Record demand for Taylor Swift’s Australia dates

Taylor Swift has smashed yet another record after more than 4 million users attempted to buy pre-sale tickets for her Sydney and Melbourne concerts.

The second round of tickets for the popstar’s three Sydney shows at Accor Arena went live today (28 June) at 10 am local time. By 1.43 pm, all general Frontier presale tickets had sold out.

More than 800,000 fans had been waiting in the Ticketek online lounge ahead of the Eras presale.

The presale for Swift’s two Melbourne shows began at 2 pm, with general tickets selling out by 4.17 pm.

Capacity for her three Sydney shows is around 250,000, while her two Melbourne shows will fit 200,000 fans.

Ticketek said the release of the second batch went smoothly, and that it “managed to repel more than half a billion bot attempts,” which largely came from ticket scalpers.

Swift fans were in a frenzy earlier this week when the American Express ticket site crashed due to high demand during the Sydney VIP presale. Though the site resolved the issue before the sale ended, tickets soon sold out.

The Victorian government designated the concerts as “major events,” triggering anti-scalping provisions in state legislation

The first presale on Monday was available to American Express cardholders looking to buy VIP packages in advance. These tickets cost between AU$349.90 (NZ$380) and AU$1249.90.

The second presale was available for Frontier Touring members, with ticket prices ranging from AU$79.90 to AU$379.90, though Ticketek notes that all ticket prices are “subject to change at any time without notice”.

Australian and Kiwi fans will have another chance to buy tickets for Swift’s Sydney shows via Ticketek from 10 am Friday, while Melbourne fans will have access from 2 pm. Ticketek could not confirm how many tickets would be available during Friday’s general sale.

The New South Wales and Victorian governments moved to crack down on scalping on Tuesday (27 June) after resale prices in excess of $3,000 were listed.

The Victorian government designated the concerts as “major events,” triggering anti-scalping provisions in state legislation.

The NSW government’s consumer affairs office has confirmed it is investigating ticket listings on the reselling platform Viagogo. The state’s laws restrict ticket resales to a maximum of 110% of the value of the original ticket price.

Swift will perform at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 16 and 17 February and at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on 23, 24 and 25 February. The tour will be her first appearance down under since 2018. At press time, she has not announced any dates in New Zealand.

Elsewhere, Swift today added a fifth stop at London’s Wembley Stadium to her Eras tour.

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