'Total Frenzy': Swift Fever Grows in Latin America

Taylor Swift performs during her Eras tour at Sofi stadium in Inglewood, California. Michael Tran / AFP/File
Taylor Swift performs during her Eras tour at Sofi stadium in Inglewood, California. Michael Tran / AFP/File
TT
20

'Total Frenzy': Swift Fever Grows in Latin America

Taylor Swift performs during her Eras tour at Sofi stadium in Inglewood, California. Michael Tran / AFP/File
Taylor Swift performs during her Eras tour at Sofi stadium in Inglewood, California. Michael Tran / AFP/File

Excitement is building among Taylor Swift fans in Latin America who have endured months-long queues, expensive tickets and, in one case, assault to realize their dream of seeing the pop superstar.

The 33-year-old singer-songwriter, who holds the women's record for most number one albums, will bring her "Eras" tour to the region from Thursday starting in Mexico, followed by Argentina and Brazil, said AFP.

In Rio de Janeiro, Renan Rodrigues camped out for several nights to buy tickets for Swift's November 17-19 concerts at the Nilton Santos stadium.

The 24-year-old DJ, who performs at parties for Swifties, as the pop star's devoted fans are known, got tickets to all three performances.

But he paid a high price -- an assailant hit him on the head with a bottle for resisting an attempted robbery while he was waiting.

"They wanted to take my cell phone, and inside the case was my card from the only bank authorized for ticket sales. I just thought: they won't take my card," said Rodrigues, who suffered superficial injuries.

Tickets for Taylor Swift shows in Brazil cost between $35 and $468.

In Mexico, where young people earn an average salary of $366 a month according to official data, fans had to pay between $55 and $614.

Ingrid Cruz, founder of the official Mexican fan club, described the high cost as "abuse" and complained that VIP packages were prioritized over regular tickets.

Fans also reported problems with the platform of US retail giant Ticketmaster.

The vendor operates in Mexico as part of the powerful CIE entertainment and media group, which in turn controls around two-thirds of the local market for live shows.

Pre-sales for the four concerts in Mexico City were based on a previous registration of "verified fans" by email.

But even Joel Aguilar, creator of Taylor Swift MX, a fan site with some 20,000 followers from 20 countries, failed to qualify, he said.

Denisse Castro, 26, who has been unemployed for six months, hoped that building a credit history and obtaining a card from the bank sponsoring the concert would help her to secure good seats.

Unfortunately for her, the bank recently tightened its credit restrictions, so Castro could only afford the cheapest tickets.

In the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, a group set up camp outside the River stadium in June, five months before the concert, to ensure they have places near the stage.

"It's going to be a total frenzy," said Lara Palavencino, one of the fans, who take it in turns to reserve their spots.

Tickets sold out quickly in Argentina, despite the country's serious economic crisis.

In Chile, President Gabriel Boric, a self-proclaimed Swiftie, made an unsuccessful appeal to Swift to include his country on her tour.

And in Mexico, proving that the pop star's popularity transcends age, a 64-year-old Supreme Court judge outed himself as a Swiftie earlier this year.

"There's nothing trivial about Taylor Swift," Arturo Zaldivar wrote in a newspaper in June.



Where's Marty McFly's Guitar? Search Is on for ‘Back to the Future’ Prop 4 Decades Later 

Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 
Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 
TT
20

Where's Marty McFly's Guitar? Search Is on for ‘Back to the Future’ Prop 4 Decades Later 

Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 
Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 

Marty McFly grabbed a guitar in “Back to the Future” and rocked out with the band at a 1950s high school dance, helping him narrowly avoid blinking out of existence before time-traveling back to the 1980s.

The guitar, in real life, wasn't as lucky.

Filmmakers went looking for the instrument while making the movie's 1989 sequel, but even now it's nowhere to be found. Four decades after the blockbuster film debuted, the guitar's creator has launched a search for the iconic Cherry Red Gibson ES-345.

Gibson, which is based in Nashville, is asking the public for help tracking it down as the movie turns 40 and as the company produces a new documentary about the search and the film, “Lost to the Future.”

In a video by Gibson, with the movie's theme song playing in the background, “Back to the Future” stars such as Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Harry Waters Jr. make a cinematic plea. There's also a surprise appearance by Huey Lewis, whose band Huey Lewis and the News performed the soundtrack's headliner song, “The Power of Love.”

Lloyd, in the cadence of Doc Brown, says in the video that the guitar has been “lost to the future.”

“It's somewhere lost in the space-time continuum,” says Fox, who played McFly. “Or it's in some Teamster's garage.”

In the film, McFly steps in for an injured band member at the 1955 school dance with the theme “Enchantment under the Sea,” playing the guitar as students slow dance to “Earth Angel.” He then leads Marvin Barry and the Starlighters in a rendition of “Johnny B. Goode,” calling it an oldie where he comes from even though the 1958 song doesn't exist yet for his audience.

Fox said he wanted McFly to riff through his favorite guitarists' signature styles — Jimi Hendrix behind the head, Pete Townshend's windmill and the Eddie Van Halen hammer. After digging and dancing to “Johnny B. Goode,” the students at the dance fall into an awkward silence as McFly's riffs turn increasingly wild.

“I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet,” McFly says. “But your kids are gonna love it.”