Taylor Swift's Vienna shows canceled after thwarted terror attack
Swift's concerts in London next week have not been canceled, but officials said they're ramping up security.
Taylor Swift’s three planned concerts in Vienna this week have been canceled due to concerns over terrorism, organizers said on Wednesday.
“Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Vienna shows cancelled due to government officials confirmation of planned terrorist attack,” Barracuda Music, an Austria-based music promoter group, wrote on Instagram. “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.”
Swift’s official website also lists the Vienna shows as canceled and said tickets will be refunded within the next 10 business days.
Swift was scheduled to perform at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna on Thursday, Friday and Saturday as part of the international leg of her "Eras Tour." Each show was sold out, with an estimated 65,000 fans expected at each of the three shows.
?? What happened?
The news comes after two suspects were arrested by authorities in Austria earlier on Wednesday, one of whom was accused by authorities of planning a possible attack at the concert venue.
Franz Ruf, the public security director at Austria’s interior ministry, told the Austria Press Agency that a “targeted raid was carried out this morning” on a “19-year-old perpetrator.”
Ruf added that the 19-year-old in question had “pledged an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State group” and is believed to have become “radicalized on the internet,” the Associated Press reported.
The Austrian Interior Department said in a news release that both suspects "had taken concrete preparatory actions for a terrorist attack.”
?? What we know
Police initially arrested two people in connection with the attempted terror attack: the aforementioned 19-year-old and a 17-year-old.
On Thursday night, a third suspect, an 18-year-old, was arrested as well. None of the suspects have been publicly named.
A 15-year-old was brought in for questioning as well and said he knew about the plan, but police do not believe he helped devise the attack or intended to participate.
Authorities told reporters at a press conference that the main suspect, the 19-year-old, confessed to wanting to commit an attack outside the stadium during the concert — where tens of thousands of fans would be gathered — using self-made explosives and knives.
The New York Times reported that the 17-year-old was already known to police and had just started a job for an events service provider that works with Ernst-Happel Stadium.
In a post on X, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer called the cancellation a "bitter disappointment for all fans," but he emphasized that the "planned terror attack in Vienna was very serious."
A bomb squad reportedly seized chemical substances it found at the home of one of the suspects. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said that Islamic State group and al-Qaida materials were also discovered.
In a press conference Thursday, Nehammer defended the decision to cancel the concerts, saying the arrests of the suspects happened too close to the shows.
?? London, the next stop on the tour, prepares
Variety confirmed that Swift’s concerts at Wembley Stadium in London have not been canceled. Her London stop, which is set for Aug. 15-20, will be the last dates on the international leg of the tour. A hospitality staff member at the venue also told Variety that Wembley is currently ramping up its security.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan told Sky News that the city and its police learned a lesson following the Manchester Arena bombing that killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in 2017.
“We’ve got a huge amount of experience in policing these events,” he said. “We are never complacent. Many lessons were learned.”
??? What Swift has said about concert safety fears in the past
In a 2019 interview with Elle magazine, Swift mentioned that her biggest fear was violence at her concerts and failing to keep her fans safe. She referenced the Manchester Arena bombing and the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting as reasons for why she was reluctant to tour.
"I was completely terrified to go on tour this time because I didn't know how we were going to keep 3 million fans safe over seven months," she said. "There was a tremendous amount of planning, expense and effort into keeping my fans safe."
Updated, 9:10 a.m. ET (The piece has been updated to reflect breaking news developments.)
