Taylor Swift is finally booking an Eras Tour stop in Toronto and making amends with a six-show stint in the city. The “Anti-Hero” singer-songwriter announced on Thursday that she will be spending almost two weeks in Toronto in the fall of 2024. Her first string of concerts is booked at the Rogers Centre — a venue with a capacity of more than 50,000 — on Nov. 14, 15, and 16, followed by another stint on Nov 21, 22, and 23. “Turns out it’s NOT the end of an era,” Swift teased on Twitter while announcing the second leg of her tour coming to Miami, New Orleans, Indianapolis and Toronto. The mega pop star said tickets aren’t on sale yet, but they will be on Wednesday. In the meantime, verified fan registration for Toronto shows is now open. American musician Gracie Abrams, who Swift has called one of her favourite friends while performing together in Ohio, will be joining her on stage in Toronto. In June, Canadian fans were left in the lurch when Swift announced 40 new dates for her Eras Tour, including Mexico, Europe, Asia and Australia – skipping Canada entirely. It seems Swift is eager to smooth over the rough patch with Canadians – the only other cities that got six shows were Los Angeles and Singapore. The original omission pushed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to tweet at Swift with paraphrased lyrics from her own songs, posting, Its me, hi. I know places in Canada would love to have you. So, dont make it another cruel summer. We hope to see you soon. TAYLOR SWIFT WILL HAVE ‘ENORMOUS’ IMPACT ON TORONTODestinations Toronto Executive Vice President Andrew Weir said Swift’s shows will have an “enormous” impact on the city’s tourism and hospitality industries when they need it most. “Thats a critical time for our industry, just as the time when a lot of business travel starts to subside, leisure travel for the holidays hasnt really picked up yet,” Weir told CP24. As the only city in the country with shows booked, Weir said he expects the geographic radius of Swifties inundating Toronto will be significant, and in turn, reflect a substantial monetary value. On average, Era Tour fans are spending U.S. $1,300 – equivalent to more than $1,700 in Canada – on tickets, merchandise, alcohol, food, parking and hotels, Canadian music correspondent Eric Alper told CP24. “You tabulate that, she could be raking in anywhere between $75 million and $100 million just based on these six dates alone,” Alper said. He notes that several days linger between Swift’s Toronto shows, which could leave room for more dates to be announced, or even a quick visit to stages in another major city, like Montreal or Vancouver. THE ERAS TOUR SO FARThe first leg of the Eras Tour launched in March with the final date booked in Brazil at the end of November 2023.After a few months to rest her vocal cords, Swift will be back on stage in Tokyo in February 2024. The three-hour concert takes fans through the eras of the Grammy-winner’s 17-year career, spanning from “Love Story” in her earliest era to her most recent “Anti-Hero.” With the first stretch of the tour nearly in the rear-view, Swift wrote, “really blows my mind that we have one last city on the US leg,” on Instagram this week before heading to Santa Clara. More than halfway through the eight-month stretch, and the hype for her tour has only roared louder, with her Seattle concert generating seismic activity equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake just last week. While Canadian Swifties are rejoicing about the new tour dates, securing tickets could be a battle in itself. When tickets for the first leg of her Eras Tour were released, Swift broke Ticketmaster with insufficient supply to meet the extraordinary fan demand.
|
