Wearing only a black T-shirt, jeans and wrist full of friendship bracelets, Bridget Saric embraced the Canadian cold.
She had been in it for only a few minutes, standing at the back of the line for Taylor Swift gear outside the Rogers Centre. Originally from Queensland, Australia, and now living in London, England, Bridget had flown to Toronto for the Eras Tour — her 15th time seeing the concert — with parents Lisa and Spock.
“It’s very cold,” said Bridget, her vowel-heavy Aussie accent sending vapour into the early-morning sun. “I don’t want to carry around two jumpers, so I was like, ‘I’ll buy one here.’”
The Sarics arrived only a half-hour before the Rogers Centre stores opened at 10 a.m. Despite warnings from organizers that lineups wouldn’t be permitted before 9 a.m., some fans arrived as early as 6 a.m. to get their spots in the queue, all in the hopes of grabbing a T-shirt, blue crewneck or poster ahead of the big concerts.
Swift will play six sold-out shows at the Rogers Centre spread across two weekends, starting Thursday. It’s the second-last stop on her Eras Tour, the 149-show, multibillion-dollar behemoth that long ago became the highest grossing tour of all time.
And while concert merchandise will be available on show days only to those who have tickets — some of whom have paid thousands of dollars for their seats — the Rogers Centre’s three stores opened to non-ticketholders for the first time on Tuesday.
The Rogers Centre was ready. Aisles of metal barricades had been set up outside the three Eras Tour stores, with metal detectors ready at the doors and staff patrolling the area. Outside gate 10, they had even set up a concession stand with popcorn, chips and cotton candy. Nothing had sold, though, the employee said.
On the other side of the Rogers Centre, under the shadow of the CN Tower just after 8:30 a.m., Samantha Hunter and Dana Krychowski stood on one side of a crack in the sidewalk. That’s where Rogers Centre property ends, they said, and even though stadium staff told them they couldn’t queue before 9 a.m., they started their own line off the property.
When 9 a.m. came and fans started entering the official line, the Rogers Centre speakers started blasting Swift’s tunes. “Bad Blood” was first.
Catherine York and Ella Quinn, Grade 11 students in the Markham/Stouffville area, stayed with family in Toronto the night before and arrived outside the Rogers Centre at 6 a.m. They came without coats and instead stood shivering in pyjamas and Taylor Swift Crocs.
“We’re missing school for this,” York said. “My chemistry test, I’m taking the zero.”
Both York and Quinn have already seen the Eras Tour — York in Argentina, Ella in Detroit — but are determined to see it in Toronto again. They plan to head downtown for each of the six shows and scour the resale market to get any tickets they can.
Those tickets could come with a four-digit price tag. The spending started on Tuesday, when they each emerged from the Rogers Centre with about $500 worth of shirts, crewnecks, quarter-zips and posters. What was the budget?
“There is no budget,” York said.
