Philly-area Swifties are trekking to Europe for cheaper ‘Eras Tour’ tickets

Dear reader: How far would you travel for Taylor Swift?

For some Philadelphia-area Swifties, the answer is to Lincoln Financial Field and back. For others, it’s over 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe to see Swift’s record-breaking “Eras Tour” for a second, third, or even fourth time.

Swift last performed in Philly in May 2023, when the “Eras Tour” took over the Linc for three nights in a row and the Reading-born superstar declared her (now fickle) allegiance to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Since then, the tour has crisscrossed the United States, Latin America, and Australia, bringing with it billions of dollars in tourism revenue, several broken attendance records, and a litany of Swifties with a lasting concert hangover.

Now, the “Eras Tour” has landed in Europe. And with it, American Swifties.

The reasons for their journeys are both practical and sentimental: European “Eras Tour” tickets are significantly cheaper than those on sale in the U.S, where a scalper-driven resale market has pushed prices for nosebleed seats into the thousands. The show is fundamentally different, too, thanks to addition of The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) — Swift’s latest album — to the set list.

» READ MORE: For every three Taylor Swift attendees, one came just to hang in the parking lot of her ‘Eras Tour’ in Philly

Going to multiple concerts on the same tour has also been a part of Swiftie culture for a while. Fans go to the same show again and again because of the dedication Swift inspires. She might notice you, the lore goes, and you’ll be in a crowd of people who get it.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but somehow I’ve gotten to live it multiple times,” said Lisa Jefferson, 37, who flew to Paris earlier in May to see the “Eras Tour.” “This is our Super Bowl.”

Jefferson flew to Paris with her boss, Kate Miller, whom Jefferson said waited until the wee hours of the morning on French Ticketmaster to secure $650 tickets for the La Défense Arena — $150 less than Jefferson said she paid for her seat in Philly.

Jefferson and Miller built a vacation around the show. They went to Versailles, Disneyland Paris, and the Eiffel Tower, said Jefferson. The sites paled in comparison to being among the first to watch Swift perform “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me” while moshing on an invisible platform.

“It just felt like an entirely new show,” said Jefferson, who works in marketing at an e-commerce company. “To be one of the first people to experience [TTPD] live? I’ll never forget it.”

“Eras Tour” tickets may be cheaper in Europe, but that doesn’t mean they’re inexpensive.

Tickets for Swift’s European tour dates average $340 apiece. That’s 87% cheaper than the average “Eras Tour” ticket in the United States, according to an analysis from TicketIQ. In other words, a savvy Swiftie could’ve flown to Sweden last weekend, watched the “Eras Tour,” and stayed at a four-star hotel for less than the price of a ticket to one of Swift’s three Miami shows in October.

Ashley Taragna booked a trip to Portugal after seeing videos of the TTPD set on TikTok. The 32-year-old attorney has attended every one of Swift’s tours since Fearless dropped in 2008, and said the total cost of the trip is a little over $2,800 so far.

“I was like, ‘Why can’t it be like this in the United States?’” said Taragna, who lives near Rittenhouse Square. (The answer: Resale ticket markups, like the ones seen in the U.S., are illegal in parts of the European Union.)

» READ MORE: Hundreds of copies of a rare Taylor Swift record were still available at one Kutztown record shop — until the Swifties found out

Ziy Martinez, 26, meanwhile has only spent $800 so far between flights and a ticket to see the “Eras Tour” in London. The price washed over Martinez like water off a duck’s back; she’d already seen the “Eras Tour” three weeks in a row across Philly, New Jersey, and Boston.

“I’ve spent so much money going to the “Eras Tour” already, so it’s like whatever,” said Martinez, who works in higher education.

For others, the sticker shock is real.

Megan Walsh spent $500 on a VIP ticket for the “Eras Tour “in Amsterdam on July 4. For Walsh, 25, the overseas ticket is extra special: She only got as far as tailgating in the Linc’s parking lot when Taylor came to Philly last May. This will be her first Swift show, and her second concert ever.

“I’ll cry about it when my credit card statement comes,” said Walsh. “Right now, I deserve it.”

To some Swifties, however, seeing the “Eras Tour” abroad is less about girl math than it is about ritual.

Swift’s fandom thrives on equal parts consumption and obsession: Swifties buy the album, then the vinyl, then the exclusive Record Store Day offering. They go to dance parties, make the friendship bracelets, and take the moment and taste it, or however the lyric goes.

“It would be a sin to miss it,” said Marina Nardini, 31, who runs social media for the famed South Philly Chiefs bar Big Charlie’s Saloon. Nardini has seen Swift perform 16 times, bringing her mom, Trudy Mazzone, along for the majority of those concerts.

» READ MORE: Swifties took over the Rittenhouse Hotel for Galentine’s tea. Yes, there were friendship bracelets.

This time, the mother-daughter duo is taking on a distinctly Philly doubleheader: Phillies play the New York Mets in London on June 8, followed by the “Eras Tour” in Edinburgh, Scotland, on June 9.

The pairing was “automatic,” said Nardini, whose mom is a Phils’ season-ticket holder. The pair is hoping the Kelces will be making a similar journey.

“God, I hope Travis is there,” Nardini wished aloud.

Veronica Heiselmoyer, 36, is building a similar family tradition. Her daughter Valerie, 10, is a recent Swiftie, who joined the fold last summer after a Swift sing-along at the Keswick Theatre.

Heiselmoyer said Valerie is preparing to sell homemade friendship bracelets to help supplement the cost of a trip to Miami for the “Eras Tour” in October. She wants to knock on doors in their Abington neighborhood, her mother said, and has even printed out her mom’s Venmo QR code to speed up transactions.

What Valerie doesn’t know: Heiselmoyer is surprising her with a trip to see the “Eras Tour” in Amsterdam on July 4.

“She’s going to be in disbelief,” said Heiselmoyer, 36. “I’ve never seen her this obsessed with an artist, or anything really.”