It's been a long time coming: Taylor Swift to play first of 3 Vancouver shows
A handful of lucky fans were able to purchase good seats at face value in a last minute ticket drop
Brace yourself. It's finally here. Or should we say, she's finally here.
Taylor Swift performs the first of three sold-out weekend shows Friday night at B.C. Place amid hype and excitement that hasn't been seen in Vancouver since the 2010 Olympics.
Over 160,000 Swifties are expected in the city over the weekend, including New Yorker Elle Weiss, who has seen Swift perform in the U.S, Europe and Toronto in the past year and a half.
Weiss was spotted checking out B.C. Place ahead of the concerts with her rescue Boston terrier, Bali, notable for his doggy-sized Taylor Swift sweatshirt.
The two Vancouver Swift shows Weiss is attending will be her 13th and 14th times seeing Swift in concert.
"The first one I went to was in 2023, the Pittsburgh night two show. It was so amazing, I decided I had to go to more."
"I've loved Taylor's music for 17 or 18 years now. I've loved watching her and her music evolve," Weiss said. "She somehow manages to write lyrics that are relevant to everyday lives even though she's the biggest pop star in the world."
Swift's show on Sunday is the finale of her 149-concert Eras Tour, which is expected to gross over $1 billion.
The tour started in the U.S. 21 months ago, before travelling through Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe and then Canada.
The frenzy for tickets continues with secondary market prices well into the many thousands of dollars.
Still, a handful of fans were able to purchase good seats at face value in a last-minute ticket drop from Ticketmaster.
Jacci Rai had offered her downtown apartment in exchange for tickets in what she called on social media a "Swift Swap." Although that didn't pan out, her fortunes changed Wednesday when she became one of the lucky ones offered tickets.
"It's amazing! I'm so happy and excited," Rai said, speaking on the CBC's The Early Edition.
"I had 13 accounts signed up last year for the drop and I didn't have any success. So out of those 13, I had four ways to access the [ticket] queue [Wednesday] night, so that's how I was able to access the tickets."
Rai said she recruited friends and family to create Ticketmaster accounts on her behalf to get to the number 13.
In the end, she was able to purchase two lower bowl tickets for Friday's show at $369 apiece, and two lower bowl tickets for Saturday's show for $509 apiece.
"It's going to mean a lot. I feel like I grew up with Taylor. It's been almost two decades of listening to her music through good moments, breakups, everything in between," Rai said. "I'm really excited to go through the eras with her in real time."
An X account that tracks Swift's private jet shows it travelled from Nashville to Vancouver on Nov. 30, before returning to Nashville the next day. Whether the megastar was aboard is unknown.
As of Thursday night, the account @SwiftJetNextDay, which operates on a 24-hour delay, had not tracked the jet returning to Vancouver.
With files from Lyndsay Duncombe and Michelle Gomez