SINGAPORE — Thousands of fans who flocked to ticketing platform Ticketmaster to get their hands on Taylor Swift's Singapore concert tickets in March 2024 were left disappointed and frustrated. 

Tickets to the The Eras Tour went on pre-sale for United Overseas Bank (UOB) card members from 12pm on Wednesday (July 5) and within 10 minutes of opening, queue numbers reportedly reached over a million.

The ticketing website's homepage also crashed at least half an hour ahead of the pre-sale. 

Frustrated fans were met with an "error: rate exceeded" message when attempting to log into the website, while others received an error when they were in the queue or already checking out.  

“Ticketmaster, I'm so tired of seeing this 'error: Rate exceeded' message. I just want to log in,” a Twitter user said. 

Another user wrote: “We literally already chose our seats and (were) ready to make payments and then Ticketmaster just had to lead us to an error page. Absolutely heartbreaking.”

Some were repeatedly kicked out of the queue and needed to join again to secure a spot. 

“I’ve already reached the 'selecting seats' point but Ticketmaster won’t let me log into my accounts and I got kicked (out). That’s not fair,” one Twitter user wrote. 

“Well, I had to queue back. I hate Ticketmaster,” another remarked. 

Fans were also enraged at the changes made to seating plans after logging in to find more VIP seats — which cost up to S$1,228 — being included into areas that were originally marked out for S$348 Cat 1 tickets. 

“When you enter (the website), you realise almost half the entire stadium is (reserved for) VIP seats. The seat map is so different from the one they gave us,” a user said.

Another user wrote: “What is wrong with Ticketmaster? They (first) labelled the pink VIP sections as Yellow CAT 1 and now they’re calling it VIP sections.” 

Several netizens alleged that they were not able to log in due to a number of those in the queue who were not UOB cardholders. 

“Can people who don’t have UOB cards get out of Ticketmaster so we can log in,” a Twitter user said.

Ticketmaster subsequently responded to the issues on Facebook and wrote: “While most transactions are unaffected, we are aware that some customers seem to be experiencing issues with the site. We’re investigating and will share more information shortly. 

“Please stay on the site as we are sorting this urgently, we will continue to provide updates as soon as possible.”

As of 3pm, Ticketmaster announced that presale tickets were sold out.

Fans who could not secure tickets during the UOB pre-sale can still get a chance to score them when general sales begin on Friday (July 7) starting from 12pm via Ticketmaster and SingPost outlets. 

TODAY has reached out to Ticketmaster for comment on the ticketing issues raised by netizens.

'THE GREAT WAR' FOR TICKETS

To boost their chances of securing the pop star’s tickets, fans have pulled out all stops including applying for a UOB card and creating multiple Ticketmaster accounts.

Fans have also resorted to other methods such as purchasing tickets from bypass link sellers, such as “houseofticket” on Carousell.

For S$70, the bypass link seller can help fans to secure a spot in the virtual queue and pass them a link that will enable them to purchase the tickets. All their slots were reportedly filled. 

Within an hour of the pre-sale, scalpers were selling concert tickets on e-marketplace Carousell. One seller was letting go of S$348 tickets for S$1,500 each. 

With Singapore being the only Southeast Asian stop for the American singer, fans have discouraged foreigners from attending the mega star’s concert to dampen the competition for the tickets. 

“Singapore (is) very expensive. Japan (is) cheaper than Singapore. Don't come (to) Singapore, go (to the) Japan (concert). I'm warning you,” an Instagram user said. 

Another user commented: “Singapore is literally so hot. Japan’s weather is so much better for a comfortable concert experience!” 

“Singaporeans (are) infested by Covid now, please don’t come,” one user pleaded.