FACT CHECK: Fans did not climb up Singapore stadium roof for Taylor Swift concert

Claim: Two fans climbed onto the roof of the Singapore National Stadium to watch Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” because they did not have concert tickets.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The claim was made by the page Blogtamsu, which has a sizeable following of 7.5 million with 6.1 million likes.

Since publication on March 8, the post has gone viral internationally, garnering 56,000 reactions, 10,000 shares, and 5,400 comments in various languages as of writing.

Most of the commenters seem to believe the claim, perhaps because of the photo attached to the post showing what appears to be two people dangling from the metal structure of a roof and suspended several feet above the ground while a performance was taking place.

The post was subsequently shared on the social media platform Reddit.

The post may give other future hopeful concertgoers and fans who were unable to secure tickets for Swift’s sold-out concerts a similar idea, which could be potentially dangerous.

The facts: The post claims to show fans climbing the “concert roof in Singapore.” However, the roof in the picture does not resemble the roof of the Singapore National Stadium, the concert venue where Swift performed for six nights from March 2 to 9 as part of her global “The Eras Tour.” 

Previous Swift concerts: It is worth noting that Blogtamsu did not say when the fans supposedly climbed up the concert roof. Swift had performed in Singapore in 2015, 2014, and 2011 as part of her “1989,” “Red,” and “Fearless” world tours, respectively.

She performed in the Singapore Indoor Stadium during those occasions. However, Blogtamsu’s picture does not resemble the roof at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Photo montage: Using Google reverse image search, Rappler found that Blogtamsu’s picture is likely a photo montage combining images of the live music venue Velaria de la Feria León in Guanajuato, Mexico, and unruly attendees of a 2022 concert.

The picture posted by Blogtamsu was not taken in 2024. A quick search for the exact image on Google produces a link to an Instagram post dated January 22, 2022.

Other searches for the exact image led to a post on meme website verbub.com that shows the same picture from Blogtamsu, with a Spanish-language caption that reads in English: “My best friend and I at our favorite artist’s show.”

More searches led to Mexican singer and songwriter Santa Fe Klan’s concert at Velaria de la Feria León on January 19, 2022.

The concert made headlines after concertgoers bypassed security, knocked down fences, and started climbing up the venue’s stands to watch the show. In the aftermath, a series of memes about the concert cropped up on social media. This included a meme with the exact photo in Blogtamsu’s post. Notably, majority of the posts were dated January 21 or January 22, 2022, just days after the Santa Fe Klan concert fiasco. The Facebook posts also had a similar caption: “Raza era concierto de Santa Fe Klan. no Exatlon 🤣. Feria de León 2022.”

Some of the Facebook posts credited the image to an individual named “Barquera.” Barquera originally shared the image in a Facebook post on January 21, 2022 and it went viral.

A Facebook user named Villanueva Nay commented on Barquera’s post saying that it is a “photo montage”, attaching a photo showing people climbing up the stands at Velaria de la Feria León in 2022 so that they could watch Santa Fe Klan’s concert.

In Villanueva Nay’s photo, two individuals who were climbing up the stands resemble the individuals in Barquera’s photo who were dangling from Velaria de la Feria León’s roof. 

It is likely that the two individuals were cropped out of the original photo and added into another photo of the Velaria de la Feria León. Barquera replied to Villanueva Nay’s photo montage comment and said, “I did it”, most likely confirming that he had made a composite image of the Velaria de la Feria León roof and the two individuals who were climbing up the stands. – Rappler.com

Fiona Tan is affiliated with Mothership Singapore and is a #FactsMatter Journalism Fellow for 2023-2024. 

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