Taylor Swift at Murrayfield still out of reach for many fans

The eagle has landed. Taylor Swift is in the building and now we’re a nation of haves and have-nots.

The haves will be swapping handmade bracelets at Murrayfield as we speak.

The have-nots will be crying into their Eras Tour hoodies or still desperately trying to get into this weekend’s extravaganza in Edinburgh.

“Taylor Swift IS the music industry,” the saying goes. Never has it felt so true than now as Scotland welcomes the guitar-toting billionaire and just about loses the plot in the process.

Fans queuing for The Eras Tour in Melbourne, Victoria as Taylor Swift achieves world domination. Image: Shutterstock.

Record shops are, for the first time in decades, the only place to be on a Saturday afternoon for any self-respecting teenager.

CDs are a thing again and so is vinyl (although for many of us, it never went away).

It’s like we’ve been transported back to 1989 (Taylor’s Version) when young people actually talked to their friends and pored over sleeve notes.

If there’s one positive to not managing to snag a ticket, it’s the bonding at events such as Taylor Swift listening parties at Aberdeen’s HMV and elsewhere.

The album 1989 (Taylor’s Version) on CD and vinyl. Image: Shutterstock.

It’s done wonders for Taylor tribute acts such as Xenna, who plays Stonehaven and Peterhead in August.

Then there’s the accurately-named Taylormania at the Tivoli in Aberdeen in October.

So, fret not, despondent Swifties, there’s a show near you. And anyway, at those big stadium shows the artist looks like a kirby grip on a stage really.

Taylor Swift’s music at Murrayfield… and St Machar’s

Even places of worship are doing their bit for fans, with Aberdeen’s St Machar’s Cathedral holding a musical Tribute to Taylor Swift on Saturday July 6.

With all the scams flying around and my head swimming with the hysteria of it all, I’m about as suspicious as Donald Trump’s hairline and I’m taking nothing for granted.

I gave St Machar’s a call to check this centuries-old high kirk is indeed hosting a candlelit concert with beloved songs such as We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.

Even St Machar’s Cathedral is hosting a concert tribute to the music of Taylor Swift. Image: Chris Sumner.

I had a lovely chat with Carol, who confirmed it’s true, but made sure I understood there’s no singing, just music, from Grampian String Quartet.

I told her it sounded positively delightful and I’ve now added it to my growing list of Taylor Swift engagements which don’t actually include Taylor Swift.

Taylor Swift Eras Tour to boost UK economy by nearly £1 billion

Barclays has estimated The Eras Tour will give a near £1 billion boost to the UK economy.

It’s called Swiftonomics. If you think of Trussonomics, it’s just like that except with the exact opposite result.

While I’ve been writing this, I’ve either dodged two scams or missed out on two sets of coveted tickets, I guess we’ll never know.

I have to admit, it was a close one. After sending up a flare and an all-points bulletin as my ticket search intensified this week, I got a text from my best mate’s friend’s workmate who thought she had a lead.

Murrayfield in Edinburgh is the venue for Taylor’s three Scottish gigs. Image: Shutterstock.

It was on a Facebook page called Edinburgh Ticket Exchange. It looked reasonable enough, even if the top listing was a job lot of pocket-sprung, memory foam mattresses.

I put that down to someone absent-mindedly wandering over from Gumtree and carried on.

There then followed a frenzied five-way conversation by every means of communication available.

This included WhatsApping my sister while doing semaphore for my husband and tapping frantically on Instant Messenger and normal messenger.

How the ticket scammers work

The sellers would transfer the tickets to my own TicketMaster account and only then would I pay.

Then the messages came back, I’d have to pay about £60 first as they were worried they were getting scammed.

Myself, my friend’s friend and her workmate all then paused in suspended animation while I made a phone call. I know, old school right?

The Tivoli Theatre in Aberdeen is hosting a show called Taylormania. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson.

I rang my sister’s friend’s son because I’d heard his pal had been conned last week.

No one can say I’m not well connected.

I explained ‘the play’ and he said it was exactly how it went down with his friend, because that’s how I talk now I’m plugged in to the Swiftie mafia.

In the words of Taylor Swift, I probably do Need to Calm Down, but I’ll keep you posted as I’m off to Edinburgh anyway to follow more promising leads. And I’m getting walkie talkies.