One of the hottest tickets of the summer is for Taylor Swift concerts as fans flock to top venues across the U.S. to see the popular singer in her first tour in five years.
Fans who didn’t get tickets when they went on sale have to pay up on secondary ticket marketplaces or get creative.
What Happened: Demand for tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour was so high that Ticketmaster saw its website crash and had to apologize to fans.
The issues from Ticketmaster, which is owned by Live Nation Entertainment Inc LYV, were widely covered by the meeting and drew the attention of Congress. Shares of the entertainment stock saw a drop after the issues arose.
Benzinga recently shared that a dad who bought tickets for a Swift concert for his daughter had problems with Stubhub and after not receiving his original tickets spent $21,000 for his daughter and her friends.
A Taylor Swift fan from Nashville wasn’t able to secure tickets when they went on sale and had a creative way of still attending the concert.
Davis Perrigo, an accountant, signed up to be a security guard at Swift’s concert at Nissan Stadium in Tennessee.
“It was actually surprisingly a lot easier than you would ever imagine,” Perrigo told TMZ.
Perrigo said he filled out a form and showed up the day of the concert where he was able to maneuver his way up to get closer to the stage.
The accountant didn’t start there though, actually conducting some research and doing security for a Luke Combs concert at the venue a couple of weeks before in what he called a test run.
As a security guard at work, Perrigo said his job was relatively easy with fans being respectful.
“Just make sure that no one rushes onto stage, they’re not supposed to touch the barricade.”
Perrigo went viral on social media with one video getting over six million views on TikTok of the accountant singing along to Swift and going hard as a Swiftie, the name of Swift’s fans.
� | Davis Perrigo, the security guard who went viral after singing along to Taylor Swift at #TSTheErasTour, applied for the job after being unable to secure tickets!
— Taylor Swift Museum (@theswiftmuseum) May 19, 2023
"My wife jokes that I sing Taylor Swift songs with such passion, considering I've never been broken up with,"… pic.twitter.com/VGw5j9W4OH
Just how hard was Perrigo going in his combo role of security guard and Swiftie?
Swift’s “real” security team had to tell Perrigo’s bosses to have him tone it down.
The most interesting fact in this plot from Perrigo might be that he threw an audible in his original plan.
“My plan was never to be like next to stage, it just kind of circumstances happened that way.”
Perrigo said his original plan was to show up as security and never clock in, take off his security shirt and find an empty seat to enjoy the show as a fan.
“That was just kind of lucky.”
Related Link: Taylor Swift Announces Remix With Ice Spice And New Vault Track, What You Need To Know
What’s Next: Perrigo said he might try the same move at additional concerts in the future. With multiple interviews and a viral face, Perrigo might have a bigger test in the future of pulling off the fake security role.
The creativeness of this Swift fan and the story of the dad paying $21,000 for tickets for his daughter continue to highlight how popular the tour is for Swift and also the inefficiencies of the ticket market that is dominated by ticket resellers.
Swift kicks off three nights of shows at MetLife Stadium, home of the New York Jets and New York Giants. The cheapest ticket for Friday, May 26 is $1,881 on Stubhub. The cheapest field-level ticket is $4,330.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been vocal about Ticketmaster having a monopoly on the ticketing market. The company was also called out during President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address over excessive fees and the need to be upfront with customers.
The big question going forward is if more people will try the new side hustle of being a security guard like Perrigo.
While most fans are saying “Why you got to be so mean” to Ticketmaster and other ticketing companies, Davis found a “Love Story” of being a temporary security guard and a Swift fan in the same night.
Photo: Shutterstock
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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