Organizers have cancelled three of Taylor Swift's concerts in Austria after authorities said they had thwarted a planned terror attack at the Vienna stop of the singer's successful Erasu tour.
The unusual decision, which could come at huge costs to Vienna's economy, shocked fans and drew renewed attention to the vulnerability of large concerts as a prime target for terror networks and militant groups.
According to Barracuda Music, which is organising the Austrian concerts, Swift was due to perform three shows in the European city from Thursday to Saturday, but all have now been cancelled.
"After government authorities confirmed a plot to attack Ernst Happel Stadium, we have been forced to cancel the three planned shows for everyone's safety," Barracuda Music said in an online post on Wednesday.
Swift's official website also said the concerts had been cancelled. CNN has reached out to a representative for comment.
Police said at a press conference in the capital that a 19-year-old Austrian national they identified as an ISIS sympathizer was arrested in Telnitz, Lower Austria, on Wednesday morning. Another arrest was made later in Vienna.
Police said the suspects were "radicalized by the internet," and that the 19-year-old pledged allegiance to ISIS leaders in July.
Late Wednesday, police said they had made "additional arrests," but did not give a number or other details.
Taylor Swift will perform at Paris' La Défense arena in Nanterre, France, on May 9 as part of her Hellas tour.
Authorities said the suspects took "concrete preparatory steps" for a terror attack after police suspected explosives were stored at the suspects' home in Telnitz. Police also seized and tested chemical substances from the 19-year-old's home, the Associated Press reported.
"Based on the current state of the investigation, we presume that the target of the attack was an event in the Vienna area," police said.
In a post on
"We live in a time when the Western way of life is under attack by violent means," he said. "Islamist terrorism threatens the security and freedoms of many Western countries." That is why we will not let go of our values, such as freedom and democracy, and will defend them even more fervently.
Barracuda Music announced that all tickets for the canceled shows will be automatically refunded within the next 10 business days.
Swift's record-breaking Eras Tour kicked off in Glendale, Arizona on March 18, 2023, and has been extended several times. Since then, she has toured the United States, South America, Asia, Australia, and is currently on a European tour before returning to North America.
Heartbroken fans
It would not have been an easy decision for Vienna authorities to cancel three high-profile shows, given the unexpected profits Swift's shows bring in.
Her tours have made headlines because they have boosted the economies of the places she has visited. In London, for example, the tour has generated an estimated $380 million in revenue, the mayor of London said in June. It's a powerful example of her stardom and the "Swiftonomics" that has accompanied her gigantic tour.
Vienna was set to be the penultimate stop on the European leg, with Swift set to play five nights at London's Wembley Stadium next week before moving to Canada for the final leg of the tour in November and December.
Taylor Swift performs at "Taylor Swift | Taylor Swift" The Eras Tour onstage at San Siro in Milan, Italy, on July 13, 2024.
Authorities said they expect around 65,000 spectators to attend each of Swift's shows in Vienna, with an additional 15,000 to 20,000 fans gathered outside the stadium.
The day before the cancellation of the Vienna show was announced, Swift posted on Instagram after a performance in Warsaw, Poland, "Hard to believe there are still 2 cities left on the European leg of the Eras tour." Time flies. See you, Vienna!
The cancellation came as a shock and disappointment to fans, including many who were in Vienna for the show.
Vanessa Szombacely, 24, had planned to fly from Ireland to Hungary, where she and her best friend would drive across the border to Vienna to attend the show. It was her first Swift concert since becoming a fan in 2018, and she had been looking forward to it since buying tickets last summer.
"I have mixed emotions, from tears to anger," she told CNN on Wednesday, adding that she was grateful the suspect was arrested. Concerts Targeted
In recent years, European music performances and venues have been the target of mass attacks by Islamic extremists.
In November 2015, IS militants attacked the Bataclan theater in Paris, killing at least 130 people in total, as part of attacks that also hit other targets in Paris.
And in May 2017, a suicide bomber claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people.
Swift herself has described these attacks as her "greatest fear."
In a 2019 essay for Elle magazine, she wrote, "After the Manchester Arena bombing and the Las Vegas concert shooting, I was scared to go on tour this time because I didn't know how I was going to mobilize 3 million fans for seven months." She was referring to the 2017 mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival that left 60 people dead. It was the deadliest single attack ever in the United States.
"It took a lot of planning, expense and effort to keep our fans safe," she wrote at the time, adding that these fears even affected her personal life — with the star carrying first aid equipment at all times, including bandages for gun and stab wounds.