Chicago Fans Hoping To Grab Taylor Swift Tickets Experience Long Waits

CHICAGO — Fans of Taylor Swift who eagerly awaited the presale of tickets for the pop star’s shows in Chicago next summer were greeted by long delays on Tuesday after the flurry of activity on Ticketmaster crashed the site.

Ticketmaster released a statement early Tuesday afternoon saying that there has been “historically unprecedented” demand for tickets for Swift’s Eras Tour, which kicks off in the U.S. next year. Swift will play three shows at Soldier Field on June 2, 3, and 4. Swift's third show was added by promoters last week.

The tour opens on March 17 in Glendale, Ariz.

Fans reported long waits in the queue for tickets on Tuesday when Ticketmaster said that hundreds of thousands of tickets for the tour had already been sold. The ticket retailer said that if fans had successfully gotten tickets, they were all set. But, it warned fans who were waiting in the queue to “hang tight”.

Reports of issues with the preseason were reported as early as 8 a.m. as fans jammed onto the presale site to grab up tickets. Many tweeted out their displeasure with the presale delays, with one customer saying she waited 40 minutes in the online queue without seeing her place in the waiting room change. Others said Ticketmaster should have been better prepared for the onslaught of ticket requests.

By 10:30 a.m. Chicago time, Ticketmaster reported having 5,000 reports of technical issues reported by users. The Capital One on-sale is being rescheduled to tomorrow at 2 p.m. local venue time; according to Ticketmaster, all presale codes and links sent via text will still work at that time.

"We are currently experiencing technical difficulties and our team is working to resolve this as soon as possible," a message on Ticketmaster’s website read Tuesday morning. "We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your patience."

Tickets don’t open to the general public until Friday, but “Swifties” who signed up for the special presale event had access to getting in a virtual line for tickets on Tuesday.