T-Day: Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour to start Toronto run as city braces for crush of fans

By Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press on November 14, 2024.

Taylor Swift fans pose for a photo outside of Rogers Centre ahead of the opening night of Swift's Eras tour in Toronto, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO – Taylor Swift fans will converge on Toronto today as the Eras Tour settles in for a fortnight in the city.

Canadian Swifties have been waiting for this day for more than a year, after the pop star announced in August 2023 that she’d bring her record-breaking tour north of the border.

She’s due to perform six concerts over two weeks, drawing a crowd of 50,000 each night.

Some fans are coming to the city even without tickets, either in hopes of getting one at the last minute or to participate in one of the myriad Swift-themed events.

Those events include Toronto’s Version: Taylgate ’24, which is being billed as a gathering place for ticketless Swifties to celebrate their fandom, a waiting area for parents whose kids are at the concerts and an indoor spot for ticketholders to hang out before their show.

Meanwhile, a number of streets will be restricted to local traffic on concert afternoons and evenings to accommodate the crowds heading into and out of the Rogers Centre, with some roadways being closed altogether around the shows’ end.

Dozens of buses and streetcars have been added to transit routes around the stadium, and Metrolinx, the agency for Ontario’s GO Transit system, has also added extra trips and extended hours in some regions to accommodate fans looking to travel home.

“We are preparing for something that would be akin to maybe the Beatles coming in the “˜60s,” said Toronto Transit Commission spokesman Stuart Green.

Crowds had already started forming Wednesday as fans lined up to buy merchandise, including $60 T-shirts, $30 tote bags and sweaters that ranged from $90 to $115. Some of those fans had long ago secured their tickets, while others were hoping for a last-minute miracle.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.