Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, Kenny Pickett and his fiancee Amy Paternoster have proven to be big fans of live music. Recently Pickett took some heat online for chugging a beer on stage at a Luke Combs concert.
Bob Pompeani Twitter
Steelers Kenny Pickett joins Luke Combs at a recent concert and enjoys an adult beverage
It is hard to give the guy a difficult time as the second-year quarterback from the University of Pittsburgh is only 25 years old. He works hard and deserves to play hard too. That is why fans everywhere were shocked when they heard he wouldn't be attending the recent Taylor Swift concert at Acrisure Stadium.
Taylor Swift Instagram
Taylor Swift sold out two shows at Pittsburgh Steelers Acrisure Stadium
Swift is a Pennsylvania native, who was born in West Reading and spent most of her childhood in Wyomissing. While those are considered Philadelphia suburbs, it still makes her a Pennsylvanian and Pittsburgh always shows her lots of love. For that reason, she chose to do two shows at Acrisure Stadium on her national Eras Tour.
Swift has become a larger-than-life figure for her catchy music and her commitment to advocating for women's rights and the fair treatment of artists. The shows were well over three hours long and contained songs from all of her multi-platinum albums. Swift even set a record for attendance at Acrisure with 73,117 people attending the Saturday show. This doesn't account for the thousands more that took to the streets and to the water to listen from a distance.
Hal B. Klein, Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Fans listen to Taylor Swift from the river outside of Pittsburgh Steelers Acrisure Stadium.
She is so wildly popular that when her tickets first went on sale last year Swift fans "broke" the Ticketmaster website. They completely underestimated the number of folks who would be buying tickets as verified fans and the site crashed.
This is not the first, nor only complaint about Ticketmaster. In fact, the Swifties terrible experience has led to a Senate hearing on the issue of price gouging. Senator Amy Klobuchar addressed the issues in a letter to Live Nation CEO, Michael Rapino relating to a bipartisan effort in Congress to regulate the ticket conglomerate.
"Ticketmaster is the story of a monopoly gone wild. They are a vertically integrated giant with Live Nation that can drive up prices and offer subpar services. That is why we will be holding a bipartisan hearing in the Senate on these issues so we can push for solutions."
Those tickets were snatched up immediately, primarily by re-sellers and offered for anywhere from $1,500 to $9,000. This saw fans everywhere scrambling to get their hands on tickets to the sold-out show. Although, if you waited until the very last minute, you were supposedly able to get some for as little as $550.
Steelers Pickett Offers Swift An On-Air Apology
It seemed to be a sure thing that Pickett and Paternoster, who are both known to be huge "Swifties," would attend and possibly even jump up on stage during the show. So you can imagine fans surprise when Pickett announced they wouldn't be there.
When asked about it by Steelers media, Pickett cited a very solid excuse and that was his impending nuptials. He and Paternoster are set to marry on June 24, 2023 in their home state of New Jersey.
"I'm pumped, we're driving home on Friday to get it all squared away. But yeah we're 10 days out. So I'm pumped."
Steelers.com
Steelers' quarterback Kenny Pickett speaks to the press
In shock, the reporter notes that this clearly means he will miss the Swift concert. The question to Pickett came in the locker room just one day before Swift's first show in Pittsburgh.
"Sadly we are, hope she can forgive us. Maybe we will be at the next one."
Swift may not have taken notice of Pickett and Paternoster's absences, but she was thrilled with Pittsburgh in general, gushing on social media about the Steel City shows. She took to Twitter to thank fans for coming out to see her.
"Pittsburgh thank you for making me feel sooooo at home in my home state. I mean... You broke the all time attendance record and we got to be the first tour to play your stadium twice. Thank you so much for everything this weekend. You were a mesmerizing crowd, like beyond."
Hopefully, Swift accepts Pickett's apology and continues to bless Pittsburgh with an extra show in the near future. Did you make it to the Swift show? How was it? What do you think of the Ticketmaster/Live Nation situation? Are prices for event fair for consumers? Do you think they have a monopoly? Do you think Swift will forgive Pickett? Click to comment below.
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