Taylor Swift, the most popular American singer of her generation, a true superstar in her country, has not performed in Paris since a concert at the Zénith in March 2011. On June 20, she announced three French dates in 2024. Two one of them (May 9 and 10) will be held in the giant Paris La Défense Arena, and the other (June 2) in the Groupama stadium in Lyon.
Eagerly awaited by her French fans, the artist, known for controlling her career from A to Z, demanded drastic conditions to obtain the tickets. “We have been working on it for three months, explains Anne Valadier, ticketing manager for Paris La Défense Arena. Taylor Swift wanted to secure all the tickets, and ensure that there was no resale, which forced us to put in place a new device.
Before the announcement, made by the singer herself on her social networks shortly after 6 p.m. on June 20, Paris La Défense Arena did not yet know the number of concerts planned within it. Anne Valadier adds: “Some technical constraints are so heavy that we don’t yet know the final gauge. We are at version number 13 of the seating plan.
Managed by the ticketing giant Ticketmaster in agreement with the artist herself, the sale of tickets takes place in several stages. “Buyers can register between the announcement itself and June 23 at midnight. To do this, you have to be part of the Ticketmaster database or of the theater itself,” explains Anne Valadier. After this period, candidates will be issued an individual and personal code giving them three to four tickets per person maximum from the date of actual sale, July 11. “A way to avoid resale.”
Once the buyers’ personal data has been collected (surname, first name, telephone number and e-mail address), software will ensure that they are indeed natural persons and not robots. Finally, tickets giving access to the hall will be issued only ten days before the performance. The process, identical to that in force for the Olympic Games, is unprecedented in France. The cultural exception of our country means that several distributors share ticket sales. “France is an exceptional case with many dematerialized points of sale. Abroad, there is often only one distributor, which eliminates the question of competition”. A major player in show ticketing, Fnac does not participate in the sale of tickets for Taylor Swift, which is extremely rare.
Little information has leaked out about the content of the show itself. We just know that it will be substantially the same as the one presented as part of the American tour of the 34-year-old singer. And that the price of tickets will range from 70 to 245 euros depending on the category, i.e. current prices for this kind of big spectacular shows.
Guaranteed fares, unlike what happens in the United States, where the price of tickets is subject to the vagaries of supply and demand, in accordance with what happens when you book a train ticket or ‘plane. This caused a huge scandal during Bruce Springsteen’s tour, before being denounced by Robert Smith of The Cure and Neil Young. Let’s hope that our cultural exception still has a bright future ahead of it.
