 "Taylor Swift concerts in Austria cancelled amid terror attack threat")
Organisers have cancelled three Taylor Swift concerts in Austria following the arrest of two suspects allegedly planning a terror attack during the Vienna leg of her highly anticipated Eras Tour.
The sudden cancellation has left fans heartbroken, while also drawing renewed attention to the risks faced by large-scale concerts as potential targets for terror networks and lone attackers.
Swift was slated to perform three shows at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium from Thursday to Saturday. However, Barracuda Music, the promoter for Swift’s Austrian concerts, announced on Wednesday that all performances have been cancelled to ensure public safety.
“With confirmation from government officials of a planned terrorist attack at Ernst Happel Stadium, we have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety,” Barracuda Music stated in an online post. Swift’s official website has also marked the concerts as cancelled.
Suspect planned terror attack
In a press conference, Austrian police revealed that a 19-year-old Austrian citizen, identified as an Islamic State sympathiser, was arrested on Wednesday morning in Ternitz, Lower Austria. Another suspect was apprehended later the same morning in Vienna.
Authorities reported that the suspects had been radicalised online, with the 19-year-old having pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State group in July.
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Police also said that the suspects had taken concrete steps towards carrying out a terrorist attack, suspecting that explosives were stored at the Ternitz home of one of the suspects. Chemical substances found at the residence are currently being evaluated, the Associated Press reported.
Concerts cancelled amid threat
The arrests have led authorities to believe that the planned attack was targeting events in the Vienna region. In response, Barracuda Music has announced that all tickets for the cancelled shows will be automatically refunded within the next 10 business days.
Swift’s Eras Tour, which began in Glendale, Arizona, on March 18, 2023, has been extended multiple times since its announcement. The tour has taken Swift across the United States, South America, Asia, and Australia, and is currently in its European leg. The Vienna concerts were to be among the final stops before the tour moves to London’s Wembley Stadium next week and then conclude in North America later this year.
Swift’s tour impacted by tragedy
Just a day before the Vienna cancellation was announced, Swift had posted on Instagram after her performance in Warsaw, Poland: “I can’t believe we have two cities left on the European leg of The Eras Tour. It’s truly flown by. See you soon Vienna!”
The news of the cancellation comes just days after a stabbing attack during a dance class in Southport, England, celebrating Swift’s music, left three children dead and others injured. Swift expressed her shock and sorrow on Instagram, writing: “The horror of yesterday’s attack in Southport is washing over me continuously, and I’m just completely in shock.”
“The loss of life and innocence, and the horrendous trauma inflicted on everyone who was there, the families, and first responders,” she said, adding, “These were just little kids at a dance class.”
Concerts as targets for attacks
In recent years, music concerts and venues across Europe have increasingly become targets for mass attacks by Islamist militants. Notably, in November 2015, ISIS gunmen attacked the Bataclan Theatre in Paris, killing at least 130 people. In May 2017, the group also claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, which killed 22 people.
Swift herself has previously expressed her fears about such attacks. In a 2019 essay for Elle magazine, she admitted feeling ‘completely terrified’ to tour after the Manchester Arena bombing and the 2017 mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival, which remains the deadliest attack by a lone gunman in the US to date. She wrote about the extensive planning and security measures taken to protect her fans, fears that have also influenced her personal life, where she now carries emergency first-aid equipment for potential gunshot or stab wounds.