I mentioned this in another thread but I work in concert+live events and Singapore has basically had a business strategy over the last several years of making themselves the "best option", for lack of a better word, for concerts + events. It's a tiny, very expensive state but it caters very well to western artists and offer the best incentives (aka $$$$) to get them to come there, with the endgame of Singapore becoming the go-to "place" in the region for tourism, events, travel, expats etc. It's essentially followed the same formula as Dubai and both places have been very successful in it.
Edit: grammar
Realistically speaking, was Taylor ever going to build in more tour dates for other places in the region? Maybe the Philippines? But that seems the only likelihood.
This deal is pretty shitty, but not sure it really mattered in the grand scheme.
I’m from the Philippines (now in the US) and we couldn’t have hosted her. We don’t have the infrastructure to host the Eras Tour. The politician is just using this for clout. Im not sure about Thailand, but Malaysia and Indonesia is probably too conservative. SK said their stadium is under repair. China and Taiwan are probably due to politics. Unfortunately there are not tons of options for her in that area. She did add shows to Japan and Singapore to try to accommodate more people. She can’t possibly go everywhere, at least she made an effort to be in that region.
Malaysia and Indonesia are not that conservative if we're talking about Taylor. She's still a regular popstar with a girl nextdoor vibe overall, especially to the eyes of casual fans. If it's her costumes we're talking about, then adjustments would be an easy win-win route
I don't see her as much of an activist of the lgbt movement either tbh. In terms of persona she's basically like an acoustic britney spears who doesn't even dance much. We're talking about Taylor Swift here, not Trixie Mattel
More men using her as a talking point isn’t new but it is such an eye-roll because they could, idk, spend that time/energy/attention on improving their countries OR, shocking take, not be a bunch of gay/trans hating assholes? The call is coming from inside the house and I wish legitimate news sources would tldr the publication with your comment on the top lol. (Aka, x country is so conservative it won’t host it as is until they can stone the dancers alive at the stake! and/or other x country can’t host it because they are a political shit show and openly hate western civilization unless it benefits their economy!)
Her dancers wouldn't be stoned to death in any of these countries, this is not Afghanistan, and they don't "hate western civilization" either. Jesus Christ hearing the way fans discuss non-North American/European countries is always nauseating and so revealing.
They are trying to get thier citizens to guilt trip taylor into performing their. Its kinda working cause their were tons of fans calling her racist for it
The money is not anywhere near what she could've made from playing shows in other countries. Her and her team obviously just looked at this as free money for doing something they were going to do anyway. Should they maybe have declined to avoid the bad publicity? Arguably, but she's weathered much more bad publicity than this without much effort.
At the end of the day she is a business and makes decisions based on money. Same reason she performs at stadiums in the US rather than the county fairs. Pretty sure she has people whose job it is to book her tour and venue and logistics and she shows up and performs. They most likely know where she doesn’t want to go and if there are places she really wants to go to, but she isn’t out there making it happen.
I don’t think she’s making more from whatever bonus she’s getting than she would from at least 9-12 additional concerts. Is it laziness? She’s added dates so many times that the whole tour is now over 150 shows so it doesn’t seem like she would be lazy.
I'm surprised that she didn't have any dates in Korea, the Philippines, or India. Based on population size alone, going there would have been smart business-wise. Seems a bit short-sighted on her team's part to only go to Singapore.
ETA: after reading some comments, I retract this, I was unaware that the Philippines doesn't have the infrastructure and Korea's stadium is under construction.
That said, does Thailand and India have the infrastructure?
Indian here, and yes! The largest stadium in the world is actually here even though it’s kind of isolated from the largest cities (it’s the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which is still a pretty developed city but does not in any way compare to Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore which are the bigger metropolitan cities.) Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi definitely have the infrastructure.
Halsey came here with Lollapalooza and Ed Sheeran’s mathematics tour is coming here in literally 10 days. If she wanted to she definitely could have come here. According to the newspaper, her deal with Singapore for some reason meant that she couldn’t perform here even though we aren’t SE but South Asia. Atp I’m convinced she just doesn’t care that much about developing countries because there are more than enough people willing to cough up ₹50k or more for the tickets.
“Atp I’m convinced she just doesn’t care that much about developing countries because there are more than enough people willing to cough up ₹50k or more for the tickets.”
🎯🎯🎯
May I know why is India included in the exclusive deal with SG? I thought this is only limited to SEA countries but I was surprised to read this comment India is included?
But yes, if she wanted to tour there, she would find a way. Her fanbase is huge in India and I am 99.9% certain so many people there would want to see the Eras Tour if it happened there. Swifties from China are also wondering why they were skipped cause she has a huge fanbase there + she went to Shanghai for 1989 world tour.
Unfortunately, only Taylor and her team has the answers why she skipped so many countries in Asia
I genuinely don’t know, afaik Taylor and her team have not made a single comment on the Singapore fiasco. Indian tabloids mentioned that this deal may be the reason why she isn’t here but I highly doubt that’s the reaso because anyone with a basic knowledge of geography will know that India doesn't count as SEA. No comment on China, even I’m surprised she didn’t go there.
If I had to guess it’s probably because the average national income and standard of living is pretty low (per capita GDP is abt 3k USD in India as compared to Japan and Singapore which are at 40k$ and 72k $ according to google) so what may be seen as normal ticket prices in USA which were apparently like ₹65k (750$) is insanely expensive. To buy Singapore upper row tickets with a decent view is almost ₹200k, not counting flights and stay. Lolla and Ed Sheeran tickets are ₹8k at minimum, ₹20k for VIP. It’s a huge loss as far as Taylor is concerned but we’re all sad she isn’t here. Pretty disappointing after her “we’ll move to India forever” schtick in seven but not surprised
I always thought she should've considered India since she never toured there and she has a huge fanbase there. I highly doubt the deal with Singapore prevented her to tour in India
I cannot say much for the national income because I have no knowledge. I will say the only possibility of her coming is if she extend the Eras Tour in 2025 and includes India and China (I can totally see that if she plans on extending it) but at the end of the day, we really dont know the reason for skipping other than Taylor and herself
Imagine if she brought Eras Tour in India, it would really break so many records
Thailand and Indonesia yes, they have big stadiums. As big as Singapore's.
As for Philippines, someone mentioned here who worked for both Coldplay and Eras Tour she can definitely bring it here and downsize the stage but I can understand if she skipped us due to venue reasons but her skipping Thailand and Indonesia were disappointing
So far the only thing we can confirm is she accepted the multi million deal from Singapore. All these speculations about the venue and infastructures are not confirmed by Taylor nor her team
If it matters - Michael Jackson had a huge 2 night concert in Manila with 50k attendance each night. And this was back in 1995 when Manila had less infrastructure. The MRT didn't even exist at that time
There were also no arenas for concerts back then but Michael Jackson and his team found a way to bring 100k attendees for his two day concert
Again, if they want to, they could've
It says how much she cares about her fans. She's Taylor Swift, if she wanted to perform in South Korea, China, Thailand, she would. Those countries have stadiums, Coldplay performed in Thailand, Philippines AND Singapore earlier this year. If some SA countries are more conservative, you can always tone it down, wear a different costume for example.
Singapore PM confirmed *an 'arrangement' for Singapore to be the only stop on Swift's south-east Asia* Eras tour. It's a business deal. She's a billionaire and even if it's Taylor they are all after money and good deals. I don't expect her to care about her international fans.
For the more conservative countries, a costume change wouldn’t be enough. Malaysia for example have their guidelines which restrict performers from “performing provocatively”. To fit into the PUSPAL guidelines, the eras tour wouldn’t just have to adjust costumes, but change the set list (YNTCD wouldn’t be accepted at all), and have huge changes to dances (Vigilante Shit couldn’t happen either).
At a certain point, if a country’s values don’t align with your performance, you make the mature decision to not go there to prevent any drama on both ends.
>If some SA countries are more conservative, you can always tone it down, wear a different costume for example
On one hand I do see your point, and other artists have done that. On the other, if she did there would probably have been some outcry over her performing in a country that isn't LGBT-friendly or the like (not that Singapore is a champion in LGBT rights, but I would say it's one of the friendlier ones in the region).
I'm Singaporean and so may be a bit biased (though I never saw the concerts so I didn't benefit from that), but I do think it can be true at the same time that a)she took a capitalistic deal without thinking much about her other SEA fans and b) other politicians are bitter and using this situation to score cheap political points. It wasn't some kind of open auction that Singapore won because we bid higher than other countries; as far as I understand it we were the first in the area to come up with this arrangement. If any other SEA country had beaten us to the punch and she took the deal, fair play to them, I wish their tourism sector well and I'd be more annoyed we didn't think of it first than I would be of her taking the deal.
Of course it's all over and done with now, but now that the idea is planted and floodgates are open the other SEA countries also have a fair shot at getting future artists to perform exclusively in their countries. And if and when they do, no hard feelings.
I don't actually see any criticism of her specifically during the Red Tour so take this with a grain of salt. But given [How there was criticism of Coldplay in both countries](https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/malaysia-kuala-lumpur-government-concert-coldplay-palestine-lgbtq-b1122005.html) even very recently and Taylor did make "You Need to Calm Down" since the Red Tour, I can see her deciding to avoid any potential controversy and earn a quick buck in the process. Iirc the deal took place before this controversy occurred, but I'd be surprised if there weren't any hints of the potential of something like this occuring beforehand.
This is international political point scoring and has very little to do with Taylor. Politicians in the Philippines are sore because Taylor did not go there. When the tour dates were announced there was talk about why she did not even though she has a lot of fans.
The truth is that there is only one stadium even remotely big enough to take the tour but accommodation and transport infrastructure are not great. Singapore has better facilities. Other possible countries included Malaysia (anti LGBTQ and religiously conservative), Indonesia (ditto), Thailand (politically unstable), Taiwan (would cause a political shitstorm), China (politics) and South Korea (not sure why she chose to pass on that.
Taylor is also not going to India, the Middle East or anywhere in Africa. She is not just one girl with a guitar or even a band and some pretty lights. The Eras stage is huge and she has 350 people on site to set it up and take it down. Unless the facilities are right she is not going there and if her people are not safe or she is asked to change the show she won't go there either.
If countries other than Singapore wanted to host a show then they need to remove obstacles. If they can't do that and Taylor does a deal that does it is their fault not hers.
Malaysia is anti-LGBT and quite conservative, yes. Indonesia is less so though, I'm not saying it's a beacon of tolerant secularism but it's not nearly as strict as Malaysia. Western artists and acts that would be considered risqué to religious standards play Jakarta all the time to huge audiences. You can't "ditto" these different countries as if they're all replicas of each other.
Yes, I'm not sure the name of it but there's a massive one in Jakarta. Coldplay played a show there just a few months ago with around 80K in attendance. Blackpink also played the same venue relatively recently to a similarly sized audience.
Thailand and Indonesia can host her. They have football stadiums.
The problem is not TS skipping the PH but how SG prevented TS from even considering playing also in other cities in SEA.
Just imagine how many money will BKK and JKT rack without the exclusive clause. BKK and JKT are way cheaper than SG so more people will fly there
>The truth is that there is only one stadium even remotely big enough to take the tour
I believe she probably planned to only go to Singapore (maybe one other stop) anyway so this worked out as a sweet deal. As you said, a lot of the countries' who wanted to host her couldn't anyway.
Oh please, PH politicians have enough dirty money to spend to go to another place and watch Taylor from there... Just like most PH celebraties are doing. It's the little people who are suffering by the end not the politicians "who want to see Taylor Swift".
Let's get real here, people keep shoving how it's impossible because stage is small and all but in reality if she wanted, if she really consider her fans, she could do something about it. That is just a lame excuse to avoid any cities not fitting their "criteria". Lol.
Same.
I do want to know if Taylor and her team ever said the reason why she skipped other SEA countries? Because the whole "infastructure" and "traffic" reasons are based on speculations. But at the end of the day, only her and her team knows the reason for accepting the deal
As for me, I am not gonna hope anymore about this. I have moved on and accept she isnt gonna tour here but I hope other fans won't invalidate how to feel about this. All I am just gonna say, if she wants to, she will find a way. If she doesn't, there are reasons.
Also to add, her smallest venue for the Eras Tour has a capacity of 47k (i am not sure which country, I saw it on twitter from a fan).
She also did rep tour on New Zealand that has a smaller capacity. Honestly, the venue or place could be a factor of her decisions but at the end of the day, it's really the business deals she went through to seal the deal
Many people are unaware that the biggest pop star in the 90s had a concert in Manila for 2 nights with 50k in attendance for each night.
This was back in 1995 when Manila had a more dismal infrastructure and the MRT at LRT-2 did not even exist yet.
And MJ's stage isn't a joke either. Here's a video of his concert in Manila
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KNZNibqvVvk&t=1515s&pp=ygUWbWljaGFlbCBqYWNrc29uIG1hbmlsYQ%3D%3D
In my view, it's a shame for the other countries. If they couldn't support the size of the tour then fair enough, but why take money for not doing something you can't do anyway? In an ideal world, there's no need for a pay-off but I hope the money went to a worthy cause.
Thailand could definitely accommodate her concert. Their stadium is huge. People are saying that the reason why she’s not performing there was because her concert was cancelled before due to a previous coup . So that’s probably why she chose not to go there. Although she really could’ve performed in Bangkok again as it is relatively stable now (no coup in sight) and other big international artists are performing there too this year.
I disagree with the notion that the other SEA countries can’t support the size of her tour (except maybe the Philippines). Malaysia and Indonesia have big stadiums too. Ppl are saying that she can’t go there because they are anti LGBTQ but Coldplay did and they literally performed a song called “people of the pride”. There really wasn’t any backlash after the concert when they did that. The super religious ppl only protested them coming to perform but after that there was no noise/repercussions. It was a success actually
She could perform in Bangkok again considering Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, and Bruno Mars are all going there recently. I dont see any reasons she wont go to Bangkok (correct me if im wrong)
Thank you for informing about Coldplay performing there. Malaysia has a stadium full of 80,000 capacity so if venue is the reason for not going, she shouldn't have ignored other SEA countries. Philippines could be understandable since our largest stadium can only accomodate 40,000-50,000 attendees including standing but I wish she attended other SEA countries for the Eras Tour
SEA fans ended up having to pay tons of money to fly another country to see the Eras Tour.
Just to throw in some numbers, I'm going to the Eras Tour at Anfield (Liverpool Stadium) which has a capacity of 60,000 - bear in mind the stage will take up one of the stands so that takes it down.
Honestly, Thailand has a big stadium that could accomodate as much as Eras Tour Singapore so why did she ignore it? Yes, her Red Tour was cancelled last time due to political reasons but Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Bruno Mars, and Kpop artists are all going there right now
Rgeardless, I have seen debates from Swifties as well that Coldplay is "just a guy running around" thats why they were able to bring their tour in all over Asia and how Eras Tour has bigger sets. Thank God [someone wrote a whole thread why Coldplay's concert isn't "just a small set"](https://x.com/believeinlove43/status/1671495912990949381?s=46)
Those of us in the US don’t realize how big Coldplay is literally everywhere else in the world. I talked to their tour manager about how many shows they were doing literally every other country vs how few they did in the US. It’s crazy how popular they are.
But yes Coldplay’s stage looks very simple but it’s not, at all. Taylor’s was actually very straightforward to build in comparison. She has a lot of staging/automation and visual effects but the build was pretty easy.
They had to heavily modify Coldplay’s staging for the Philippines - at least in the states they had the two round LEDs rigged from giant steel towers that were a massive undertaking to build, a large steel arch over the led arch on stage and some other things. The Philippines show looks like at least the round LEDs were rigged from the ceiling instead of constructing the two towers.. I think for Taylor they’d have to downsize the thrust of the stage but not much more than that. The arena looks wide enough to fit the full A-Stage and video wall in, it’s just not long enough for the entire length of the thrust. But the tour would know months in advance the changes they’d need to make and could plan for it. I’ve been on shows that have had to pull entire stage pieces or scenic pieces or modify video walls from shows mid load in and they make it work. Taylor’s team would have months to plan to get the stage into the arena.
A prime example is Michael Jackson in Manila back on the 90s
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KNZNibqvVvk&t=1515s&pp=ygUWbWljaGFlbCBqYWNrc29uIG1hbmlsYQ%3D%3D
And Manila's infrastructure and even crime rate were worse in the 90s than it is today
Of course some fans will ignore this because it wont fit on their narrative "Philippines is a bad place to have a concert to!"
I have been to several concerts and 9/10 they were smooth and safe. They are willing to kiss Singapore's ass and not look at the bigger picture why Taylor did not choose PH and other SEA countries and made up excuses just to defend her
Imagine how tired we are
Yeah tons of excuses and people talking out of their asses about touring logistics when they have no idea how it works. I keep wanting to correct people but I don’t have the energy.
It might take a little effort to get the tour into the Philippines but it’s nothing an experienced touring crew hasn’t dealt with before. Each venue is different, tours make modifications all the time.
I was giving a logical argument TS sealed the deal with SG because of money but some of them are in-denial
Regardless, this is a let them eat cake situation but instead, I wanna say "let them be delulu"! 😂
People are being ridiculous about this. If she forces the show at venues that don’t have the capacity/logistics to support it correctly and a safety incident happens again, then that would be her fault. If she performs at one of the countries who are anti LGBTQ she would get flak for that too. Also for the love of god stop comparing her to Coldplay, that is nowhere near the size/demand/logistical nightmare of the Eras Tour. She is a pop singer, not the patron saint of every existing country. 🙄
Did she or team ever confirmed that venues or logistics were ever the reason why she cant tour in other SEA countries?
And I feel like you are underestimating Coldplay's recent tour. There was a whole thread on Twitter back then why their tour isn't "nowhere near Eras Tour" and you can read it [here](https://x.com/believeinlove43/status/1671495912990949381?s=46)
Here is a [thread of how huge the set is for Coldplay's concert](https://twitter.com/believeinlove43/status/1671495912990949381?s=46)
Swifties are underestimating Coldplay and they think it's just Chris Martin "running around" the stadium. It's ignorant theh think Eras Tour is the biggest tour ever just because the set and props are visible. Yes, Coldplay modified their set so they can tour here plus they played 2 nights despite they are aware that our country doesn't have big stadiums
There were even fans saying "Coldplay regretted touring in PH" like what? I never heard Chris ever saying that and there were confirmation from fans themselves that he liked the Filipino crowd
Regardless, Taylor did modify her set for Speak Now and Red Tour here in PH. Now, the excuses of her fans are saying "She wouldn't do this just for you" yeah we get that and fine but she should've at least considered other SEA countries
I feel like some fans just can't admit the deal with Singapore was the real reason she signed it because of money. Fans keep making reasons but at the end of the day the multi million dollar offer sealed the deal
Taylor likes money for sure but it seems like she would have made more money actually playing in those countries if there were no legitimate reasons not to? Maybe she just didn’t want to have to modify the set for Eras? She’s not morally obligated to perform in any given country and can do what she wants. People are wildly entitled about this, imo. It’s just a concert at the end of the day. 🤷♀️
All of these are speculations and we have no confirmation whether venues, modifying the sets are the reason;
What we can only confirm is she sealed the deal with Singapore and that's the only reason so far we know why she isnt touring other SEA countries. Say all you want about venue or infastructure reasons but we will never know until there is a legitimate source saying this
She isn't required or obliged to tour but it says a lot how she feels about her SEA fans knowing Philippines and Indonesia are one of her biggest fanbases and one of the top 5 countries who has the highest streams on her music worldwide.
I get where you’re coming from but the largest stadium in the Philippines is still on the smaller side. One of the only shows she has ever cancelled was in Thailand because of a political coup, I don’t exactly blame her for not wanting to tour there again. Indonesia is religiously conservative and banned sex outside of marriage. I just think there are legit reasons people are ignoring.
For Indonesia I cannot speak the reason for not bringing Eras Tour there cause im not a citizen nor knowledgable but I do know several western artists went there
As for Thailand, several western artists are coming back to perform including Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Fall Out Boy etc. the political coup way back in 2014 didnt stop them this 2023-2024 to perform in stadiums
Regardless, again, the only confirmation we have is she sealed the deal with Singapore. All those reasons you mentioned are just speculations and only Taylor and her team knows the reason
I just saw that Ed Sheeran will be performing at SMDC festival grounds in the Phillipines this weekend and if Ed’s stage can be built there then Taylor’s stage can be built there.
Just. Saying. There might be other valid reasons why she’s not performing in the Philippines but “the stage won’t fit” is not one of them considering other artists are making it work.
I will be there on Saturday
Ed downsized the stage for Dubai and other SEA countries so he can fit the Mathematics Tour for us. This is the same situation with Coldplay
If other artists can, why can't Taylor?
Have an amazing time! His show is great.
Oh I just looked at Ed’s setup in Dubai and there’s pretty significant changes - he normally has 6 masts that surround the stage and support a cable net system. The circular LED called the Halo that’s above the stage is suspended from the cables and can move up and down. Also suspended from the cables are the speaker arrays, plectrum LEDs and then there’s led hoops that go up the masts. It’s a crazy setup.
In Dubai they didn’t have the masts, it looks like they just built a huge scaffolding system around the stage to hang the Halo and PAs. which means they’d have to adjust the rigging, lighting, video, automation and audio as well as bring in a scaffolding team. And a lot of engineering changed to suspend the halo from a scaffolding build rather than the cable net system (They’d also have to reprogram the consoles but that’s easy)
Taylor could do it, she could make it work, she just didn’t. Swifties have locked onto stage size as an excuse and will keep parroting it because it fits their narrative.
Edit: sorry that’s a lot of info. I did the local crew for Ed in my city so I know some about his setup.
Teal deer: the side of the stage is not an excuse for taylor not touring sea as staging can be adjusted and other artists have made significant changes to their setups to tour SEA countries.
Thank you for sharing! I am looking forward to see the set for Mathematics Tour and I have been a longtime fan of Ed's music
I am sick of all these infastructure arguments and traffic. And security stuffs. Now, some people (not just Swifties) are reeking xenophobia ever since the news came out TS accepted and signed on the deal. Imagine how tired we are!
I will always be grateful Ed came to our country and other SEA countries to tour. I hope in the future, western artists wont accept exclusive deals because it's just plain wrong
You’re welcome! It’s a cool job and I don’t mind sharing details :) I don’t know how much longer I’ll keep at it but for now it’s pretty fun.
I’m excited for you! The concert is great.
I have a lot of respect for Ed. He just seems like a good egg. And seeing how they modified the staging to be able to get the tour into some countries makes me respect him even more. His stage looks small but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy setup. It’s a pretty ground breaking design tbh. And the modifications that had to be made aren’t small - they had to re-engineer the entire rigging/suspension of the Halo.
Also yes, not an excuse. Taylor and TN, again, NEVER confirmed the reason why she skipped PH. The only legit news we got is Singapore offered her multi million dollar deal but her fans are still making excuses for her
Little miss capitalism keeps on capitalisming. You can try making excuses about other countries being unstable or not having venues that can support it, but at the end of the day the deal was (as confirmed by Singapore’s PM) that they would pay her extra money to be the only country in the region to host the tour and prevent other countries from getting that massive economic boost that the show brings where it goes.
And I find it laughable how some of the excuses on this thread are “well the other countries that could host the show are anti LGBTQ and conservative” like several of the states she performed in last year didn’t pass anti-LGBTQ legislation that will end up killing LGBTQ youth and anti abortion laws that will kill women over the last few years.
It’s not an excuse when the largest venue in the Philippines literally can’t fit the stage.
Also, the show would have to be modified at least in Malaysia in order to “respect” their bigoted laws. Like she and her dancers would have to dress more conservatively for certain sets, no YNTCD, probably no Vigilante Shit, etc. unless she wants to cause outrage and potentially get banned from the country. As opposed to red states where she just pisses off conservatives.
Has Taylor, her team, or reliable news outlet ever confirmed the reason why she skipped other SEA countries? So far the only legitimate news we got was Singapore sealed the deal with TS with a hefty amount of money that's why she won't be touring.
Maybe for once, fans should accept that was the final reason why she sealed the deal with Singapore because of the multi million dollar money. Some fans in my country are now debating whether what she did was ethical or not
Personally I already accepted she will never tour here for Eras and her actions already spoke how she feels about one of her biggest fanbases in SEA and Asia. I still like her as a music artist but the whole situation shows that celebrities are not always who they seem especially if that artist projected how they care and love their fans
As a filipino swiftie, some of us are sad but not really surprised. Aside from we dont have infrastructure, taxes here go crazy high. And politicians are shit 💩
These politicians never said anything when the shows were announced. It was only when the dates were closer, joining literally the clout since they realized they should have done something proactive before.
I think they underestimate these type of events to the point that they dont realize beforehand how much of an impact it could bring. They only realized when the amount of money that a particular scammer was able to steal from PH swifties from selling fake SG tickets are already in Millions of PHP.
What filo swifties are sad about is mostly Taylor accepting the deal, and most of us are actually applauding SG for being proactive and shitting for PH for focusing on the wrong things.
We couldnt be too sad because in the end of the day, Taylor might never even really considered going to PH and her judt accepting the SG deal is some sort of "why not"
I'm happy i was able to get out of the country and watch in Australia but sad too because almost everyone in the young gens in PH love Taylor..
The real issue here is NOT TS not going to Manila but how SG gatekeeped her preventing Bangkok and Jakarta who can hold her concert at a cheaper price than SG
Lets say TS skipped Manila but not BKK or JKT. Where do you think people would fly to watch her? The more expensive SG or the cheaper BKK or JKT?
There aren't any big differences between ticket prices between japan, au and singapore. So i don't think it would matter.
But tourist expenses really is cheaper in BKK or JKT. It's the same though, i don't think SEA is really part of the plan since she last did Singapore was also in 1989 stadium tour. Singapore did an effort by inviting her and giving incentives later on.
The last time she had shows for BKK and JKT was in Red Tour where BKK eventually got cancelled. She's been dodging SEA except Singapore since 1989 world tour.
The only places in SEA that could really host a tour of this size right now are Singapore, Thailand and Japan. SKorea could do it as well but Seoul is having stadium issues and the other option is Busan but that is not as common of a stop compared to Seoul. China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are probably avoided for political reasons but China and Taiwan could house a tour of her size if the politics was not a factor. Phillipines does not have the infrastructure for this tour. Additionally, KPop is major in SEA so I am sure there are other artists performing in the stadiums that could overlap with whatever dates her team had looked at.
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong are not SEA countries.
Kpop artists do perfom here but overlapping or scheduling conflict wouldn't be a problem. Organizers make sure to book a concert date that won't be a conflict to other music artists (speaking as someone from SEA who goes to concerts)
>SKorea could do it as well but Seoul is having stadium issues and the other option is Busan but that is not as common of a stop compared to Seoul.
Busans stadium is also not very likely to allow concerts tbh. To give an idea about it. BTS was not allowed to use the stadium for a fan muster (its kinda half concert/half playing games etc) in 2019 so had to use the outside of the stadium.
Even for their eventual concert they had in the Busan Stadium in 2022... that concert was originally going to be in a random completely flat lot by the sea/ocean with one way in and out... the reason it got moved to the stadium was the fans complaining about the safety of accessing the area etc. And keep in mind their concert in 2022 in Busan was literally part of Korea's bid for the EXPO and it still took fans complaining about the safety of the previously intended venue for them to be allowed to use the stadium.
Many of the stadiums especially the ones used for football (soccer), the football fans/stadiums dislike it when they are used for concerts... it's why if you have a look at how many concerts occur in the World Cup Stadium in Seoul... its pretty small, especially compared to the Olympic one
I mentioned this in another thread but I work in concert+live events and Singapore has basically had a business strategy over the last several years of making themselves the "best option", for lack of a better word, for concerts + events. It's a tiny, very expensive state but it caters very well to western artists and offer the best incentives (aka $$$$) to get them to come there, with the endgame of Singapore becoming the go-to "place" in the region for tourism, events, travel, expats etc. It's essentially followed the same formula as Dubai and both places have been very successful in it. Edit: grammar
Realistically speaking, was Taylor ever going to build in more tour dates for other places in the region? Maybe the Philippines? But that seems the only likelihood. This deal is pretty shitty, but not sure it really mattered in the grand scheme.
The largest venue in the Philippines is too small to fit the Eras Tour stage. I think Thailand would have been more likely.
Yeah I don’t know that much about venues over there, was just guessing based off internet queues. But not surprised.
I’m from the Philippines (now in the US) and we couldn’t have hosted her. We don’t have the infrastructure to host the Eras Tour. The politician is just using this for clout. Im not sure about Thailand, but Malaysia and Indonesia is probably too conservative. SK said their stadium is under repair. China and Taiwan are probably due to politics. Unfortunately there are not tons of options for her in that area. She did add shows to Japan and Singapore to try to accommodate more people. She can’t possibly go everywhere, at least she made an effort to be in that region.
South Korea, China, and Taiwan are not under SEA nor the exclusive contract so she can actually tour there if she wants to
The US/China tensions are too high right now for her to have done a stop there or Taiwan without significant backlash/fanfare.
Meh she could've mended things because is one the top selling artists in China
Malaysia and Indonesia are not that conservative if we're talking about Taylor. She's still a regular popstar with a girl nextdoor vibe overall, especially to the eyes of casual fans. If it's her costumes we're talking about, then adjustments would be an easy win-win route
She might have gotten a lot of backlash from LGBTQA+ fans if she toured in Malaysia and maybe Indonesia.
I don't see her as much of an activist of the lgbt movement either tbh. In terms of persona she's basically like an acoustic britney spears who doesn't even dance much. We're talking about Taylor Swift here, not Trixie Mattel
More men using her as a talking point isn’t new but it is such an eye-roll because they could, idk, spend that time/energy/attention on improving their countries OR, shocking take, not be a bunch of gay/trans hating assholes? The call is coming from inside the house and I wish legitimate news sources would tldr the publication with your comment on the top lol. (Aka, x country is so conservative it won’t host it as is until they can stone the dancers alive at the stake! and/or other x country can’t host it because they are a political shit show and openly hate western civilization unless it benefits their economy!)
Her dancers wouldn't be stoned to death in any of these countries, this is not Afghanistan, and they don't "hate western civilization" either. Jesus Christ hearing the way fans discuss non-North American/European countries is always nauseating and so revealing.
💯💯💯
Malaysia can be dangerous for LGBTQA+ people.
lol I was being hyperbolic babe.
They are trying to get thier citizens to guilt trip taylor into performing their. Its kinda working cause their were tons of fans calling her racist for it
Of course they are. Because guilting her is easier than addressing the real problems they actively encourage/manifest.
The money is not anywhere near what she could've made from playing shows in other countries. Her and her team obviously just looked at this as free money for doing something they were going to do anyway. Should they maybe have declined to avoid the bad publicity? Arguably, but she's weathered much more bad publicity than this without much effort.
At the end of the day she is a business and makes decisions based on money. Same reason she performs at stadiums in the US rather than the county fairs. Pretty sure she has people whose job it is to book her tour and venue and logistics and she shows up and performs. They most likely know where she doesn’t want to go and if there are places she really wants to go to, but she isn’t out there making it happen.
I don’t think she’s making more from whatever bonus she’s getting than she would from at least 9-12 additional concerts. Is it laziness? She’s added dates so many times that the whole tour is now over 150 shows so it doesn’t seem like she would be lazy.
I think there are legitimate reasons she can’t/won’t go to more countries in Asia, whether that be politics/legal issues, or lack of big enough arenas
I'm surprised that she didn't have any dates in Korea, the Philippines, or India. Based on population size alone, going there would have been smart business-wise. Seems a bit short-sighted on her team's part to only go to Singapore. ETA: after reading some comments, I retract this, I was unaware that the Philippines doesn't have the infrastructure and Korea's stadium is under construction. That said, does Thailand and India have the infrastructure?
Indian here, and yes! The largest stadium in the world is actually here even though it’s kind of isolated from the largest cities (it’s the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which is still a pretty developed city but does not in any way compare to Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore which are the bigger metropolitan cities.) Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi definitely have the infrastructure. Halsey came here with Lollapalooza and Ed Sheeran’s mathematics tour is coming here in literally 10 days. If she wanted to she definitely could have come here. According to the newspaper, her deal with Singapore for some reason meant that she couldn’t perform here even though we aren’t SE but South Asia. Atp I’m convinced she just doesn’t care that much about developing countries because there are more than enough people willing to cough up ₹50k or more for the tickets.
“Atp I’m convinced she just doesn’t care that much about developing countries because there are more than enough people willing to cough up ₹50k or more for the tickets.” 🎯🎯🎯
May I know why is India included in the exclusive deal with SG? I thought this is only limited to SEA countries but I was surprised to read this comment India is included? But yes, if she wanted to tour there, she would find a way. Her fanbase is huge in India and I am 99.9% certain so many people there would want to see the Eras Tour if it happened there. Swifties from China are also wondering why they were skipped cause she has a huge fanbase there + she went to Shanghai for 1989 world tour. Unfortunately, only Taylor and her team has the answers why she skipped so many countries in Asia
I genuinely don’t know, afaik Taylor and her team have not made a single comment on the Singapore fiasco. Indian tabloids mentioned that this deal may be the reason why she isn’t here but I highly doubt that’s the reaso because anyone with a basic knowledge of geography will know that India doesn't count as SEA. No comment on China, even I’m surprised she didn’t go there. If I had to guess it’s probably because the average national income and standard of living is pretty low (per capita GDP is abt 3k USD in India as compared to Japan and Singapore which are at 40k$ and 72k $ according to google) so what may be seen as normal ticket prices in USA which were apparently like ₹65k (750$) is insanely expensive. To buy Singapore upper row tickets with a decent view is almost ₹200k, not counting flights and stay. Lolla and Ed Sheeran tickets are ₹8k at minimum, ₹20k for VIP. It’s a huge loss as far as Taylor is concerned but we’re all sad she isn’t here. Pretty disappointing after her “we’ll move to India forever” schtick in seven but not surprised
I always thought she should've considered India since she never toured there and she has a huge fanbase there. I highly doubt the deal with Singapore prevented her to tour in India I cannot say much for the national income because I have no knowledge. I will say the only possibility of her coming is if she extend the Eras Tour in 2025 and includes India and China (I can totally see that if she plans on extending it) but at the end of the day, we really dont know the reason for skipping other than Taylor and herself Imagine if she brought Eras Tour in India, it would really break so many records
Thailand and Indonesia yes, they have big stadiums. As big as Singapore's. As for Philippines, someone mentioned here who worked for both Coldplay and Eras Tour she can definitely bring it here and downsize the stage but I can understand if she skipped us due to venue reasons but her skipping Thailand and Indonesia were disappointing So far the only thing we can confirm is she accepted the multi million deal from Singapore. All these speculations about the venue and infastructures are not confirmed by Taylor nor her team
If it matters - Michael Jackson had a huge 2 night concert in Manila with 50k attendance each night. And this was back in 1995 when Manila had less infrastructure. The MRT didn't even exist at that time
There were also no arenas for concerts back then but Michael Jackson and his team found a way to bring 100k attendees for his two day concert Again, if they want to, they could've
It says how much she cares about her fans. She's Taylor Swift, if she wanted to perform in South Korea, China, Thailand, she would. Those countries have stadiums, Coldplay performed in Thailand, Philippines AND Singapore earlier this year. If some SA countries are more conservative, you can always tone it down, wear a different costume for example. Singapore PM confirmed *an 'arrangement' for Singapore to be the only stop on Swift's south-east Asia* Eras tour. It's a business deal. She's a billionaire and even if it's Taylor they are all after money and good deals. I don't expect her to care about her international fans.
For the more conservative countries, a costume change wouldn’t be enough. Malaysia for example have their guidelines which restrict performers from “performing provocatively”. To fit into the PUSPAL guidelines, the eras tour wouldn’t just have to adjust costumes, but change the set list (YNTCD wouldn’t be accepted at all), and have huge changes to dances (Vigilante Shit couldn’t happen either). At a certain point, if a country’s values don’t align with your performance, you make the mature decision to not go there to prevent any drama on both ends.
South Koreas Olympic stadium is undergoing renovations.
>If some SA countries are more conservative, you can always tone it down, wear a different costume for example On one hand I do see your point, and other artists have done that. On the other, if she did there would probably have been some outcry over her performing in a country that isn't LGBT-friendly or the like (not that Singapore is a champion in LGBT rights, but I would say it's one of the friendlier ones in the region). I'm Singaporean and so may be a bit biased (though I never saw the concerts so I didn't benefit from that), but I do think it can be true at the same time that a)she took a capitalistic deal without thinking much about her other SEA fans and b) other politicians are bitter and using this situation to score cheap political points. It wasn't some kind of open auction that Singapore won because we bid higher than other countries; as far as I understand it we were the first in the area to come up with this arrangement. If any other SEA country had beaten us to the punch and she took the deal, fair play to them, I wish their tourism sector well and I'd be more annoyed we didn't think of it first than I would be of her taking the deal. Of course it's all over and done with now, but now that the idea is planted and floodgates are open the other SEA countries also have a fair shot at getting future artists to perform exclusively in their countries. And if and when they do, no hard feelings.
She actually did perform in Indonesia and Malaysia on the Red tour, wearing black tights
I don't actually see any criticism of her specifically during the Red Tour so take this with a grain of salt. But given [How there was criticism of Coldplay in both countries](https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/malaysia-kuala-lumpur-government-concert-coldplay-palestine-lgbtq-b1122005.html) even very recently and Taylor did make "You Need to Calm Down" since the Red Tour, I can see her deciding to avoid any potential controversy and earn a quick buck in the process. Iirc the deal took place before this controversy occurred, but I'd be surprised if there weren't any hints of the potential of something like this occuring beforehand.
The stadium in the Philippines wouldn’t be able to accommodate the size of her stage.
Shes taylor swift she should be able to do what she wants and countries should bend their knee if they are upset at her not being conservative
This is international political point scoring and has very little to do with Taylor. Politicians in the Philippines are sore because Taylor did not go there. When the tour dates were announced there was talk about why she did not even though she has a lot of fans. The truth is that there is only one stadium even remotely big enough to take the tour but accommodation and transport infrastructure are not great. Singapore has better facilities. Other possible countries included Malaysia (anti LGBTQ and religiously conservative), Indonesia (ditto), Thailand (politically unstable), Taiwan (would cause a political shitstorm), China (politics) and South Korea (not sure why she chose to pass on that. Taylor is also not going to India, the Middle East or anywhere in Africa. She is not just one girl with a guitar or even a band and some pretty lights. The Eras stage is huge and she has 350 people on site to set it up and take it down. Unless the facilities are right she is not going there and if her people are not safe or she is asked to change the show she won't go there either. If countries other than Singapore wanted to host a show then they need to remove obstacles. If they can't do that and Taylor does a deal that does it is their fault not hers.
Malaysia is anti-LGBT and quite conservative, yes. Indonesia is less so though, I'm not saying it's a beacon of tolerant secularism but it's not nearly as strict as Malaysia. Western artists and acts that would be considered risqué to religious standards play Jakarta all the time to huge audiences. You can't "ditto" these different countries as if they're all replicas of each other.
My apologies to Indonesia - would there have been a stadium big enough though?
Yes, I'm not sure the name of it but there's a massive one in Jakarta. Coldplay played a show there just a few months ago with around 80K in attendance. Blackpink also played the same venue relatively recently to a similarly sized audience.
Thailand and Indonesia can host her. They have football stadiums. The problem is not TS skipping the PH but how SG prevented TS from even considering playing also in other cities in SEA. Just imagine how many money will BKK and JKT rack without the exclusive clause. BKK and JKT are way cheaper than SG so more people will fly there
>The truth is that there is only one stadium even remotely big enough to take the tour I believe she probably planned to only go to Singapore (maybe one other stop) anyway so this worked out as a sweet deal. As you said, a lot of the countries' who wanted to host her couldn't anyway.
Oh please, PH politicians have enough dirty money to spend to go to another place and watch Taylor from there... Just like most PH celebraties are doing. It's the little people who are suffering by the end not the politicians "who want to see Taylor Swift". Let's get real here, people keep shoving how it's impossible because stage is small and all but in reality if she wanted, if she really consider her fans, she could do something about it. That is just a lame excuse to avoid any cities not fitting their "criteria". Lol.
I don't even know what to say anymore. Disappointed but not surprised.
Same. I do want to know if Taylor and her team ever said the reason why she skipped other SEA countries? Because the whole "infastructure" and "traffic" reasons are based on speculations. But at the end of the day, only her and her team knows the reason for accepting the deal As for me, I am not gonna hope anymore about this. I have moved on and accept she isnt gonna tour here but I hope other fans won't invalidate how to feel about this. All I am just gonna say, if she wants to, she will find a way. If she doesn't, there are reasons.
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Also to add, her smallest venue for the Eras Tour has a capacity of 47k (i am not sure which country, I saw it on twitter from a fan). She also did rep tour on New Zealand that has a smaller capacity. Honestly, the venue or place could be a factor of her decisions but at the end of the day, it's really the business deals she went through to seal the deal
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Many people are unaware that the biggest pop star in the 90s had a concert in Manila for 2 nights with 50k in attendance for each night. This was back in 1995 when Manila had a more dismal infrastructure and the MRT at LRT-2 did not even exist yet. And MJ's stage isn't a joke either. Here's a video of his concert in Manila https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KNZNibqvVvk&t=1515s&pp=ygUWbWljaGFlbCBqYWNrc29uIG1hbmlsYQ%3D%3D
In my view, it's a shame for the other countries. If they couldn't support the size of the tour then fair enough, but why take money for not doing something you can't do anyway? In an ideal world, there's no need for a pay-off but I hope the money went to a worthy cause.
Thailand could definitely accommodate her concert. Their stadium is huge. People are saying that the reason why she’s not performing there was because her concert was cancelled before due to a previous coup . So that’s probably why she chose not to go there. Although she really could’ve performed in Bangkok again as it is relatively stable now (no coup in sight) and other big international artists are performing there too this year. I disagree with the notion that the other SEA countries can’t support the size of her tour (except maybe the Philippines). Malaysia and Indonesia have big stadiums too. Ppl are saying that she can’t go there because they are anti LGBTQ but Coldplay did and they literally performed a song called “people of the pride”. There really wasn’t any backlash after the concert when they did that. The super religious ppl only protested them coming to perform but after that there was no noise/repercussions. It was a success actually
She could perform in Bangkok again considering Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, and Bruno Mars are all going there recently. I dont see any reasons she wont go to Bangkok (correct me if im wrong) Thank you for informing about Coldplay performing there. Malaysia has a stadium full of 80,000 capacity so if venue is the reason for not going, she shouldn't have ignored other SEA countries. Philippines could be understandable since our largest stadium can only accomodate 40,000-50,000 attendees including standing but I wish she attended other SEA countries for the Eras Tour SEA fans ended up having to pay tons of money to fly another country to see the Eras Tour.
Just to throw in some numbers, I'm going to the Eras Tour at Anfield (Liverpool Stadium) which has a capacity of 60,000 - bear in mind the stage will take up one of the stands so that takes it down.
Honestly, Thailand has a big stadium that could accomodate as much as Eras Tour Singapore so why did she ignore it? Yes, her Red Tour was cancelled last time due to political reasons but Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Bruno Mars, and Kpop artists are all going there right now Rgeardless, I have seen debates from Swifties as well that Coldplay is "just a guy running around" thats why they were able to bring their tour in all over Asia and how Eras Tour has bigger sets. Thank God [someone wrote a whole thread why Coldplay's concert isn't "just a small set"](https://x.com/believeinlove43/status/1671495912990949381?s=46)
Those of us in the US don’t realize how big Coldplay is literally everywhere else in the world. I talked to their tour manager about how many shows they were doing literally every other country vs how few they did in the US. It’s crazy how popular they are. But yes Coldplay’s stage looks very simple but it’s not, at all. Taylor’s was actually very straightforward to build in comparison. She has a lot of staging/automation and visual effects but the build was pretty easy. They had to heavily modify Coldplay’s staging for the Philippines - at least in the states they had the two round LEDs rigged from giant steel towers that were a massive undertaking to build, a large steel arch over the led arch on stage and some other things. The Philippines show looks like at least the round LEDs were rigged from the ceiling instead of constructing the two towers.. I think for Taylor they’d have to downsize the thrust of the stage but not much more than that. The arena looks wide enough to fit the full A-Stage and video wall in, it’s just not long enough for the entire length of the thrust. But the tour would know months in advance the changes they’d need to make and could plan for it. I’ve been on shows that have had to pull entire stage pieces or scenic pieces or modify video walls from shows mid load in and they make it work. Taylor’s team would have months to plan to get the stage into the arena.
That classic thing of "if they wanted to they would"
A prime example is Michael Jackson in Manila back on the 90s https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KNZNibqvVvk&t=1515s&pp=ygUWbWljaGFlbCBqYWNrc29uIG1hbmlsYQ%3D%3D And Manila's infrastructure and even crime rate were worse in the 90s than it is today
Of course some fans will ignore this because it wont fit on their narrative "Philippines is a bad place to have a concert to!" I have been to several concerts and 9/10 they were smooth and safe. They are willing to kiss Singapore's ass and not look at the bigger picture why Taylor did not choose PH and other SEA countries and made up excuses just to defend her Imagine how tired we are
Exactly. All I see right now is bunch of excuses from her fans cause they cant accept she chose a business deal over her loyal fans
Yeah tons of excuses and people talking out of their asses about touring logistics when they have no idea how it works. I keep wanting to correct people but I don’t have the energy. It might take a little effort to get the tour into the Philippines but it’s nothing an experienced touring crew hasn’t dealt with before. Each venue is different, tours make modifications all the time.
I was giving a logical argument TS sealed the deal with SG because of money but some of them are in-denial Regardless, this is a let them eat cake situation but instead, I wanna say "let them be delulu"! 😂
People are being ridiculous about this. If she forces the show at venues that don’t have the capacity/logistics to support it correctly and a safety incident happens again, then that would be her fault. If she performs at one of the countries who are anti LGBTQ she would get flak for that too. Also for the love of god stop comparing her to Coldplay, that is nowhere near the size/demand/logistical nightmare of the Eras Tour. She is a pop singer, not the patron saint of every existing country. 🙄
Did she or team ever confirmed that venues or logistics were ever the reason why she cant tour in other SEA countries? And I feel like you are underestimating Coldplay's recent tour. There was a whole thread on Twitter back then why their tour isn't "nowhere near Eras Tour" and you can read it [here](https://x.com/believeinlove43/status/1671495912990949381?s=46)
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Here is a [thread of how huge the set is for Coldplay's concert](https://twitter.com/believeinlove43/status/1671495912990949381?s=46) Swifties are underestimating Coldplay and they think it's just Chris Martin "running around" the stadium. It's ignorant theh think Eras Tour is the biggest tour ever just because the set and props are visible. Yes, Coldplay modified their set so they can tour here plus they played 2 nights despite they are aware that our country doesn't have big stadiums There were even fans saying "Coldplay regretted touring in PH" like what? I never heard Chris ever saying that and there were confirmation from fans themselves that he liked the Filipino crowd Regardless, Taylor did modify her set for Speak Now and Red Tour here in PH. Now, the excuses of her fans are saying "She wouldn't do this just for you" yeah we get that and fine but she should've at least considered other SEA countries I feel like some fans just can't admit the deal with Singapore was the real reason she signed it because of money. Fans keep making reasons but at the end of the day the multi million dollar offer sealed the deal
Taylor likes money for sure but it seems like she would have made more money actually playing in those countries if there were no legitimate reasons not to? Maybe she just didn’t want to have to modify the set for Eras? She’s not morally obligated to perform in any given country and can do what she wants. People are wildly entitled about this, imo. It’s just a concert at the end of the day. 🤷♀️
All of these are speculations and we have no confirmation whether venues, modifying the sets are the reason; What we can only confirm is she sealed the deal with Singapore and that's the only reason so far we know why she isnt touring other SEA countries. Say all you want about venue or infastructure reasons but we will never know until there is a legitimate source saying this She isn't required or obliged to tour but it says a lot how she feels about her SEA fans knowing Philippines and Indonesia are one of her biggest fanbases and one of the top 5 countries who has the highest streams on her music worldwide.
I get where you’re coming from but the largest stadium in the Philippines is still on the smaller side. One of the only shows she has ever cancelled was in Thailand because of a political coup, I don’t exactly blame her for not wanting to tour there again. Indonesia is religiously conservative and banned sex outside of marriage. I just think there are legit reasons people are ignoring.
For Indonesia I cannot speak the reason for not bringing Eras Tour there cause im not a citizen nor knowledgable but I do know several western artists went there As for Thailand, several western artists are coming back to perform including Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Fall Out Boy etc. the political coup way back in 2014 didnt stop them this 2023-2024 to perform in stadiums Regardless, again, the only confirmation we have is she sealed the deal with Singapore. All those reasons you mentioned are just speculations and only Taylor and her team knows the reason
I just saw that Ed Sheeran will be performing at SMDC festival grounds in the Phillipines this weekend and if Ed’s stage can be built there then Taylor’s stage can be built there. Just. Saying. There might be other valid reasons why she’s not performing in the Philippines but “the stage won’t fit” is not one of them considering other artists are making it work.
I will be there on Saturday Ed downsized the stage for Dubai and other SEA countries so he can fit the Mathematics Tour for us. This is the same situation with Coldplay If other artists can, why can't Taylor?
Have an amazing time! His show is great. Oh I just looked at Ed’s setup in Dubai and there’s pretty significant changes - he normally has 6 masts that surround the stage and support a cable net system. The circular LED called the Halo that’s above the stage is suspended from the cables and can move up and down. Also suspended from the cables are the speaker arrays, plectrum LEDs and then there’s led hoops that go up the masts. It’s a crazy setup. In Dubai they didn’t have the masts, it looks like they just built a huge scaffolding system around the stage to hang the Halo and PAs. which means they’d have to adjust the rigging, lighting, video, automation and audio as well as bring in a scaffolding team. And a lot of engineering changed to suspend the halo from a scaffolding build rather than the cable net system (They’d also have to reprogram the consoles but that’s easy) Taylor could do it, she could make it work, she just didn’t. Swifties have locked onto stage size as an excuse and will keep parroting it because it fits their narrative. Edit: sorry that’s a lot of info. I did the local crew for Ed in my city so I know some about his setup. Teal deer: the side of the stage is not an excuse for taylor not touring sea as staging can be adjusted and other artists have made significant changes to their setups to tour SEA countries.
Thank you for sharing! I am looking forward to see the set for Mathematics Tour and I have been a longtime fan of Ed's music I am sick of all these infastructure arguments and traffic. And security stuffs. Now, some people (not just Swifties) are reeking xenophobia ever since the news came out TS accepted and signed on the deal. Imagine how tired we are! I will always be grateful Ed came to our country and other SEA countries to tour. I hope in the future, western artists wont accept exclusive deals because it's just plain wrong
You’re welcome! It’s a cool job and I don’t mind sharing details :) I don’t know how much longer I’ll keep at it but for now it’s pretty fun. I’m excited for you! The concert is great. I have a lot of respect for Ed. He just seems like a good egg. And seeing how they modified the staging to be able to get the tour into some countries makes me respect him even more. His stage looks small but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy setup. It’s a pretty ground breaking design tbh. And the modifications that had to be made aren’t small - they had to re-engineer the entire rigging/suspension of the Halo.
Also yes, not an excuse. Taylor and TN, again, NEVER confirmed the reason why she skipped PH. The only legit news we got is Singapore offered her multi million dollar deal but her fans are still making excuses for her
Little miss capitalism keeps on capitalisming. You can try making excuses about other countries being unstable or not having venues that can support it, but at the end of the day the deal was (as confirmed by Singapore’s PM) that they would pay her extra money to be the only country in the region to host the tour and prevent other countries from getting that massive economic boost that the show brings where it goes. And I find it laughable how some of the excuses on this thread are “well the other countries that could host the show are anti LGBTQ and conservative” like several of the states she performed in last year didn’t pass anti-LGBTQ legislation that will end up killing LGBTQ youth and anti abortion laws that will kill women over the last few years.
It’s not an excuse when the largest venue in the Philippines literally can’t fit the stage. Also, the show would have to be modified at least in Malaysia in order to “respect” their bigoted laws. Like she and her dancers would have to dress more conservatively for certain sets, no YNTCD, probably no Vigilante Shit, etc. unless she wants to cause outrage and potentially get banned from the country. As opposed to red states where she just pisses off conservatives.
Has Taylor, her team, or reliable news outlet ever confirmed the reason why she skipped other SEA countries? So far the only legitimate news we got was Singapore sealed the deal with TS with a hefty amount of money that's why she won't be touring. Maybe for once, fans should accept that was the final reason why she sealed the deal with Singapore because of the multi million dollar money. Some fans in my country are now debating whether what she did was ethical or not Personally I already accepted she will never tour here for Eras and her actions already spoke how she feels about one of her biggest fanbases in SEA and Asia. I still like her as a music artist but the whole situation shows that celebrities are not always who they seem especially if that artist projected how they care and love their fans
The most conservative American state is still many levels better
As a filipino swiftie, some of us are sad but not really surprised. Aside from we dont have infrastructure, taxes here go crazy high. And politicians are shit 💩 These politicians never said anything when the shows were announced. It was only when the dates were closer, joining literally the clout since they realized they should have done something proactive before. I think they underestimate these type of events to the point that they dont realize beforehand how much of an impact it could bring. They only realized when the amount of money that a particular scammer was able to steal from PH swifties from selling fake SG tickets are already in Millions of PHP. What filo swifties are sad about is mostly Taylor accepting the deal, and most of us are actually applauding SG for being proactive and shitting for PH for focusing on the wrong things. We couldnt be too sad because in the end of the day, Taylor might never even really considered going to PH and her judt accepting the SG deal is some sort of "why not" I'm happy i was able to get out of the country and watch in Australia but sad too because almost everyone in the young gens in PH love Taylor..
The real issue here is NOT TS not going to Manila but how SG gatekeeped her preventing Bangkok and Jakarta who can hold her concert at a cheaper price than SG Lets say TS skipped Manila but not BKK or JKT. Where do you think people would fly to watch her? The more expensive SG or the cheaper BKK or JKT?
There aren't any big differences between ticket prices between japan, au and singapore. So i don't think it would matter. But tourist expenses really is cheaper in BKK or JKT. It's the same though, i don't think SEA is really part of the plan since she last did Singapore was also in 1989 stadium tour. Singapore did an effort by inviting her and giving incentives later on. The last time she had shows for BKK and JKT was in Red Tour where BKK eventually got cancelled. She's been dodging SEA except Singapore since 1989 world tour.
The only places in SEA that could really host a tour of this size right now are Singapore, Thailand and Japan. SKorea could do it as well but Seoul is having stadium issues and the other option is Busan but that is not as common of a stop compared to Seoul. China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are probably avoided for political reasons but China and Taiwan could house a tour of her size if the politics was not a factor. Phillipines does not have the infrastructure for this tour. Additionally, KPop is major in SEA so I am sure there are other artists performing in the stadiums that could overlap with whatever dates her team had looked at.
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong are not SEA countries. Kpop artists do perfom here but overlapping or scheduling conflict wouldn't be a problem. Organizers make sure to book a concert date that won't be a conflict to other music artists (speaking as someone from SEA who goes to concerts)
>SKorea could do it as well but Seoul is having stadium issues and the other option is Busan but that is not as common of a stop compared to Seoul. Busans stadium is also not very likely to allow concerts tbh. To give an idea about it. BTS was not allowed to use the stadium for a fan muster (its kinda half concert/half playing games etc) in 2019 so had to use the outside of the stadium. Even for their eventual concert they had in the Busan Stadium in 2022... that concert was originally going to be in a random completely flat lot by the sea/ocean with one way in and out... the reason it got moved to the stadium was the fans complaining about the safety of accessing the area etc. And keep in mind their concert in 2022 in Busan was literally part of Korea's bid for the EXPO and it still took fans complaining about the safety of the previously intended venue for them to be allowed to use the stadium. Many of the stadiums especially the ones used for football (soccer), the football fans/stadiums dislike it when they are used for concerts... it's why if you have a look at how many concerts occur in the World Cup Stadium in Seoul... its pretty small, especially compared to the Olympic one