5 things you didn’t know about Taylor Swift and Vancouver

Vancouver’s Taylor Swift era is coming to an end.

With the final show of the record-breaking Eras Tour taking place on December 8, 2024, Vancouver has been the center of the universe for Swifties around the world for the past few days.

And it will have a lasting impact on the city; about $97 million of direct spending in Vancouver is expected because of the shows.

The 34-year-old pop star has been to Vancouver a few times before, starting with shows more than a decade ago at Rogers Arena as part of the Red Tour. She has even played BC Place a few times before.

Despite her popularity, she is unlikely to set the record for most fans in BC Place for one show; Ed Sheeran’s small stage allowed more than 65,000 to fit into the stadium last year.

However, Swift probably has the most fans in BC Place during a tour, as no other shows have filled BC Place three times.

In the future, there may be a new fact to add to this list, as a camera crew was spotted over the weekend on stage with Swift during her show, meaning official concert footage from Vancouver may surface in the future.

1. Betty video

Victoria is, famously, not Vancouver. However, the provincial capital is part of this because a street in the neighborhood was used for one of Swift’s lyric videos.

“Betty” was a single out of Folkloreone of Swift’s 2020 albums.

While an official music video was not released, a simple lyric video was. The video shows the text and a sidewalk between a street and a soccer field.

It might make more sense that that location is somewhere from Swift’s past, but it’s actually just one ferry ride away from Vancouver in Fairfield, a neighborhood in Victoria.

The clip is a piece of stock footage that has been slowed down with a filter applied to it. It is only 33 seconds long, so it appears in the text video.

2. The average ticket price for the Eras Tour in Vancouver was not the highest

While the tour ends here and the ticket prices are epic, Vancouver seems to be a close second when it comes to what the average fan spent.

The Indianapolis shows at Lucas Oil Stadium cost fans an average of $3,071, USA today reports. They were the last in the US.

Vancouver tickets in the week before the show averaged $2,952. However, this number may change as last-minute tickets are sold just before the performances. Last minute tickets were also dropped. Originally priced at $17, they jumped to upwards of $5,000.

3. Up to 40 percent of fans came from outside of Canada

Canada’s borders were bustling with Swifties the past few days, as an estimated 40 percent of attendees came from outside of Canada, according to Destination Vancouver.

With somewhere around 180,000 ticket holders for the shows, that would be around 72,000 international fans.

StubHub, the ticket retailer, says fans from at least 49 countries are coming to the show.

4. She was quoted during a Canucks hockey game by John Shorthouse

John Shorthouse is an absolute legend to Canucks fans. The longtime broadcaster has been the voice that has described many of the team’s greatest moments over the past few decades, either on the radio or on television.

As a 54-year-old hockey broadcaster, he surprised some people when (in the middle of a 2020 game against the Edmonton Oilers) quoted “arrow” from Folklore.

“In the words of Taylor Swift,” Shorthouse said. “The more you say, the less I know.”

And then he went back to doing play-by-play.

5. For the first time, Vancouver’s steam clock has changed its tune

It may not be news that the Gastown steam engine plays a Taylor Swift tune.

However, not only is it the first time a pop song has been played, but it is the first time it has been played other than “Westminster Chime Melody”.

For over 45 years, the same tune played on the clock’s whistles, but that changed on December 5, 2024.

Whether it will play something else is unknown.