A father spent $21,000 for his daughter and his friends to see Taylor Swift’s sold-out concert over the weekend – after he says their initial tickets never arrived.
Anthony Silva forked over the king’s ransom last week after the tickets he purchased in November for Swift’s Friday stop at Gillette Stadium had still not come in the mail – leaving him to rush to a different site to ensure his adult daughter could still attend.
Compounding costs was the fact the pop star’s show – part of her astronomically priced Era’s Tour – was sold out, and the detail that Silva paid not only for daughter Katlyn, 19, but her three friends as well. They were transported to the event by limo.
In November, the doting dad says he was one of more than 14 million to flock to third-party sites to purchase seats to Swift’s show, causing one to crash due to what Variety at time called a ‘historically unprecedented demand’.
Fortunately, he was able to secure four seats – for a still-hefty $1,800. However, after half a year came and went and he was left still without tickets, he is now insisting the third-party seller forced his hand, and is required to issue a refund.
Anthony Silva forked over the king’s ransom last week after the tickets he purchased in November for Swift’s Friday stop at Gillette Stadium – leaving him to rush to a different site to ensure his adult daughter could still attend
Compounding costs was the fact the pop star’s show – part of her astronomically priced Era’s Tour – was sold out, and the detail that Silva paid not only for daughter Katlyn, seen at rigght, but the 19-year-old’s three friends as well. They were transported to the event by limo.
‘This is just not right,’ the Massachusetts dad told WCVB in a video interview outside his Foxborough home Friday, as Katlyn and her companions excitedly got ready for the show.
Slamming the platform where he bought the first four tickets, Stubhub, he sniped: ‘In my opinion, they should not wait until the day before for the tickets to be sent out.’
Speaking to the outlet, Silva maintained on the day the show was to be held, he was still without the initial four tickets.
He said that only a day before, when he contacted the company to ask where his tickets were, he was told his purchase for the notoriously hard-to-book event had fell through, leaving him to think up a last-minute plan.
Alternative tickets for the show Stubhub reportedly said, were not an option.
‘I went home slamming stuff, I was so angry, so disappointed because I was looking forward to this for nine months,’ recalled Katlyn Friday of being hit with the reality she might miss the Foxborough portion of Swift’s seventh-ever tour – the singer’s first since she cancelled one in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In typical dad fashion, Silva said he used the revelation as an opportunity to prank his daughter – one in which he pretended to accept her and her friends’ Swift-less fate.
‘We played a joke on them telling them yesterday, telling them the tickets were really gone,’ recalled Silva with a wry smile as Katlyn and her crew got dressed up for the arriving limo.
‘And the look on their faces – I never want to see again. One girl had a quivering lip,’ he added. ‘It was tough. It was tough.’
The girls got to see Swift for the Foxborough portion of Swift’s seventh-ever tour was held Friday – part of the singer’s first tour since she cancelled one in 2020 due to the pandemic
After that scare, Silva said he gave the good news that he had foot the bill for all four young women – leaving the group ecstatic as WCVB camera crews recorded them getting ready.
The limo, also paid for by Silva as part of his now gargantuan Christmas gift, then ferried the four to the venue, where they were among roughly 60,000 in attendance.
Swift would go on to give a rousing show – and Kaylyn and her friends were quick to show their appreciation.
‘We almost didn’t have tickets to an event we’ve been looking forward [to] since Christmas,’ said a visibly grateful Alyssa Camara, as she and the three others excitedly applied makeup and styled their hair for the show.
‘We have not stopped talking about the event since the day we found out.’
She recalled of how Silva surprised them with the tickets – which were actually better than the ones he had purchased at first from Stubhub – ‘ I was so excited. I was, like, freaking out.
As for Silva, he said that despite being out ‘Approximately $21,000’, it was worth it to see his daughter and his friends happy. He added that StubHub is supposed to issue him a refund for his original $1,800 purchase price within 10 days, but is still irate by how the seller handled the ordeal.
‘I think it’s for no reason but for incompetence through the third party or through StubHub,’ he sniped Friday as Katyln and her friends were buzzing in the background.
Economists say the astronomical prices commanded the tour – billed as a journey through the 33-year-old songstress’ various ‘musical eras’ – has been in part sparked by the pandemic, which has given fans a newfound appreciation for live concerts and experiences
Stubhub’s alleged scheduling oversight comes amid a slew of scheduling conflicts for Swift’s hallowed Era’s Tour, which caused competitor Ticketmaster to crash back in November.
The chaos of more than 14million Swifties – when only 4 million had been anticipated by the website beforehand – led to an out-of-control resale market that saw passes to the concert go for tens of thousands of dollars.
At the time, Stubhub was offering seats to a show in Florida ranging from $500 to $42,000 each – whereas initial tickets, by comparison, were initially priced between $73 to $666.
Some 320 fans then filed a lawsuit against the ticketing giant and its parent-company, Live Nation, for ‘intentionally’ charging ‘sky high fees’ and selling the ‘tickets to scalpers.’
The anticipated tour also recently grabbed headlines thanks to an overzealous security guard who found himself at the center of the drama at Taylor Swift‘s concert in Philadelphia, prompting Swift to speak up and bring the set to a halt.
Economists say the popularity of the tour – billed as a journey through the 33-year-old songstress’ various ‘musical eras’ – has been in part sparked by the pandemic which has given fans a newfound appreciation for live concerts and experiences.
When tickets first went on sale last November Economics professor Melissa Kearney, from the University of Maryland, told Bloomberg: ‘The pandemic in general changed the way people think about what’s really important to them, and what brings them joy.’
Other outlets have reported the extreme length that fans will go to save up for a ticket.
In November, 27-year-old superfan Lindsey Morris told Buzzfeed that she had a separate savings account dedicated to saving for Taylor Swift tickets.
