Warning to Taylor Swift concert goers – check your tickets, and don’t rely on 4G/5G at the venue

If you’ve got Taylor Swift tickets for this weekend in Melbourne or next week in Sydney there’s some important things you need to do and I’m not talking about making more friendship bracelets, I’m talking about checking you have real tickets and have them on your phone ready to get into the show without any hiccups.

There are three types of swifites planning to head to the MCG and Accor Stadium over the next ten days.

• Those who bought tickets from Ticketek.
• Those who bought tickets “from” someone.
• And those who don’t have a ticket but are going to turn up and enjoy the vibe!

Some advice is relevant to only certain groups, other advice applies to all. Let’s try and break it down.

If you bought your tickets from Ticketek

Great news, you should have a Ticketek account, and can download the Ticketek app and should see your tickets like this:

When you view the ticket, if you’re going concert is more than 2 days away, you’ll notice there is no barcode. That means you really don’t need to act yet. Mid next week, look again and get ready to get sorted.

If you’re attending with mates, or family members, you can SHARE their seat ticket to their email address and they can get a Ticketek account and they will then see the ticket as you do above. Note, once you do this and they accept it, the ticket is GONE from your account. This is then the responsibility of the person at who accepted it.

Inside this page is also where you can choose to “Add to Apple Wallet” or “Add to Google Wallet”.

Ticketek is encouraging everyone to do this on the day of or before the event (Once the barcode is allocated). The reason is, they are rightfully worried about people relying on their 4G and 5G connections to view and download their ticket.

TEG’s Chief Operating Officer & Head of Global Ticketing, Cameron Hoy said:  “We would like to remind Taylor Swift ticket holders that we are expecting unprecedented numbers, not only in the event, but also in the precinct surrounding the MCG. In order to safeguard fans from unforeseen congestion issues, we request that they download the Ticketek app prior to their arrival and ADD their ticket(s) to their Apple or Google Wallet asap.”

On the day, there will be over 100,000 people in the area – not just those heading inside the stadium, but those who plan to sit outside and listen. You know what they’ll all be doing? Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok. That’s going to saturate the networks, and mean if you’re hoping to see your ticket in your email – you might struggle.

So get those tickets sorted ready for “offline” use right now.

Apple and Google wallets do not need mobile access. Check this by jumping into AirPlane mode and you’ll see that it all still works.

Once your ticket is in your digital wallet – you’re good to go!!!

You got your tickets somewhere else – Facebook? ViaGogo?

I’m worried for you.

Way too many people have been scammed, and lost their money – yet they don’t know it yet. We do know plenty of people were stopped from handing over money to scammers by their banks, but others were not.

If you transferred money to a bank account, a PayPal address or whatever method, to someone you were introduced to on Facebook, or any other social media – then you need to check now if you have a legit ticket.

Likewise if you bought tickets on some third party website where people were claiming to be selling legit tickets they didn’t need – well, brace yourself.

Of course, you MIGHT have a legit ticket.

If you do, it should have been sent to you in the Ticketek app.

NO, it was not sent to you via email even if it allows you to show it in Apple Wallet.

Here’s how I know – I’ve seen a fake. Look at this:

You would absolutely be forgiven for thinking you got a real ticket there on the left.

The dead giveaway is the barcode – or QR code.

If you got a ticket days or weeks ago and it had a Bar Code of any sort, it’s fake. Ticketek has only started issuing Melbourne Taylor Swift ticket barcodes in the last few days.

The absolute best way to be sure is to get the ticket in the Ticketek app, and failing that, visit a Ticketek office or Popup booth at the MCG or Accor Stadium and ask them to validate your ticket.

I encourage you to do this ASAP because you don’t want your friends or kids in tears outside a stadium they thought they had a ticket to get into.

I don’t have tickets to Taylor Swift 🙁

Sorry to hear that – it was a tough battle to get them!

It’s likely tens of thousands of swifties will gather outside the MCG and Accor Stadiums each night of the Eras tour.

Local authorities and stadium operators are not encouraging this, crowd control is a tough gig. But, they are public spaces, so they can’t stop you!

As a result, you’ll get the vibe, but you might struggle with Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok.

Beating the mobile network woes

The 80,000 inside the stadium, and the 30,000 outside the stadium will struggle for internet access all through the event and the lead up.

So, that’s why the advice from Ticketek is to get your tickets ready well in advance of that.

It doesn’t matter how much money Vodafone, Optus and Telstra spend on their network, these surge events will always create connectivity hassles. Don’t take it out on the network operators folks.

Instead, be prepared.

For those who are being left to be picked up at the end of the night, remember making a call might be difficult. So agree on a fixed pickup location in advance, and write down your parents and kids phone numbers.

If your mobile battery is dead, you can use Telstra Payphones at the stadiums or train stations to make that call you need to make.