Jamie Vergara

This one goes out to all the Swifties who are dreaming and fighting for tickets. I am a pretty determined person and most know me as a “go-getter.” But, I was so close to giving up the chance to watch Taylor Swift live in person at the MetLife Stadium last Friday. My friend Mary and I were up for 36 hours — wrapping up work, doing chores, trying to pack, eating lo mein at 3 AM, driving to the airport, heading to the hotel, grabbing breakfast — all while trying to check if Ticket Master dropped seats. And you would not believe the events that happened that led us to scoring tickets the DAY OF. Read this if you want to know how we did it to replicate or if you are just curious:

If not; TLDR – We refreshed Ticket Master and were the lucky ones that were able to purchase tickets.

We had booked this trip to New York City for the long Memorial Day Holiday weekend a few months back, so we actually had no idea Taylor Swift would be performing her NYC/NJ show until we checked the schedule. We then transpired and manifested hardcore that we would be able to go. Whether we got in or not, we were accepting of the outcome — we had already been to the Nashville show and plus being in NYC is already fun. The original plan was that when we landed Friday morning, I would head out to Metlife to try to buy tickets while Mary would be watching Ticket Master. The plans changed and we both stayed at the hotel — 2 laptops is better than 1, and even took turns napping. I actually was able to get into the queue Thursday night, but only a few seats dropped. Myself and 100000 other people were targeting the same $55 obstructed view seats. Friday morning while Mary was napping, a few extra seats dropped and again I was too slow.

By 1:30 PM on Friday, Mary suggests we should make plans or reservations if we don’t end up going. I said, “For starters maybe we should get lunch. Let’s head out in like 20-30.” We were so exhausted from all the traveling and thriving off of cold brews it took us a little longer than 30 minutes to get up. Right when I sat up to get ready, Mary jumps and says “WAIT OH MY GOD. J, LOOK.” We were entering the queue. Spots 112 and 120. We could not believe our eyes.

Time was ticking and we could see that we were getting so much closer to buying tickets. I got in first. The plan was to just grab whatever within the budget and BUY IT. Due to unfortunate circumstances, I was kicked out of the shopping cart. I couldn’t even ring out the seats I chose. This was all riding on Mary’s account. Mary grabbed lower bowl seats and when it was time to check out, the card did not go through. We were panicking. The seats we were trying to buy were sold. So we put new ones in the cart and still had to input a new card. I am sweating bullets typing the Billing Information after Mary had inputted my card info and once done I hit the word Purchase and we held our breath during the loading screen and here it was:

We did not even know what section it was. It was a fight to even buy them. We pulled out a map of the stadium, and it was unbelievable. Section 3? Where is that? We scored floor seats at FACE VALUE. When I tell you we had no idea we were going to go, let alone get FLOOR, we packed minimal Tswift fits. We wore merch we bought from last concert and I did not even bring a make up bag LOL.

Some tips and tricks for anyone still wanting to try and finesse Ticket Master – (We know it’s a fight out there, and this might not be indicative of everyone’s experience but it’s not impossible):

1. Twitter/TikTok can probably tell you better than I can, but Ticket Master drops are unfortunately sporadic and inconsistent. It’s really chancing it and a luck of the draw. If you can do what we did and have one person in a group take shifts, odds will be higher. Check the day before and the day of the concert.
2. Have more than 1 tab and laptop/device opened. And make sure you are on the day you want to attend. We tried for N1 and N2, and both got in for N1. N2 actually booted me out. Had I been at MetLife and left Mary alone, we probably would not have scored the tickets because of my 30 second card fiasco.
3. We had inputted the payment info in our accounts ahead of time – but have another one already saved in case you end up like us and one declines. It will save you the 45 seconds of aggressively entering in a new card.
4. Turn on Auto Refresh for your browser – We set our preferences to have Chrome refresh every 5-10 seconds, a lot better than you doing it manually.
5. If you do make it into the queue, there is legit NO time to check the map and toggle it. Check the filtered side that can show you the section, row and seats and just make sure it is not obstructed view. There are no bad seats for this tour anything you can grab is a dub.
6. We understand not everyone lives in a city that is hosting the tour, let alone lives close to a stadium that doesn’t require travel arrangements. I see the stories of fans traveling (some even multiple times) so far to be let down they did not get in. If you are so determined to go, I personally would choose a city you can do stuff in even if you aren’t able to get tickets.

I honestly am probably missing some tips, but it truthfully is a luck of the draw. We could not have been the only ones refreshing and waiting, but we did it. Other fans from the Gillette weekend had said they were number 1900+ in the queue, and still got in. There’s a chance – it is a pure game of patience. May the odds be in your favor, and thank you for tuning into this.