Thousands of fans 'Taylor-gate' outside of Melbourne stadium

MELBOURNE, Australia — While 96,000 fans sang to Taylor Swift inside the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, thousands more continued the Eras party outside.

Swifties lined the concrete walls, filled every part of the outside lawn, and built a mini-community around friendship bracelets and hand heart signs.

"A lot of people didn't get tickets, which is sad," said Emily Becker, 16, who was up against a security barricade at Gate 7. "I cried for three hours when I couldn't get tickets, cause I've been a fan since 2007 when I was born."

Becker traveled 25 minutes from Eltham, a Melbourne suburb, with her friends to belt Swift tunes from the other side of the stadium door.

"She's like a mother to us all," Becker said.

Some fans not peeking through the stadium windows huddled over their phones to watch the global livestream show put on by social media influencer Tess Bohne.

"We can see what's going on inside while hearing it live outside with the strobing lights," said Calla Rix, 16, who will be going to the Sunday show in Melbourne. She came with her friend Micaela to be a part of the Swiftie community. "Getting to hear Taylor in real life is so cool."

During the "Red" era, thousands of voices belted "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" including Jackie Farah.

"We came to Melbourne with the hope that we could get some tickets," Farah said. She flew from Sydney with her daughter, Taylor, friend Rosanne and Rosanne's daughter Yvette. "We came last night, tonight and we're coming tomorrow night to witness the atmosphere."

They don't have tickets, they just want to be a part of the community.

Swift thanks Melbourne for kindess

During "Champagne Problems," Swift thanked her fans in Australia for being a welcoming community. She also stated that before the shows, her team is in-and-amongst the crowd and reports back to her.

"This crowd is very special, and I've known that before I've gotten on stage," Swift said on night two of her Melbourne stop, "because I always have little spies in the audience telling me what's up. I've gotten a lot of reports of you guys being extremely kind and wonderful to each other, trading friendship bracelets. I knew before I got on stage these were some of the best costumes anyone has seen on the entire tour."

"It's the coolest feeling in the world," she continued, "to think that people made friends tonight or met tonight who wouldn't have met otherwise and you met at our show and that makes me really happy. You guys are a great group of people, I'm so proud of you."

Follow Bryan West, the USA TODAY Network's Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.