Not swift, but BI ‘Swifties’ shake it off, get Taylor tickets

There are fans, and then there are fans who go the extra mile and then some.

Mega-star Taylor Swift has many of those, she calls them “Swifties.” Two who live on Bainbridge Island faced one frustration after another for months, but they were able to shake it off and finally get tickets.

Samantha Christopherson said her oldest daughter, Marley, 9, has been wanting to go to the Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert since tickets went on sale in November. That’s when Samantha and her sister, Lilly, agreed that they would both attempt to buy tickets. Lilly would buy them in Glendale, AZ, for opening weekend March 17-18, and Samantha would buy tickets for Seattle July 23.

Lilly participated in the Verified Fan program. Capital One also had a special cardholder offer the day after the Ticketmaster presale that Samantha had planned on participating in. Lilly became a Verified Fan relatively easily, but Samantha was not as fortunate. The first presale for the concert series “broke the internet,” and Ticketmaster didn’t even open for general sales. Samantha spent all day on her birthday Nov. 16 refreshing the screen through Ticketmaster to no avail.

Over the next few months, Ticketmaster would drop sporadic ticket sales, but wouldn’t let Samantha participate because she had been unable to become a Verified Fan. Samantha made hundreds of phone calls to Ticketmaster and Capital One—again to no avail.

Her luck changed July 10. The Seattle Seahawks reached out to her after she had requested months ago to be on a suite waiting list for the concert at Lumen Field. They had two suites available on concert day with 24 spots in each for $42,000.

Samantha couldn’t afford that, so she posted online to let others know tickets were available so she could get her suite. Hundreds of people from Oregon to North Carolina to Canada contacted her. She chose families that also had small children or children with special sensory needs. By noon July 14 eight families had paid for their tickets with the cost shared evenly.

Samantha said she and her daughter became “pretty big fans” of Swift during COVID. She said Swift is a role model, and they both like the message of “beating the man. We beat the system a little bit,” in the way they got the tickets, she said. Even before she knew she’d get the suite she was looking for people to sell tickets to if she got it. “Other people were in the same boat,” she said. “It was a leap of faith. Everything lined up.”

She’d lose a few people who had said they were interested but got “cold feet,” but then she’d easily find someone else. “It was a whirlwind few days.” Samantha said she’s happy for those she was able to help. “It’s a dream come true for most of them. It will bring a lot of people joy.”

Samantha knows that first-hand. She actually got to go to the Swift concert in Arizona as her sister did get tickets. She also got to see her mom, who had a heart transplant. But Marley was unable to go. “It was eating me alive if she wasn’t going to be able to go” to the concert in Seattle. Now that they are going, Samantha said, “I probably set her up for disappointment for years to come because it won’t be the same.”

As for the concert itself, it was everything Samantha had hoped for. “Many happy tears were shed, and the joy of our younger Swifties was immeasurable,” she said. “Everyone brought friendship bracelets or stickers to share and trade with each other. Memories of a lifetime were made, and it was truly a magical experience.”

Katie and Marlowe Chatwin of Oregon and Heidi and Emma Selbee of North Carolina were chosen to buy the tickets in the suite with the Christophersons. Those wives met because of their veteran husbands and “shared a crazy idea to figure out how to get our daughters to see Taylor Swift together and meet for the first time. We couldn’t have done it without our Swiftie fairy Samantha, a fellow momma who had a dream and gave her all to make it happen,” the moms shared in an email.

Samantha said her business Bainbridge Event Rentals sponsored a “Timeless Taylor” dinner for guests to share in the suite. “I don’t believe anyone left the space for the duration of the show. The sets and performances were incredible, and lifelong friends were surely made out of our starting group of strangers.”