Yes, this week Taylor Swift has been a problem.  

One mightily, time wasting, agonising and possibly expensive problem.  

Depending on how it played out for you.  

If you got tickets to Taylor’s historic Aussie concerts, then I’m thrilled for you. I really am. My kids have both been fortunate to see Taylor Swift perform here in New Zealand. My son was one of only 2 boys in Spark Arena in 2013 for the Red Tour concert, and my daughter went to the Mt Smart Reputation Tour concert in 2018. I’ve always said, there is no better first concert than a Taylor Swift concert, for several reasons, but mostly because she always starts on time, which is a novelty these days.

So if you have tickets - that is so cool. You’re going to have a blast.  

If you have tickets to more than one concert on the Eras Tour, can I suggest that you don’t go sharing that information around. It’s not going to win you friends. Hundreds of thousands of people missed out on the concert of a lifetime, something that meant something special to them too, because for some once is not enough.   

I said we’d try. Music is life to my 14 year-old daughter and if you have a Swiftie in the house you’ll know what passionate and dedicated fans they are. It’s been a tough time for my kid and it would be nice to have something to look forward too. But we kept our expectations in check. We chatted about how it would take a small miracle to snare a couple of tickets, we could only purchase in Melbourne where a dear friend said we could crash with them, meaning it was going to be only financially reckless as opposed to realy financially reckless, and we held onto the fact we’d been fortunate enough to see Taylor in concert already.  

That all went out the window about 1pm on Wednesday when the CAPS leaden texts started coming from school. Get in the queue for Melbourne NOW…. NOW… like right NOW.  

I got in the queue and then the mixed messages began. The promoter and ticket website kept asking us not to refresh; but mates and colleagues were telling me to refresh. Some said only do one device per home as multiple pages coming from the same URL would make me look like a BOT; others said open as many devices and tabs as possible. Some said queue for hours; others said it won’t make any difference – it’s all luck. God knows how anyone got a ticket – except those paying for the mega-expensive VIP tickets.  

It was bonkers – and astounding how two nations almost stopped for a couple of hours to buy concert tickets. I found it stressful because I hadn’t thought of buying flights without the tickets and the price of flights was increasing to the point I could have taken the whole family on an island holiday for what was going to be the cost of a 2-day trip for 2 to Oz.  

And then there was the angst and tension. There were reports of screams and tears at workplaces across Australasia.  One of my mates in Australia who is an anaesthetist messaged to say this is a major issue – “Operating theatre efficiency has been all time low today, and my nurse just admitted why.” She’s the mother of two young daughters, and I just said… ‘just wait, you’ll understand when they’re teenagers’.  

While I was frustrated we got caught up in Swift mania this week, here’s the thing. I love concerts. If music is your thing I think you should take every opportunity and go to as many as you can. Some of my best memories in life are concerts, and music has been a reliable companion for me my whole life.  

But we didn’t get tickets. It was hard as the texts started coming in – from those who got tickets and those who didn’t. I’m very pleased to say my daughter kept her composure and accepted we’d missed out with grace, while I reflected on the hours wasted that I will never get back, hugely relieved it was all over, and the household budget was still in tact.  

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