Taylor Swift's Vienna concerts canceled amidst thwarted terrorist attack

Three Eras Tour concerts in Vienna have been canceled after police discovered plans to attack the Taylor Swift shows

By William Hughes | August 7, 2024 | 9:51pm

Photo: Thomas Niedermueller/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

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Taylor Swift's Vienna concerts canceled amidst thwarted terrorist attack

Three concerts from Taylor Swift’s ongoing Eras Tour—specifically, three scheduled for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of this week, at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium, in Austria—have been canceled in the aftermath of a failed terrorist plot, according to a social media post from the event organizer. In an Instagram post shared by Swift’s team, organizer Barracuda Music wrote that “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.” The post added that anyone who’d purchased tickets for the shows would have their money refunded.

NBC News reports that Austria’s Chancellor, Karl Nehammer, addressed the cancellations today on Twitter, calling the situation serious. Austrian authorities have apparently arrested two men, at least one of whom had links to ISIS, who are accused of planning attacks on multiple points of interest in Vienna—including Swift’s concerts. (Austrian officials are reportedly seeking other people with “knowledge” of the plans; police there had previously said they didn’t expect the concerts to be canceled after the arrest, but those plans apparently changed.) Swift herself hasn’t posted anything in relation to the incident, although her website reflects the cancellations, and the Barracuda Music post was shared on Instagram by the Swift-run Taylor Nation account. She previously addressed her worries about such an attack in a 2019 interview in Elle, calling it her “biggest fear” in light of the Manchester Arena bombing and the 2017 Las Vegas concert shooting, and stressing all the work that goes into keeping “3 million fans safe over seven months” of her then-upcoming tours.