Given how big the sales numbers have been for Taylor Swift’s new album Reputation, and how enthusiastic the mania surrounding anything she does is in general, it’s fair to assume that the tour behind the album would be one of the most anticipated and massively attended of 2018. However, this might not be the case… not even close, actually.
Tickets for the Reputation tour have been on sale since December 13th, but as the New York Post notes, not one of the 33 dates scheduled between May 8th and October 6th has sold out on Ticketmaster. Compare that to her 1989 tour, which had multiple shows around the world sell out within minutes of tickets going on sale. Meanwhile, the New York Post cites a “music industry insider” as saying, “Sales so far have been a mega disappointment. There are hundreds if not thousands of tickets left for every show.”
This could have something to do with the controversial ticketing system Swift is using this time around and ticket prices that are pretty darn high. Swift fans have taken to Twitter to complain about tickets they’ve seen on sale for as high as $700:
HOLY SHIT!!! $818 for a ticket to a Taylor Swift concert??? are you f#*king kidding me??? #reputationtour pic.twitter.com/SYT3QkxOEW
— Presiding Angel Of Pop (@YoricktheJester) December 21, 2017
SOME OF THE TAYLOR SWIFT TICKETS AT THE ROGERS CENTRE ARE OVER $2,000 ON TICKET MASTER
— alexa (@LexCarbert) December 25, 2017
Just FYI that if you want a verified front row seat to Taylor Swift it’s $7,000. Per ticket. This seems mildly excessive.
— layne whitehouse (@laynewhitehouse) January 1, 2018
Other Swifties have also taken to Twitter to express how disappointed they are at not being able to check out the tour due to prohibitively high ticket prices:
https://twitter.com/VoliBolas/status/948132696219365376
https://twitter.com/VoliBolas/status/948133068212244480
https://twitter.com/mwagner831/status/946379121625567232
https://twitter.com/the1ranter/status/948029382613925889
https://twitter.com/lorrainekaack/status/948101076015861760
While the lack of sell-outs so far might seem like a shortcoming, David Marcus, executive VP and head of music at Ticketmaster, previously said that the seemingly slow sales are actually all part of the plan:
“We’d like to sell the last ticket to her concert when she takes the stage each night. We’re not trying to sell all of her tickets in one minute; we’re trying to figure out how to sell tickets in a more modern way.”
