Swifties from around the world descend on Scotland: Taylor Swift fans travelling from US and Philippines arrive in Edinburgh with hundreds joining the queue outside Murrayfield Stadium ahead of the first British date of her sell-out world tour. nobita

Hundreds of Taylor Swift admirers arrived in Scotland from all over the world to wait in line outside the stadium before her first British performance of the tour.

A bagpipe version of Swift’s hit song Love Story heralded her arrival in Edinburgh ahead of her sold-out Eras Tour.

Tomorrow, the singer of Tortured Poets Department will launch the second leg of her tour at the prestigious Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium in the city.

The American singer, 34, can also trace her ancestry to Scottish King William the Lion, who ruled from 1165 to 1214, giving her another familial connection to the nation.

Although tickets for the megastar’s performance are still available on resale websites, they have been seen going for an eye-watering £5,000 as fans scramble to get in at the last minute.

A full 48 hours before the celebrity arrived in the city for her tour, some devoted fans started to line up to get a glimpse and purchase merchandise.

Many have flown in across the world from the Philippines, Australia and the States, with one fan coming from Texas with his wife to see the star before he goes blind.

Many struggled to find accommodation in Edinburgh as hotels were quickly booked up despite tripling their rates during the megastar’s three-night residency between June 7 and 9.

Incredibly, some locals came to the rescue – with one man listing his property on Airbnb for £585 per night.

And after a mysterious private jet was spotted arriving in the city, fans went into overdrive speculating that she arrived a day early for the show.

Other items include £15 for posters and water bottles for those with a tighter budget.

Although the imminent arrival of Swift’s concert tour to the UK is sending her legions of Swifties into a state of frenzied excitement, it’s also very good news for the country’s coffers as well.

Her Eras tour is set to boost the British economy by almost £1 billion.

On top of the ticket price itself, fans also splash out on travel, accommodation, a pre-concert meal, official merchandise and many will buy a new outfit for the big occasion too.

Researchers have calculated each Swiftie attending an Eras concert in the UK will spend on average £848 to see their idol perform.

One fan told MailOnline Swift is rumoured to be staying at the popular Balmoral Hotel and has apparently booked out two entire floors after offering an entire wedding party £10,000 to move, they claimed.

A lot of that money will find itself in Edinburgh, with each fan predicted to splash out £848 on tickets, Travel, accommodation, outfits and other expenses

To give her a ‘Scottish welcome’, The Reel Time Band, an 11-piece band made up of eight highland bagpipers and three drummers, performed her song Love Story on the steps outside the venue, while wearing ‘era-fied’ kilts.

The singer disclosed that she has Scottish ancestry at a gig in 2015, so the stadium sponsorship signage was also changed from Scottish Gas to Scottish Lass to highlight her link.

Roddy Deans, pipe major of The Reel Time Band, said: ‘Taylor’s tunes translate surprisingly well to traditional Scottish instruments.

‘We’re all huge music fans, so we’re delighted to help welcome Taylor to Scotland in the best way we know how.

‘It’s been a lot of fun recreating Love Story on the bagpipes and putting this ensemble together.’

It took the band 32 hours of rehearsal to practise their take on Swift’s song, and they have played for people across the world, including the royal family.

Drone photos taken today showed workers setting up for the three-hour concert – where the American superstar will perform over 40 songs.

A trio of Swift fans have even flown across the Atlantic to see the Anti-Hero singer for the third time on her current Eras tour.

Margaux Eripret, Katie King and Megan Benner come from Allentown in Pennsylvania, a distance of 3,315 miles from Edinburgh.

They first saw her last month in Philadelphia and then again on Monday in Lyon, France and tomorrow night will be among 73,000 fans who will cram into Murrayfield, the home of Scottish rugby.

The friends joined hundreds queuing outside the famous stadium this afternoon to snap up merchandise.

Margaux Eripret, 23, said: ‘This will be our third time seeing Taylor on this tour. And the second this week!

‘We saw her first close to home in Philadelphia last month and then we decided to see her again in Lyon in France on Monday and tomorrow night in Edinburgh. We’ve made a trip out of it.

‘She’s amazing, although the set list is the same, she throws in a few different surprise songs at each venue.

‘I’ve seen her so many times, I first went to one of her concerts when I was eight and in the third grade at school.

‘I think she is an incredible artist and I’m so looking forward to being there tomorrow night. She brings something new every time.’

Katie King, 25, agreed and said: ‘Each venue there is a different vibe so even though this will be the third time we will have seen her it always feels quite fresh.

‘Lyon was fantastic – it’s where she broke the record for highest attendance by a female artist- but each crowd reacts differently depending on which country and which city.

‘There’s always that buzz and excitement which is amazing here in Edinburgh. It’s as much of a thrill as the first time we saw her in Philly.’

Megan Benner, 23, said: ‘That first time we were right up in the gods but in Lyon we were on the floor so had a much better viewpoint.

‘Tomorrow we are in the VIP area so it’s better still.

‘Edinburgh is a fantastic city so full of History and culture. You can see how many fans Taylor has here looking at this line for merchandise. I know she’ll raise the roof tomorrow.’

Olivia Peddle 27, meanwhile had the comparatively shorter trip from Leeds.

She has travelled up to Edinburgh with University of Birmingham friends Kia Clark, 27 and Orla Mallen, also 27.

Olivia said: ‘ I’ve never seen Taylor Swift before so I’m really excited.

‘I’d had tickets to see her in Hyde Park in 2020 but it was cancelled due to Covid.

‘I’ve wanted to see her so much and now finally I am, and Edinburgh is such a fantastic city. I can’t think of a better place to see the biggest selling artist of the year.’

Even the capital’s trams have been covered in adverts for the star’s latest album and hotel rooms have become hard to find.

Some hoteliers are charging a staggering £1,600 a night amid the shortage of rooms in the city.

Twitter and Facebook have each received thousands of posts from accounts advertising tickets for but the superstar’s Edinburgh shows at far below the rates of official resale sites.

Research by the company revealed that the chance to see Taylor Swift is the most likely event to have been affected by fake tickets (20 per cent) closely followed by Football fans seeking tickets for the Euros (18 per cent), the Wimbledon Tennis championship (15 per cent) and the Olympics and Paralympics (15 per cent).

Last year alone, more than 8,700 people reported they had been a victim ticket fraud, with a total of £6.7 million lost. This works out to an average loss of £772 per victim.

It seems extra caution should be taken when purchasing tickets through social media with 28 per cent of scams taking place here – of which 60 per cent occur on Facebook (with 80 per cent of respondents aged 35-44 saying they’ve bought fake tickets via Facebook), ahead of Instagram (45 pr cent), Tik Tok (33 per cent) and X/Twitter (17 per cent).

But the tour has caused controversy with some Scots after it was revealed this week that charity bosses have raised fears that rough sleepers in the Scottish capital are being offered temporary accommodation up to 100 miles away to make way for fans flocking to the city.

Amid the pressure for rooms, Shelter Scotland said a number of the people it supports have been sent by taxi to Aberdeen and Glasgow. One was offered a place in Newcastle upon Tyne.

The housing charity has said it is ‘a blatant injustice’ for homeless people to be ‘in direct competition’ with tourists.

There is no evidence of homeless people being removed from accommodation where they are already staying.

Rumours that the star has arrived early for the gig have been fuelled after BMW X5 security cars with bulletproof glass were spotted near a jet in Edinburgh – a car that the superstar has used to get around in before.

But there has been no sighting of Swift so far, and no confirmation if she was on the plane.

However several other theories have also been swirling around the internet with some fans believing she has arrived in Inverness on Wednesday, while others say she has arrived in Glasgow today.

But the theory most popular is that she was on the plane that arrived in Edinburgh Airport this afternoon.

Her last gig was in Lyon, France, on Monday, with fans believing she could have journeyed home for a few days of respite before starting her gruelling UK leg of her tour.

She will be doing 10 dates in the UK, then three in Dublin, over the course of 23 days.

But rival theories believe the Love Story singer has already arrived in Scotland after a luxury private jet of the same brand as hers arrived in Inverness in the Highlands on Wednesday.

After an anonymous Highlander noticed a plane in the night sky and used the well-known app Flight Radar to determine where it came from, speculation began to grow. It was discovered that the aircraft was a Dassault Falcon FA7X.

The star was born and raised in Philadelphia, which was the destination of that plane.

However, other internet detectives think the fan might have reached Glasgow after witnessing the landing of another opulent private jet this afternoon.

The star’s arrival in Scotland has been the subject of entire fan accounts dedicated to following her travels.