UOB pre-sale tickets for Taylor Swift sell out within 3 hours; over 1 million queue numbers issued (2024)

SINGAPORE – Pre-sale tickets for Taylor Swift concert sold out within three hours, with more than a million virtual queue numbers being issued on Wednesday.

The organiser, AEG Presents Asia, announced on Twitter at around 3pm that the UOB Cardmembers pre-sale tickets for all six nights – March 2 to 4 and 7 to 9, 2024 – had been sold out.

It added that fans who received an access code from ticketing platform Ticketmaster can still buy tickets during the general sale on Friday at noon.

Separately, UOB cardmembers will also be able to purchase tickets from a reserved sale on Friday. Those purchasing tickets from this sale can access it through a separate link that will be found on UOB’s social media pages.

Wednesday’s pre-sales, open only to the bank’s cardmembers, kicked off at noon for tickets to the American pop star’s Eras Tour in Singapore in March 2024.

By 12.10pm, customers were already receiving queue numbers in the one-million range.

When ticket sales opened at noon, fans on the Ticketmaster website were automatically issued a random queue number.

When it came to their turn to purchase tickets, they were directed to a page to select concert dates and ticket categories before making payment.

One successful fan, Ms Elle Cheng, told The Straits Times that she managed to get in after waiting for 10 minutes.

“I was stressed, but with my queue number of 1,583, I felt quite hopeful. I knew that I just needed to be quick and not mess up during the ticket booking process,” said the 23-year-old freelance performer.

Ms Cheng, who bought two tickets at $168 each, said she grew up listening to Swift and was keen to go for the concert as it was a “rare one to come by”.

Another fan who scored tickets was Ms Rachel Chan, who managed to buy four $168 tickets after waiting close to an hour. She had a queue number of 20,514.

“I was shaking so hard because I failed to get tickets for Coldplay, and I imagined it would be so much harder to get Taylor Swift tickets as she rarely does tours,” the 24-year-old human resource executive said.

Others waited for three hours before being told tickets were sold out.

Ticket buyers could have multiple queue numbers if they accessed the pre-sale link from different devices or had multiple accounts with the ticketing website.

Each buyer had only 10 minutes to complete the transaction, and ticket sales were limited to a maximum of four for each account.

Wednesday’s rush for tickets was not without drama. An hour before the UOB pre-sale started, many complained about technical issues on Ticketmaster.

Customers who tried logging in to their Ticketmaster account after 11am received the message “rate exceeded” on their screens.

Other customers who managed to get to the payment page after selecting their tickets were unable to log in and received a similar message.

Temasek Polytechnic student Gabriel Chong was one fan whose efforts were foiled by technical issues on the website.

The 18-year-old had a queue number of 33,000, but like many other fans, was kicked off the website after getting an error message at the payment page.

Scalpers on Carousell have begun selling tickets for as much as 10 times the original price. Category 1 tickets, which were originally going for $348, were being sold for $3,000.

Ticket prices for Swift’s Singapore concerts range from $108 to $348, with VIP packages also available.

The rush for her concert tickets comes just after British rock band Coldplay sold out tickets in June for six concerts in January 2024. Then, over a million virtual queue numbers were also issued.

General sales for Swift’s concerts will start on Friday at noon online at Ticketmaster or physically at SingPost outlets islandwide for all who obtained an access code after a prior pre-registration exercise.

UOB card applications jumped in the weeks leading up to the pre-sale.

The bank said new credit card applications from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam rose by an average of 45 per cent daily from June 21 to 27, compared with earlier weeks in the month.

Debit card applications in Singapore and Vietnam more than doubled, up nearly 130 per cent for the same period.

Singapore Sports Hub, which is owned and managed by Kallang Alive Sport Management, has said that the National Stadium will be the only venue in Asia outside of Japan where Swift will be performing on her The Eras world tour.

More than 300,000 fans are expected to attend her shows here –and the economy can expect a boost from those from fans around the region.