There were tears of relief for the first Taylor Swift fans to get tickets at the Orange Ticketek office on Friday morning.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Taylor Swift fans travelling from Sydney, Lithgow and Falcon Ridge to camp overnight to make sure they didn't miss out again on tickets to Swift's Era's tour in February 2024.
Among them was Xyla Rose who was the second person to purchase tickets, straight after her mother.
The 16-year-old struggled to contain her emotions once the purchase went through.
"I was so nervous but when I got it the relief, I've been trying for so, it's just so nice it's all over," Xyla said.
She said her favourite song was My Tears Ricochet, "everything about it is beautiful".
"Her music is just poetry you can dance to," Xyla said.
First in line
Xyla and her mother travelled from Lithgow to buy the tickets in Orange and the pair camped the night outside the office at Orange Civic Theatre arriving at 7pm.
She described camping overnight as exhausting and stressful.
"But it was nice with the group, we all talked," she said.
"Last time we went to Penrith and the line was just so big and we were like 230th in line, we figured at Orange there would be less people because it's more remote and we'd get here as soon as possible to guarantee that we'd be first because it's so important to us."
Xyla and her mother got five tickets between them and the whole family is going.
"My whole family we're all huge Swifties, it's what we bond over," she said.
Adelaide Gavin and Thomas Schilling were next in line and said they were "extremely excited" when their purchase went through after a stressful and nervous wait.
Ms Gavin arrived at 9pm and Mr Schilling arrived at 11pm and a friendship grew overnight.
"We didn't know each other before hand but now I've got friends from it which is really awesome," Ms Gavin said.
"My parents are from Orange but I was in Sydney yesterday and took the train back to come here for this."
"I'm the same, my parents live in Orange but then I came from Sydney before I go to uni there," Mr Schilling said.
What it was like overnight
Danni Hughes also camped overnight after arriving at 10pm.
Ms Hughes is from Orange and described the wait as "cold and uncomfortable".
"When I got here there were five in front of me," she said.
Plenty of others also travelled to Orange to buy tickets.
Among them was Ashleigh Collins who also came from Sydney to get tickets in Orange.
"I got here at 6am this morning but I stayed at Megan Prices' house [in Orange], now I've got to drive home," she said relieved she'd made her four ticket purchase.
Why Swifties travelled to Orange
Michael Gregson travelled from Faulconbridge in the Blue Mountains to get tickets for his wife and family and arrived a bit after midnight.
"I found out that the ticket release was coming today and I already had a [day off] booked and my wife said to me 'I want you to go line up at Panthers'," he said.
"Even though that's half an hour away I said to her 'you know what, I'd much rather go to Orange because I could see Panthers just being absolutely swarmed so we got the kids to bed and I made the trek straight out here.
"There were about five other people already here and everybody was really lovely and then we had one person join us at 1am and a steadily building crowd from about 4am."
Amelia Waller and Brooke Dombrain arrived before 6am.
"I came out of the womb listening to Taylor Swift," Amelia said.
"For me Taylor Swift communicates the issues that every single teenage girl goes through and the way she is so personal about her experiences and she's so open with her songs and that's something I really appreciate and I appreciate how much work and love she has for her fans."
When asked about their favourite songs Amelia nominated Evermore featuring Bon Iver, and Brooke said she likes anything from 1989.
"My Tears Richochet is good too," Brooke added.
"I love with her concerts how much work and effort she puts into it ... and making this possible when she released more dates for Australia to try to get everyone in as well."
Amelia already secured tickets in the first round but joined the queue in support of friends who missed out earlier.
"I'm here with them because I understand how much of an overwhelming experience it can be trying to get the tickets."
Multiple attempts
Plenty of people further along in the queue also had phones, iPads and laptops out in a back-up attempt to buy tickets online.
Many of Friday morning's buyers were also parents and grandparents.
Brooke Mobbs arrived at 7.20am and lined up to get tickets for her daughter and said she tried online last time and missed out.
Lyndall Hilder arrived at 7.30am.
"I'm lining up for my three daughters who missed out the first time and there was a lot of tears I've got to say so I thought I'd give it my best shot this time.
"I've been working from here on my laptop to try and get them a ticket."
Ms Hilder managed to get her ticket about 10.30am.
"I've got three thankful daughters who will be really happy," she said after the tickets were booked.
The final ticket sold at 11.30am.
Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.
Sign-up to our latest newsletter.