Taylor Swift Hasn’t Performed In North Carolina Since October 2015, Is This The Reason Why?
It seems like everyone is a huge Taylor Swift fan these days. She has become a cultural phenomenon and seemingly the biggest artist in the world. But I can promise you this is not a bandwagon I just jumped on. I am and have been for 16-17 years at this point (and have receipts to prove that) a huge Taylor Swift fan. So I consider myself an expert on all things Taylor. Throughout the course of her decade-spanning career, Taylor Swift has performed all over the country. She has embarked on 6 different headlining tours in that time span. First was the Fearless Tour in 2009 and 2010. She followed that up with the Speak Now Tour in 2011, the Red Tour in 2013, and the 1989 World Tour in 2015.
Taylor Swift In North Carolina
The one thing those tours had in common? All had stops in three different North Carolina cities- Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro. I was lucky enough to attend 10 of those 12 North Carolina headlining shows. But after the superstar’s October 21, 2015 stop in Greensboro on the 1989 Tour, North Carolina has been noticeably absent on both the reputation Stadium Tour (2019) and so far on the record-breaking Eras Tour (present). So why is that? The answer made sense when it came to the reputation Stadium Tour. This was the first full stadium (NFL) tour Swift had done. And at the time, concerts at Charlotte’s Bank of America stadium weren’t really a thing.
So it makes sense that Taylor Swift didn’t play North Carolina on that tour. She didn’t have a place to play. Luckily she went to a few neighboring states (Atlanta, GA, Nashville, TN, and Landover, MD/DC) so there were places to go. Working in the music industry and knowing some of the people that I do, I actually had heard that Charlotte was on the shortlist for a show. But touring plans were cut short due to the pandemic in 2020 (RIP Loverfest). And when the Eras Tour dates were announced Charlotte was again nowhere to be found. But why? At this point, new Panthers owner David Tepper is all about booking stadium shows. So why wouldn’t he book one of the biggest tours in history? I wish I had a surefire answer to that question- I’ll tell you now I don’t. But I do know that a lot of research goes into picking the markets where an artist plays. This includes album sales, streaming numbers, and previous ticket sales.
The Biggest Taylor Swift Fans Aren’t In North Carolina
This brings me to research provided by our friends at Betway. They conducted research to determine the state’s most obsessed with that songwriting genius named Taylor Swift. And well, North Carolina didn’t fare very well in the study. They analyzed Google data for terms relevant to Taylor Swift in the past 12 months. They then calculated the search numbers by population (searches per 10,000) people. Despite having 2,469,240 searches for Taylor Swift terms, that translated to only 1,255 per 10,00o people putting North Carolina 33rd out of 50 states. Conversely, South Carolina was 11th. Too bad they don’t have an NFL Stadium.
Is this truly why Taylor Swift didn’t bring the Eras Tour to North Carolina? Probably not. She could play in a field in the middle of nowhere Idaho and it would sell to whatever the declared capacity is. However, I have a feeling neither she nor her team anticipated the demand for tickets to be quite like what the Eras Tour has created. And even if she wanted to come to Bank of America Stadium, representatives with the stadium would have to agree to the deal she wants. So it is entirely possible the idea was brought up and a deal wasn’t reached. Regardless, I’m not one to let a lack of a hometown date keep me from seeing a show. I was on a flight from Charlotte to Glendale, AZ in March to attend the opening weekend of the Eras Tour. And there were a number of other people wearing Taylor Swift merch on my flight. I know numerous people who flew to other cities or drove to catch a show. I’m personally still holding out for more US dates (not that I’d be able to easily get tickets with the disaster that is Ticketmaster these days).
She Will Be Back
Will Taylor Swift ever return to North Carolina? My money is on yes. Each of those 12 headling shows in the state was sold out. Most in a matter of minutes. I hope it’s sooner rather than later. But until then I’ll enjoy the chance to explore new cities I may or may not have visited with Taylor.
