$2,000 tickets at Soldier Field? Even the biggest Taylor Swift fans have their limits

Kelly O'Brien once rode her bike from Chicago to St. Louis for a Taylor Swift concert.

For more than a decade, she's gone above and beyond to see at least one of Swift's shows - and often several - on each of her tours.

But even O'Brien has her limits.

With ticket prices for this weekend's three concerts at Chicago's Soldier Field soaring into the thousands of dollars on the resale market, the Rolling Meadows native is drawing the line. Unless the 29-year-old can find a way to score reasonably priced tickets, she and her sister, Kaitlin, will miss their first Swift tour since the superstar was a teenager.

“It's been a real struggle this time around,” O'Brien said. “I'm willing to spend decent money, but I'm not ever going to spend what tickets are going for on StubHub. It's just not feasible for me.”

Like many Swift fans in November, O'Brien tried to buy tickets for the “Eras” tour through Ticketmaster. And, like so many others, she was shut out by a glitchy system.

As her last chance for going to one of this weekend's concerts, O'Brien, who now lives in Chicago, will bike to Soldier Field on Friday and hope StubHub prices drop significantly right before the show starts.

But with ticket prices starting at nearly $1,500 as of Wednesday night, O'Brien may be out of luck.

Jenna Lupo of Chicago experienced the same Ticketmaster futility in hopes of taking her 7-year-old daughter, Ella, to a Swift concert.

Lupo then saw a Facebook post from a friend who was selling tickets, and Lupo jumped at the opportunity. She electronically sent the friend $600 for the pair, but she never received the tickets.

It turned out her friend's Facebook account had been hacked by scammers.

Lupo has entered numerous contests trying to make her daughter's dream of seeing Swift come true. She's called in to countless radio stations to be winning caller number whatever, but to no avail.

If nothing else works, Lupo will wait until Ticketmaster possibly drops face-value-priced tickets into its system as showtime approaches.

“That's kind of our only shot, is to get a pair of last-second tickets,” Lupo said. “I can't justify spending three thousand dollars on a ticket, as much as I want to go.”

Batavia's Ed DeMask was among the lucky fans.

Despite also being unable to initially buy Ticketmaster tickets for himself and his 19-year-old son, Luke, he received an emailed code from Ticketmaster allowing him to buy tickets at face value - about $150 apiece - for Friday's show.

The 54-year-old father of three sons has spent years listening to Swift's music and other artists to bond with Luke, whose mother died from cancer in 2018. Ed even made a customized T-shirt inspired by Swift's “Lover” tour that he'll proudly wear to the concert.

“For me, it's just about connecting with my kids because I'm their only parent now,” DeMask said. “With my older sons, it might be through sports. With Luke, it's through Taylor Swift.”