ticket terms at the original point of sale, which might be Ticketmaster or Live Nation, for example.
However, Viagogo has said that it “is a regulated marketplace where fans have the guarantee.”
Watch out for scams
Ticketmaster recommends that fans only obtain tickets from official sources and to be wary of buying from other members of the public on social media, especially if they are offering printed tickets.
This is because scammers sometimes distribute copies of the same ticket to several different people.
If you are going to buy from someone you have found on a social media platform, take a careful look at their profile. If the account is lacking in the usual details such as photos, friends/followers and posts, it may have been set up by a scammer.
If you are using X, you should also search their account name to check that other people are not complaining about them.
You should also ask the person to send over their original booking confirmation email, and make sure you have an idea about what it should look like. It’s best for them to forward it by email so you can check that the original sender address is from a real ticketing platform.
You can also ask for a screen recording of the person locating the tickets in the Ticketmaster app if relevant.
If you decide to proceed, you should pay using PayPal’s Goods and Services feature, so you are covered by its purchase protection.
Remember that if someone else seeks you out offering tickets, or if they’re pushy with you, they are probably not a legitimate seller.