It was a wild and frustrating scramble to secure coveted seats to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour in Toronto during the presale on Wednesday morning, when the first batch of high-demand tickets were listed on Ticketmaster. 

From endless queues to scarce access codes to exorbitant prices, some Swifties have even summarized the race to secure Eras Tour tickets as "The Great War," cleverly paying homage to Swift's own bonus track off her Midnights album. 

I was like the 6000 person in the que when it FIRST started and I still didn’t get tickets. I’m actually heartbroken pic.twitter.com/v0eoBqQ3qO

— Charlotte will get Toronto era’s tickets (@swiftiebeebee) August 9, 2023

The first two out of six Toronto dates — which are set for Nov. 14 and 15, 2024 — went on sale on Wednesday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.

The next two dates — Nov. 16, and Nov. 21, 2024 — will go on sale on Thursday at the same times, with presale tickets for the following dates available on Friday. 

Wednesday's exclusive presale was available to only a limited number of registered verified fans through Ticketmaster, who received a unique access code to purchase tickets.

Today was not supposed to be this stressful gonna have a full on mental breakdown cause of these stupid tickets

— jackieee🐧 (@jackiee005) August 9, 2023

No code means no opportunity to purchase tickets, leading thousands of devoted fans to enlist the help of their parents, friends, fellow Swifties, loved ones, and coworkers to sign up for the verified fan onsale in hopes of receiving the prized code. 

Among the lucky pool of Swifties who managed to secure tickets to the first night of the six-show run in Toronto was GTA resident Cierra Pittari, who was the only person out of her 13-person friend group to receive an access code. 

people getting waitlisted/declined/accepted for eras tour tickets are just as stressful as getting your college decision reactions😭😭😭

— saanvi🪐 (@erodagold) August 9, 2023

After logging onto the Ticketmaster site at 10:15 a.m. and waiting in a 4,000-person queue, Pittari told blogTO that she encountered another frustrating issue at checkout. 

"As soon as you got into the site, I would click on a seat, and as soon as you click on it to click checkout, all of a sudden the seat was gone," she explained. 

i’m going to freak out basically no one got codes and i know like actually ZERO people who were able to get the actual tickets???

— shannon 🩵 (IN MY ERAS ERA) (@holygroundsound) August 9, 2023

Trying to secure tickets essentially transformed into a game of whac-a-mole, with seats being snatched by fellow Swifties as soon as they were selected by others. 

After approximately 15 minutes of trying to check out, Pittari managed to secure tickets in the lower bowl of Rogers Centre for $511 each. 

this was the most stressful ticket sale of MY LIFE

— amelie (@amelierodd) August 9, 2023

"I had my whole family and we were all like 'What the heck is happening, this is crazy,'" she said. "It was a rough experience." 

Besides the sky-high prices, another common complaint among Swifties was the hefty service fees attached to already expensive tickets, which sometimes increased totals by approximately $80 to $90. 

I successfully bought two Taylor Swift tickets and it was the most stressful 2 hours of my life

— Austin Britt☀️n (@ustinPartner) August 9, 2023

"It was so difficult to actually get tickets, I know people who got codes and weren't even able to buy tickets," Pittari told blogTO.

"Ticketmaster obviously doesn't really do a great job at these types of things. It was probably the hardest experience I've ever had trying to buy tickets for a concert." 

But all hope is still not lost for Swifties without tickets, as waitlisted fans still have a chance of receiving a unique access code for the remaining Eras Tour shows planned in Toronto.

The six-show run at the Rogers Centre will take place from Nov. 14-16 and Nov. 21-23, 2024.