Slow Start To Swift Tour?

NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) Tickets may not be flying off the shelves for Taylor Swift’s upcoming “Reputation” tour, according to the New York Post, which offered several reasons why.

The article notes that none of the 33 shows have yet to sell out whereas tickets were gobbled up for the “1989” tour.

“Sales so far have been a mega disappointment,” a “music insider” told the Post. “There are hundreds if not thousands of tickets left for every show.”

The Post speculated that one reason could be because fans that paid $150 for good seats last time around are paying much more this time around, and that the “Taylor Swift Tix” initiative – a specialized version of Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program – requires fans to buy music or merch to get a better spot in the buying queue. Likewise, the paper cited tweets from fans that were upset that tickets purchased during the presale were allegedly inferior to tickets sold during the onsale.

However, it should be noted that the North American tour is made up almost entirely of stadiums, including two nights in three markets (so far), whereas the 1989 tour was mostly held indoors. Yet, that included enough tickets, bought nearly a year an advance, to fill up Los Angeles’ Staples Center five different times.

A visit to Ticketmaster.com’s sale for the opening night show at Glendale, Ariz.’s University of Phoenix Stadium showed tickets available for one of the stage pits at $892 plus fees, and others available in nearby VIP areas. Many seats in the upper area of the lower bowl, in the $250 range, were still available.

However, the 28-year-old Swift may have a more mature fan base than last time, with its own budgeting requirements that require later purchases. It’s also not unusual: tickets for upcoming stadium shows for Kenny Chesney and U2, in April and May, respectively, had good seats still available at press time.