Taylor Swift and the war for a ticket: "I have asked my grandmother to put candles and to pray everything she knows"

May 30, 2024. There are 10 months to go and Sandra Pérez already has a plan B in case she doesn’t get tickets to see Taylor Swift at the renovated Santiago Bernabéu. “I’d rather not have to use it, but you never know,” he says. The 22-year-old works for the catering company that supplies the stadium during the season of games and shows and, “very badly”, contemplates the possibility of enjoying the concert dressed as a waitress if she cannot do it from the track or the stands . “Even if I got tickets to another country, I have to see it in Madrid too. It can’t be that I’m in the same city as her and I don’t see her,” she insists.

After months promising that the dates of the Eras Tour would arrive “soon”, on June 21 Taylor Swift published the poster with all the concerts, including a single date in Spain. Specifically, in the renovated stadium Santiago Bernabeu. At six in the evening madness broke out. “I’ve been mentally preparing to see Taylor since November of last year. All this time I’ve been planning it with my group of friends, calculating ticket prices, watching videos and making diagrams to know from which areas of the stadiums the stage can be seen best or you can listen to the concert from outside”, explains Pérez.

The purchase process is both seemingly simple and a real headache. To access ticket sales and avoid the collapse of the page due to the expected demand, the singer’s followers had three days to sign up for Ticketmaster with your personal data. From there the countdown began. On July 5th, those lucky enough to have been touched by Ticketmaster’s wand were notified with a message: they would receive the access code one day before tickets go on sale on Thursday, July 13th. Those who were not selected became part of a waiting list with thousands of people. “I upload a video every day to TikTok putting a candle to manifest tickets” comments Carmen Losa, laughing. “I have also asked my grandmother to put candles and to say everything she knows, to see if I at least receive the code”.

In just two hours they were accounted for in Spain more than a million records for a capacity that does not reach 70,000 seats: nothing guarantees fans that they will get them, but hope is the only flame that does not go out. “Since Taylor posted the tweet, I haven’t stopped thinking about ways to get codes,” Perez says. “I asked people to register for me on Instagram and in my WhatsApp groups. I have done it with all the people in my family, taking their emails and their mobile numbers. If there are 30 or 40 more registrations, the possibilities increase”.

Playing against the low odds is the purpose of the various techniques that are emerging: a whole guide designed by and for fans in order to beat the so-called “Battle of Ticketmaster” and make sure to be present on the most anticipated tour of 2024. Most of Swift’s faithful have completed the registration on the sales platforms of at least five countries to qualify for the largest number of concerts. This is the case of Sandra and Carmen, who detail their “seamless” plan: “I have registered in the main cities of all the countries through which the tour passes, I am not missing any. If I get any code, I would already fight for get tickets for that country. We go objective after objective”, says Pérez.