Taylor Swift performs at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. Friday, July 28, 2023. The singer will perform six shows at Toronto's Rogers Centre in November 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Jessica Christian/San Francisco Chronicle
If all goes according to plan, Len Goertz will attend eight Taylor Swift shows during her Eras Tour, including one in Toronto as she makes her way to Canada next year.
The superfan from Regina has already seen three shows since Swift kicked off the tour in the United States earlier this year, he’ll attend two back-to-back concerts in Los Angeles this week and will then travel to Sweden and Austria for two more tour stops next year.
“It just kind of escalated to this,” Goertz said over the phone from Los Angeles, explaining how he has been travelling to Swift’s concerts with different people, including his friends and boyfriend.
He said he can’t get enough of Swift and hopes to score yet another ticket to see the megastar perform in Toronto in 2024.
The singer-songwriter announced on Thursday that she will perform Nov. 14 to 16, and Nov. 21 to 23, 2024 – the only Canadian city with stops on her schedule.
Rogers Communications, which is a presenting sponsor, says the “Cruel Summer” singer is the first artist to perform six nights at the stadium in a single tour.
Tickets go on sale Aug. 9, with verified fan registration open now through Saturday.
Minutes after the announcement went live, Ticketmaster reported “heavy traffic” on their Verified Fan web page, which the platform says is meant as a protective measure against online scalper bots.
Rogers says they helped arrange the Toronto stop.
“We’ve been working on this for weeks and we’re thrilled to bring her tour to Canada,” Terrie Tweddle, chief brand and communications officer at Rogers Communications, said in a statement.
“We saw a national conversation where Canadians really wanted Taylor to come to Canada. We wanted to be a part of the solution so we reached out to her team to see what could be done.”
Miri Makin, co-founder of TSwift Dance Party Canada, which hosts Taylor Swift-themed club nights across the country, said she is “super excited” and is already strategizing how to get tickets.
“My phone was just like an absolute flurry this morning of people trying to brainstorm how we’re going to make this work,” Makin said from Toronto.
She said she’s already seen Swift in Las Vegas and plans to go to another one of her shows in London next year.
Sarah Doll of Edmonton also booked tickets to see Swift in the United Kingdom. She said if she scores tickets for one of the Toronto shows, she’ll cancel her London trip.
“I just think it’s really cool how she has been able to write all kinds of different music, with the same level of quality and the same level of success,” Doll said.
“She’s made a lot of commentary on how the music industry and society in general treats women and having to reinvent yourself and having to live up to a certain standard. She has proven that she can beat the system, and her music is just good.”
Swift began her tour in March, performing songs from her chart-topping career against the backdrop of an elaborate stage design for each album. Demand for tickets has led to outages on Ticketmaster and significant spikes in tourism in the markets she visits.
When an earlier tour date announcement didn’t include any Canadian dates, many Swifties expressed their outrage online, leading some observers to wonder why the performer would skip over the country when she hadn’t performed here since 2018.
Swift’s perceived snub even reached the House of Commons, with a Conservative MP saying he would file an “official” grievance “on behalf of all Swifties,” while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a plea on social media for the singer to come to Canada.
As part of Thursday’s announcement, Swift also announced dates in Miami, New Orleans, and Indianapolis.
Many fans are still hoping that Swift’s tour will make stops in other Canadian cities.
“I think (the announcement of Toronto dates) is a win to Canadians, but I would not say that’s a win for anyone in B.C. because it’s so far and so expensive,” said Mackenzie Byers, who’s from Vancouver.
Byers is temporarily living in the U.K. and plans to go to Swift’s concert in Liverpool.
It’s customary for Swifties to make friendship bracelets and exchange them with one other at the shows. Many fans also wear outfits that represent their favourite Swift album, or “era.”
Goertz, the superfan from Regina, said he has received and given more than 100 bracelets.
“I have a box full at home that I’ve gotten from the various tours,” he said. “A lot of people, especially in my age group, like the mid-30s or early 30s, feel like they grew up with her.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 3, 2023.
— with files from Brieanna Charlebois in Vancouver.
