Translated material
Three concerts of Taylor Swift were canceled in Vienna due to the threat of a terrorist attack. Igilovites could arrange it
Fans bought tickets for a grand show a year ago. The singer flew out of Austria, without coming it in any way
On August 8, 9 and 10, in Vienna, at the Ernst Happel stadium, three Taylor Swift concerts were supposed to take place - the American singer continues her large -scale Eras Tour and all summer gathers hundreds of thousands of spectators throughout Europe. On August 7, Austria police announced that she detained two people who planned a terrorist attack at a concert in Vienna - all the show in the country was canceled, promising the audience to return money for tickets within 10 business days.
Machete and explosives
By the evening of August 8, the Austrian Ministry of Internal Affairs (Bundesministerium für Inneres, BMI) published some details about the detained and preparing terrorist attack. BMI Public Security Director Franz Ruf said that one of the detainees, the “direct chief performer”, 19 years old - he is a citizen of Austria, his police found chemicals (which RUF did not specify), explosives, wires for detonators, cold weapons, cold weapons, as well as 21 thousand fake euros. He was detained in the groove, 75 kilometers southwest of Vienna.
According to the department, a few weeks ago the detainee “swore allegiance” to the leadership of ISIS , with whom he communicated online. The corresponding video with recognition was found in the detainee during the search - in it a young man appears with a beard, a machete and a knife, the Der Standart reports. On his T -shirt is the ISIS logo.
The second suspect in the preparation of the attack was detained in Vienna - the media report that he is 17 years old, he is also an Austrian. According to the representative of the department responsible in Austria for intelligence-DSN, Omara Haijavi-Pirkhner , the second participant in the attack was detained near the stadium in Praml. The young man worked in a company related to the stadium where concerts were supposed to take place. He was also found “ISIS materials,” said Haijavi-Pirhner. According to DSN, in recent days, the 17-year-old Austrian maintained active contact with the 19-year-old-and already appeared in other "investigations of state security."
According to the police, the three more accomplices are on the wanted list.
According to Omar Haijavi-Pirchner, the detained 19-year-old Austrian testified. Judging by them, the follower of ISIS was about to arrange a terrorist attack on Thursday or Friday - and commit it “outside the stadium”, where the turn for the concert was going. He planned to use explosives or cold weapons. The second detainee refused to testify.
According to Franz Ruf, the police did not recommend the organizer to cancel Swift concerts. He called the Police the task of “ensuring security” at concerts, although “one hundred percent security cannot be guaranteed,” Ruf said. “Nevertheless, we did everything possible so that the event could take place,” he emphasized.
The information that the 17-year-old detainee was an employee at the stadium became a decisive factor for the abolition of concerts, said the representative of the company, organizer of the Barracuda Music show, Evald Tatars. The company said that after the government confirms the information about the terrorist attack, they had no choice but to cancel all the show “for the sake of universal security”. Each of the concerts, according to the organizer, was supposed to collect 65 thousand spectators.
Reactions. Chancellor, organizers, Swift
Austria Chancellor Karl Nekammer called the abolition of Swift concerts “bitter disappointment” for the fans of the singer:
The situation around the alleged terrorist act in Vienna was very serious. Thanks to the intensive cooperation of our police and the recently created DSN with foreign services, the threat was revealed at an early stage, eliminated, and tragedy was avoided. Many thanks to the employees who are currently conducting the investigation in full force.
Ewald Tatars from Barracuda Music alsostated that the decision to cancel the concert was made "in coordination with the management of the artist." Tatars said:
Probably, at six o’clock in the evening, 10-15 thousand visitors would have gathered in front of the stadium. During the day, this amount could increase to 60–65 thousand people inside the stadium, plus 20-30 would remain outside it. This is a huge number of people. Therefore, in spite of everything, I am pleased with this decision.
Swift itself did not comment on the cancellation of the show. The sources of the British tabloid The Mirror told the publication that it was supposedly “was devastated” by learning that the concerts would be canceled. The publication quotes the interlocutor:
Fans have been waiting for her for years. But the thought of what could have happened if a terrorist attack occurred at concerts. She would never risk the safety of her fans. The memories of what happened at the concert of Ariana Grande in Manchester are still very bright in the memory of everyone. But she told her team that she wants to try to return to Vienna as soon as possible in the future. She perfectly understands how disappointed her fans in Austria are.
In an interview with 2019, Swift really mentioned that the events at the concert of Ariana Grand were scared, and called the terrorist attack at the concert with her “biggest fear”. German television channels report that she had already left Austria on her personal plane.
Fans reactions
The world tour Taylor Swift began in March 2023-and will end in December 2024. Vienna was the last city of the tour in the European Union, the following concerts should take place in London on August 15, 16, 17. Then Swift will go to Canada, where in Toronto he will give six concerts in November and three in December in Vancouver.
In total, during its tour, Swift planned to give 152 concerts of 3.5 hours each - an unthinkable amount for the musical industry.
The previous European shows took place not just with a full house - some of them went far beyond the declared sites, as, for example, was in Munich. In addition to several tens of thousands of viewers of the concert who bought a ticket, 40 thousand at each show gathered on a hill near the stadium - and looked at Swift from afar for free.
At the concerts of the American performer, they also regularly record the seismic activity that fans jumping to the music create. For example, it was at her concerts in Edinburgh and Switzerland - vibrations were registered at eight seismic stations at a distance of six kilometers around the Poygigrund stadium. The German city of Gelsenkirchen during concerts was completely renamed Sviftkirhen - the idea of a local schoolgirl who created a petition for this, liked the mayor - and in the city the corresponding signs were installed during the show.
Tickets for the Austrian show cost from $ 240, reports The New York Post. However, they were sold a year ago-in July 2023, almost immediately after they went on sale. Many fans planned complex flights to Europe from different parts of the world to listen to Swift alive. CNN tells the story of a 41-year-old nurse from Arizona Tiffany Kidd, who had never left the United States in her life, but was going to do this for the concert Taylor Swift in Vienna. She bought a ticket last summer and since then received the necessary travel documents, specially sewed several outfits for the concert (including a jacket with sequins and a lace dress decorated with texts and motifs of Swift songs) - and spent five thousand dollars on a trip to the capital of Austria, To see the performance of the superstar live. Her path to Vienna took 13 hours.
The fans who got to Austria by the beginning of the canceled concert are now trying to unite - one of the Viennese churches invites fans of Swift to listen to her songs under the arches of the Gothic building. Near the stadium, fans leave the inscriptions with chalk : "We waited a long time and wait again!" Finally, fans are simply gathering on the streets and singing Swift songs. Spectators from other cities, in turn, offer their tickets to fans from Vienna: “That's why there are so many, and that is why those who are trying to destroy what we built is a safe space full of love - will never win,” - Fans write on the network of Kh.
On August 21, at the Ernst Khappel stadium, four fully sold concerts of the Coldplay group will take place. “Now there is no information that other concerts are at risk,” says Haijavi-Pirhner. The statement by the organizer of the Live Nation on a series of Coldplay concerts in Vienna says: “We understand the fears of all fans, but we must try to remain calm and not to kindle the situation with speculations. All fans can be sure that the safety of visitors, employees and artists is always of paramount importance. ”
"Jellyfish"