Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour is one of the biggest and most anticipated concert tours in 2023, breaking records and creating cultural and economic impact. When she first announced the tour on Nov. 1, 2022, and hinted at international dates being announced later on, Canadian Swifties were hopeful to see the pop star come to a city near them.
But as she announced 50 international dates and later added 14 more shows with no Canadian cities on that list, fans were left speechless seeing their country left out. Despite Swift announcing six Toronto shows for Nov. 2024, it still left Canadian Swifties saddened that the star was not coming anywhere near them; specifically Edmonton fans.
“I honestly first thought she wasn’t coming to Canada,” Victoria Pucci, a disappointed Edmonton Swift fan, says. “But then seeing that she just picked Toronto was kind of disappointing because it feels like that’s where everyone goes. They forget about the other provinces.”
Despite the chances of getting tickets to the Toronto show being slim to none, even if a fan can get tickets, the expenses become an issue. From booking flights and a hotel to food and concert tickets, it can get expensive, even overpriced for a single show. For Swift’s fans’ age demographic ranging between 25-40, it can be challenging for individuals in this age group to afford the trip, leading to another reason for Canadian Swifties’ disappointment.
Nicole Baker, a mother of a Taylor Swift fan, went to one of the Vegas shows in March 2023 with her daughter. Even though she had a nice weekend vacation, she was still disheartened by being unable to enter the venue and watch the show because of the expensive tickets.
“The concert was actually on my birthday, but I didn’t get to go because I couldn’t afford to get a ticket,” Baker says. “So, I sat outside and did the ‘mom’ thing that night.”
Baker mentions that the ticket she purchased gave her daughter VIP entry into the venue, giving her access to cleaner bathrooms and food concessions with smaller lines. Even though Baker bought the ticket from a seller, it was $1200 Canadian, around the same price as it would have been through Ticketmaster and half the expenses she spent on her and her daughter’s trip.
While the ticket was more than Baker wanted to spend on a concert ticket, she did not want to let the chance of achieving her daughter’s dream of seeing Swift live go to waste.
“[The concert] was just one of those things our daughter wants to do. This was a trip of a lifetime for her. She only wanted to see Taylor Swift.” Baker says. She also says that teaching a university course earned her the money she used to bring her daughter to Vegas.
“I could have used [that money] for a whole family trip. But I took one kid to Vegas for a concert for that amount of money.”
Although Baker was able to get tickets for the Toronto show, she is still disappointed that Swift is only going to one city in Canada because of the expenses to travel there. She mentions that there are rumours of Swift having a show in Vancouver and thinks that travelling to Vancouver will be much easier and inexpensive than going to Toronto.
Like Baker, Pucci says it would also be easier to make the trip to Vancouver because the travel access would be easier for Albertan Swifties. Still, If Pucci had the chance to go to Toronto and watch Swift perform, she would take that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity like Baker and many Canadian Swifties who make the high-priced trip.
“I would prefer if [Swift] came a bit closer [to Alberta],” says Pucci. “But if that’s the only show I could go to, I would probably try and go to it.”