The Victorian Government Has Declared Taylor Swift's 'Eras' Tour a Major Event to Stop Ticket Scalping
Anyone reselling tickets for inflated prices will face fines of up to $554,760.
When Taylor Swift announced that The Eras Tour was finally shaking its way to Australia, locking in five dates in two cities in February 2024, excitement echoed as loudly as the music superstar's voice. But, with such a condensed block of shows, nerves jangled as well. Getting a ticket to Swift's concerts in America caused a Ticketmaster meltdown, and has sparked new US legislation in response — and then there's scalpers and their inflated prices.
With the singer-songwriter set to play her first two Aussie gigs of the tour at the MCG in Melbourne across Friday, February 16–Saturday, February 17, the Victorian Government has taken a key step to ensure that Swift fans don't get ripped off. Under the state's Major Events Act 2009, it has declared the 'Fearless', 'Enchanted', We Are Never Getting Back Together' and 'Blank Space' talent's shows a major event, which gets a whole heap of penalties around scalping's bad blood kicking in.
Look what scalpers have made the Victorian Government do, basically. Under major event ticketing declarations, tickets to the concert must legally be available for a fair price, not the gargantuan costs that they can be flogged off for on the resale market. There's a specific figure specified under the law, in fact, with tickets to a declared major event unable to be resold for more than ten percent more than their original value.
Other requirements include ticket package sellers needing authorisation from the event organiser, plus individual ads for tickets including both ticket and seating details.
If a ticket seller flouts the rules, the penalties are steep — from $925 up to $554,760.
This isn't just big news for Melburnians. Given that Swift is taking The Eras Tour to just two Aussie cities, it's relevant to the massive numbers of interstate and overseas attendees expected. The Victorian Government predicts that more than 60,000 people from around the rest of Australia, and from New Zealand, will be part of the 180,000 folks catching the singer during her two MCG concerts.
Seeing Swift work through her entire career so far, playing tracks from each of her studio albums in a three-hour, 44-song, ten-act spectacular, The Eras Tour kicked off in March in the US, where it's still playing. Swift will also head to Mexico, Argentina and Brazil in 2023. Then, in 2024, she's off to Australia, Japan, Singapore, France, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, the UK, Ireland, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Poland.
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This'll be Swift's first tour Down Under since 2018, when she brought her Reputation shows to not only Sydney and Melbourne, but Brisbane and Perth, too.
In the US, it's been breaking ticketing and venue records — expect tickets to get snapped up quickly Down Under as well, but now for a fair price in Victoria.
TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR AUSTRALIAN DATES 2024:
Friday, February 16–Saturday, February 17 — Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Friday, February 23–Sunday, February 25 — Accor Stadium, Sydney
Taylor Swift will bring The Eras Tour to Australia in February 2024. Tickets for the Melbourne shows go on sale at 10am AEST on Friday, June 30, with the Sydney shows on sale at 2pm AEST on Friday, June 30. The American Express VIP Package pre-sale runs for 48 hours from Monday, June 26 — from 10am in Sydney and 2pm in Melbourne — and the Frontier Members pre-sale runs 24 hours from Wednesday, June 28, again from 10am in Sydney and 2pm in Melbourne, or until all pre-sale tickets have been snapped up in both instances. Head to the tour website for further details.
Top image: Ronald Woan via Wikimedia Commons.
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