Taylor Swift fans took to the streets of Austria’s capital to sing, hug and cry their hearts out after three of Swift’s concerts were cancelled following a foiled terrorist plot.
The defiant Swifties gathered in central Vienna on Corneliusgasse, a street name that echoes Cornelia Street, the title of one of Swift’s tracks on the 2019 album Lover. The song refers to a street in New York City’s Greenwich Village, where Swift rented a luxury apartment in 2016 and fans now visit to take selfies.
The small thoroughfare played host to hundreds of fans who gathered together to commiserate about the Eras Tour cancellations, trade friendship bracelets and sing their favourite Swift tunes. Video of the impromptu gathering was posted to social media, showing throngs of fans standing together, raising their voices in harmony.
Photos taken of the gathering showed dozens of homemade friendship bracelets, bearing lyrics and titles of Swift songs, hanging from trees. One police officer had his uniform decorated with bracelets.
Up to 65,000 fans were expected to attend Swift’s sold-out concerts at Ernst Happel Stadium each night, with as many as 30,000 non-ticket-holders expected to congregate outside the venue. The shows were supposed to take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Concert organizers abruptly cancelled all three shows on Wednesday after Austrian authorities foiled a planned terrorist attack believed to be inspired by the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. A 19-year-old and a 17-year-old were arrested Wednesday in connection with the attack. An 18-year-old was arrested Thursday after allegedly being in contact with one of the suspects.
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One of the suspects confessed to planning to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue.” Chemicals and bomb-making materials were found at one of the suspects’ homes, authorities said.
As it started to rain on Thursday, some of the fans who gathered on Corneliusgasse dispersed. Swifties took to the streets again on Friday.
One fan who flew to Vienna from the U.K. told the BBC that the atmosphere of Thursday’s gathering was “sombre but also excited.”
“It’s a really strange situation and I think the ultimate thing we feel is just grateful that we’re safe and that everyone else is safe,” she said. “A bit of a mixed bag of emotions.”
But it wasn’t just Corneliusgasse that played host to the resilient Swifties; numerous establishments across Vienna opened their doors to despondent fans, including local museums that offered free admission and restaurants and coffee shops offering free food and drinks.
Kristi Hovington, an educator and school librarian from Barcelona, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that a local church played Swift songs throughout the day to give Swifties a place to gather.
Hovington told Variety that her daughter “heard a Taylor Swift song playing in the street, and she just stopped.”
“There was this sign outside of this building. We didn’t realize it was a church, but there was a sign that said, ‘Dear Swifties, we sympathize with you. You’re welcome to come and sing your sadness away.’”
When they walked in, Hovington saw the church pews “were filled with people crying and singing,” while the Eras Tour setlist blasted from the church speakers.
“Everybody had their arms around each other,” she continued. “It was just this really beautiful communal moment, just recognizing that we were all obviously sad that we can’t see Taylor and so sad that this horrific thing happened, targeting mostly women and girls at a concert. But the Swifties are very resilient, and people just got on about their day and were kind and swapping friendship bracelets and singing songs anyway.”
Swift has yet to comment on the foiled plot targeting her Eras Tour, but she said in a 2019 interview with Elle magazine that an attack at one of her concerts was “her biggest fear.”
“After the Manchester Arena bombing and the Vegas concert shooting, I was completely terrified to go on tour this time because I didn’t know how we were going to keep three million fans safe over seven months,” she said at the time.
“There was a tremendous amount of planning, expense, and effort put into keeping my fans safe.”
— With files from The Associated Press
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