Taylor Swift, Janet Jackson to perform in Atlanta Friday; lines and traffic

ATLANTA — The City of Atlanta is preparing for a busy Friday with Janet Jackson’s second concert at State Farm Arena and Taylor Swift’s first concert happening just blocks away at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

It's the first time ever that Benz is having a three-day show, and all three of Swift’s shows are sold out. Vice President of Major Events for the Benz, Trina Smith, said 180,000 Swifties are expected at the stadium through the weekend.

"This show has been sold out for quite some time," she said.

Here are some things you'll want to know before heading downtown Friday.

Getting Downtown

• All parking tickets have been sold.
  • Driving is NOT recommended.
• Taking MARTA is recommended.
  • MARTA says it put additional trains into service to accommodate the large crowds.
  • MARTA police added more officers in rail stations and trains.
• Ridesharing is recommended, too.
  • How to avoid getting overcharged:
    • Use the Uber Reserve feature, which allows you to request a ride up to 90 days or 30 minutes in advance at any time.
    • Uber said that the price is then locked in at the time of the request and that trips are protected against pricing changes later on.

Tickets

• Tickets to Taylor Swift are sold out on Ticketmaster.
• Avoid getting scammed:
  • Vice President of Fraud for USAA Bank, Jeff Wolfe recommends:
    • Only buy tickets from reputable ticket sellers.
    • If the price is too good to be true, it probably is.
    • Recommends reading the terms and conditions of the payment methods you're using.
    • Try not to buy through social media, but if you're going to, see how recently that social media account was created.
    • If you're sending funds on PayPal, always send the payment as "Goods and Services," which covers you under PayPal's "Purchase Protection" feature.

"We definitely see a lot more kind of use of social media to learn about their victims," Wolfe explained. "That's a method that fraudsters will use to try and build comfort or familiarity, get their victims to feel more safe as they make that transaction.” 

Wolfe said this happens to people of all ages.

“I would love to be able to say there's a narrow band of ages that are really impacted. But the reality is, lots of different people from lots of different backgrounds and walks of life can fall for these scams," he added.

What to expect inside the Benz

If you were able to secure a ticket to the Taylor Swift concert, here are some of the things to keep in mind:

• Many of the men’s restrooms will be converted to women’s restrooms.
  • "When we had Taylor here in 2019, we do what we call a restroom conversion because we know our demographics are going to be 80% female," Smith explained.
• If you're looking for merchandise, there will be 26 locations inside
  • "We are recommending for folks, if you are looking to buy merchandise, don’t buy the first stand that you see. Walk to your section," she added.