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I survived the war for tickets to the Singapore leg of Taylor Swift's 'The Eras Tour' — this is my story

I survived the war for tickets to the Singapore leg of Taylor Swift's 'The Eras Tour' — this is my story

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Disheartened and terrified of getting my hopes up again. This was the state I found myself in after failing to secure tickets to see Taylor Swift during the pre-sale for the now sold-out Singapore leg of her The Eras Tour.

The Great War officially commenced in Southeast Asia last Wednesday (5 July) and in the first part of my account of it, I told the story of how I, along with scores of Swifties across the region, engaged in a fierce battle for the highly sought after seats in the Singapore National Stadium, where Swift will play six concerts in March 2024.

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While there were those who walked away victorious, many were left battered and bruised and empty-handed in the aftermath of the first day of The Great War. Being part of the latter group was far from pleasant, but I knew that while defeat was painful, I had to get back on my feet quickly as another window of opportunity to secure tickets was fast approaching.

The general sale for tickets to Swift's Singapore shows began after a day's respite on Friday (7 July), and it was every bit as chaotic and emotionally exhausting as I had expected. This is my story.

MY MIND FORGETS TO REMIND ME YOU'RE A BAD IDEA

I have to admit that a part of me was reluctant to show up on the battlefield as I patched myself up and prepared for the general sale. The thought of having to go on yet another harrowing roller coaster ride terrified me. 

"If I couldn't get tickets during the pre-sale, what are the odds that I will be able to get them during the general sale even if I possess an access code?" I asked myself. 

But as I listened to Swift's music and came across social media posts of other fans proudly declaring that they had secured their tickets, I realised that what was even more terrifying was the possibility that I might have to experience the American singer-songwriter's Singapore concerts through clips on social media.  

And just like that, I began to believe again. 

Having learnt from my past experience, I flipped open my laptop the night before the general sale and logged in to my Ticketmaster account early. After successfully logging in, I put my laptop to sleep mode and headed to bed.

At 11:30 AM on the day of the general sale, I clicked on the link in the email that I received from Ticketmaster, which then transported me to a holding area with a countdown to 12 PM. As minutes became seconds, I could feel my heart racing. Unlike the pre-sale, there would be no second chances if I were to fail this time.

At 12 PM, I was taken to the virtual queue, where I came face to face once again with my arch-nemesis — the walking man in the progress meter. I also received my queue number, 53,134. 

"Not ideal, but at least it's way better than my pre-sale queue number, 304,245," I thought.

While I waited in line, I received a very welcome update that my sister and her friend, whom I was supposed to watch Swift with, were 5037th and 259th in line respectively.

SO MANY WALLS UP, I CAN'T BREAK THROUGH

Around 12:01 PM, my sister's friend reported that she had made significant headway. When I learnt that she had made it to the seat selection page and keyed in her access code, I thought that victory was within our grasp. 

Having added our loot to her cart, all that was left to do was make her exit and hop in the getaway car, but this was when things began to go awry. 

While trying to proceed to the payment page, my sister's friend ran into a new foe, an error that came with the message: "Oops. You have exceeded your promo code limit for this order."

By far the most fearsome enemy we had encountered in The Great War, the error also impeded the progress of many other Swifites during the general sale. 

COME ON, COME ON, DON'T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS, I THOUGHT I HAD YOU FIGURED OUT

After being transferred to the seat selection map, the mission went smoothly until it was time to make payment. As no access code was needed for those purchasing tickets using a UOB credit card, we never encountered the dreaded "promo code" foe that tormented other Swifties. But before we could celebrate, we were stopped from making further progress by one final enemy. 

Instead of being taken to the payment page, we were trapped in what seemed like a never-ending loading screen. Our anxiety grew by the second, and it was not long before we were literally trembling. 

At 12:27 PM, we decided to refresh the page. There was a real risk of being booted out of the portal and being placed right at the back of the queue, but we figured that we had to give it a try as we were going nowhere. After hitting refresh, we were relieved to see that we were still in the portal, but disappointed to learn that what we did had not helped to unfreeze the loading screen.

After staring at the same loading screen for another 10 minutes, I decided that I had had enough and retreated to my room to enjoy Speak Now (Taylor's Version), which was released on the same day as the general sale. 

"I will have to settle for this consolation prize since I'm not fated to see Taylor next year," I said to myself, sighing in resignation. 

As I browsed through Twitter, I saw that there were many others who shared my frustration. 

The walking man in my progress meter crossed the halfway mark around 12:57 PM, but by then, I knew that there probably would not be anything left when I made it to the front of the line. 

YOU ARE THE BEST THING THAT'S EVER BEEN MINE

As I waited for a coup de grâce that would put me out of my misery, I was jolted from my state of resignation by excited shouting from my living room.

When I emerged from my room, I learnt that, after more than an hour, my sister had been miraculously transferred to the payment page. This was it. We were in the home stretch.

After keying in the necessary details to make our purchase, all that was left to do was enter the one-time password (OTP) that was sent via SMS to our father, who had kindly supported our mission by lending us his UOB card. 

"OTP NOW!" my sister screamed at my amused father as soon as the portal prompted her to enter the OTP.

Upon seeing that our purchase was confirmed, my sister let out a deafening victory cry that spoke volumes about how much securing the tickets meant to her. I, on the other hand, chose to celebrate internally as The Great War had drained me both emotionally and physically. 

As someone who has been to multiple concerts, I can say that The Great War is, without a doubt, the most gruelling competition for tickets I have ever participated in. Against all odds, I emerged from it as one of its victors, and I still find it extremely surreal that I will be just metres away from Swift a few months from now. 

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