Beatlemania step aside, because the hype surrounding Taylor Swift’s imminent arrival in Australia is taking things to a whole new level.
Nine’s Entertainment Editor Richard Wilkins admits the Swiftie fanaticism ahead of the Eras Tour hitting our shores is like nothing he’s ever seen before.
“I think this is next level by any standards. She is clearly the hottest artist on the planet and just keeps getting hotter and hotter and hotter,” he tells 9Honey Celebrity exclusively.
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“Winning the most Albums of the Year at the Grammys, she was recently named Time’s Person of the Year, she’s got the hottest romance on the planet. It just makes her bigger and bigger.”
Swift is set to kick off her seven Australian dates in Melbourne, where she’ll perform to a sold-out MCG for three nights before heading to Sydney for four more shows.
Wilkinson is expecting Aussie fans to go all-out for the gigs, where many attendees will be decked out in custom Eras-inspired outfits.
“I’ve seen some big tours of Australia, I remember when New Kids On The Block toured back in the day [and] the Beatles obviously had huge record crowds turning out in Adelaide and everywhere else,” Wilkinson says.
“The One Direction thing was pretty massive at the time … but nothing compares to Taylor Swift.”
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Tickets to the Australian dates for her Eras Tour sold out in a matter of minutes each time new batches dropped and fans were paying up to $1249.90 for VIP tickets.
More than four million Aussie and international fans sat in Ticketek’s virtual lobby for hours, desperately trying to get tickets.
Less than half that number got one.
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“When the concert tickets went on sale, I did live reports from our newsroom where hardened journalists were bidding for tickets,” Wilkinson says of the frenzy. “The nation sort of stopped. It’s next level.”
Swift did face some backlash over ticket pricing, with critics claiming tickets were too expensive.
The cheapest seats went for less than $80, while the most expensive tickets – one of the exclusive VIP packages – cost fans almost $1250.
That VIP package boasted an A Reserve Floor Ticket, set of Eras Tour prints, a tote bag, pin, sticker and postcard set, as well as a VIP lanyard and laminate.
It’s less than what some fans expected from such a pricey package.
“I’ve hosted a lot of those things over the years for concerts with One Direction, Beyonce,” Wilkinson explains.
“Some of them have a party before the concert, a VIP event where you can go along and not necessarily meet the artists, but certainly have a private area where you can have a drink and get excited together.”
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However, he doesn’t believe Swift or her team deserve backlash over ticket prices.
“It’s supply and demand, in commercial terms. Artists, the management, the promoters and everybody are in the job of making money,” he says.
“And if people are going to pay that for it, then they’ll charge accordingly … and it seems that the fans were happy to purchase [tickets] at any price point.”
Wilkinson also commends Ticketek for the way it handled the many ticket rollouts and insane deluge of fans that hit the site each time a new batch went on sale.
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The ticketing company made the controversial choice to feed customers into the site to buy tickets via a ballot system rather than a traditional queue, which left some fans frustrated.
But the goal was to make the process as fair as possible, and Wilkinson is adamant that it was the right call.
“When demand outweighs supply to that degree, that’s the only fair way to do it,” he says.
“It’s a monumental challenge for them to be managing those websites when the deluge hits. I know that there’s the odd glitch along the way, but they seem to have done an extremely good job.”