As Taylor Swift's Eras Tour continues around the country, fans aren't letting Ticketmaster get in the way of catching a glimpse at the sold-out shows.
Swifties are taking over streets and parking lots near the Eras Tour venues to sing along to their favorite songs without having to enter the stadiums — an act that fans have deemed "Taylor-gating."
"I’m sure Taylor heard double the voices she was expecting because we were all out there singing even though we weren’t inside," Michaela Hogan, a fan who attended one of Swift's Nashville concerts from a parking lot, said on a TODAY segment that aired May 19.
The growing trend gives fans who didn't score a seat to the 52-night tour a chance to hear Swift's songs after a bungled ticketing process from Ticketmaster late last year.
Fans faced outages and hours-long wait times as they tried to secure tickets to Swift’s shows on Ticketmaster in November, sparking national outrage.
Ticketmaster said in a November statement there was "historically unprecedented demand" for tickets during the presale, and eventually canceled the general on-sale for tickets.
Swift slammed the ticketing company in a statement on her Instagram story at the time.
"It’s really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse," she said. "I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could."
But fans aren't letting their lack of tickets stop them from crisscrossing the country to be near the concert venues. Officials in Glendale, Arizona, where Swift started the tour, said tourism traffic rivaled turnout for the Super Bowl.
"I wanna cry, I wanna throw up, and I wanna pass out," said one fan of the atmosphere at a Philadelphia Taylor-gate.
Fans are bringing snacks, drinks and even air mattresses to their tailgates, which is costing them much less than the tickets being sold for thousands of dollars on ticket resale sites.
"Full on dance floor right here — screaming, everything," a fan in Philly said on TODAY.
Some venues like Massachusetts' Gillette Stadium, where Swift is performing from May 19-21, only allow ticket holders to park, so fans are preparing to walk or ride-share to get to their Taylor-gates.
