While Dublin City Council continues to put off welcoming “Swifties” to the capital, independent events organized for Swiftie fans are selling out quickly ahead of the popstar’s three Irish dates.
Under the name SwiftFest24, the Alternative Dublin group has planned a number of fan activities, including friendship bracelet-making, trivia, and art sessions, at different venues over the course of the next three weekends.
Furthermore, when questioned again by the Irish Mail on Sunday of this week, Dublin City Council (DCC) would only commit to “activities” that “will complement the music genre associated with Taylor Swift,” in contrast to Liverpool’s council, which turned the city into “Taylor Town” to capitalize on the pop superstar’s three nights in town.
When pressed on the subject two weeks ago, a senior DCC source pointed to licensing concerns as justification for not holding fan events.
Alice Kelly, the Alternative Dublin events coordinator, called this justification “a cop out.”
Swift herself has been known to repost content related to “Swiftogeddon” events, which are unofficial club nights featuring only her music. There will be no fewer than eight of these events as part of the Dublin fan festival, according to Ms. Kelly.
Even though Swift might have been inclined to take legal action, she said there is no risk “if you’re careful about it” as they’re not using her entire name or face, or anything like that.
Taylor Swift festivities?
Ms. Kelly, who has tickets for two of the Aviva shows, mentioned that most tickets sold for the fan festival events are individual ones. She explained that while some people are buying tickets to attend with friends, the main aim of the events is to bring people together for activities that don’t just involve going out for drinks.
The events also cater to fans who haven’t secured tickets, which are as rare as “gold dust,” for any of the concerts. Ms. Kelly noted that many fans haven’t been able to get tickets but still want to partake in Taylor Swift’s presence in the country.
She observed that while other countries have organized large events for her arrival, there hasn’t been much planned locally, so they wanted to take advantage of that. She also added that the events are a great way to make friends and encouraged people to swap friendship bracelets after the events.
Furthermore, Ms. Kelly has criticized DCC’s failure to capitalize on the concerts as a huge missed opportunity. She pointed out that Taylor Swift has a strong sense of community among her fans, and if not everyone can get concert tickets, there should be a fan zone or similar event to bring people together.
Additionally, the Dublin-based event coordinator also mentioned that several people from outside the county are still looking for tickets and many plan to come anyway, even just to stand outside the stadium. She has seen videos from the European dates showing thousands of fans outside the stadiums.
And if everyone can’t get tickets to that, we may as well have some sort of fan zone or something to bring people together.
Alice Kelly, events coordinator with Alternative Dublin
When asked about its plans to mark “Swiftmania,” which had been teased as “something small and quirky,” a spokeswoman for DCC stated that the Taylor Swift concerts are just one of many major events occurring in Dublin City over the weekend of June 28/29, 2024, and no other major events have been planned for that weekend.
Lastly, Dublin-based superfan Claire O’Malley, originally from Ohio in the US, shared that she has a friend coming from the States and another from Sweden for a reunion, and they plan to tour the country together.
