Costly tickets for sold-out Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna. Hundreds of euros – or more – spent on flights and hotels. Tens of thousands of Swifties, adorned with homemade friendship bracelets, were left heartbroken on Thursday after three Eras Tour shows in Austria were canceled following authorities' thwarting of an apparent attack plot.
Austrian security officials said two young men wanted to commit an attack outside the stadium, killing as many people as possible using knives or self-made explosives.
Concert organizers said they expected up to 65,000 fans inside Ernst Happel Stadium at each concert and as many as 30,000 onlookers outside, where authorities said the suspects planned to strike.
The venue sat empty Thursday morning aside from media filming outside. But later in the day on Corneliusgasse – a small street just 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the stadium – fans flocked to trade friendship bracelets and commiserate about the cancelations. The beaded bracelets, typically bearing Swift's song titles or popular phrases, are usually swapped at concerts with strangers.
The fans gathered on Corneliusgasse specifically because the street name echoes "Cornelia Street," the name of a contemplative synth-pop track from Swift's 2019 album, "Lover."
The title 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. "And I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends," she sings in the song's chorus. "I'd never walk Cornelia Street again."
Swift has not spoken publicly about the plot or canceled shows. "Taylor Nation," a verified Instagram page widely believed to be run by her team, re-posted the announcement from concert organizer Barracuda Music in a "story," which is only visible for 24 hours. Her main account has not posted anything.
Both suspects appeared to be inspired by the Daesh terrorist group and al-Qaida, authorities said. The main suspect, aged 19, had also posted an oath of allegiance online to the current leader of the Daesh, authorities said. The suspects' names were not released in line with Austrian privacy rules.
The news rattled the superstar's fans, many of whom took to social media to express their devastation at missing out.
Others, however, begged online for tickets to Swift's next shows. She is expected to perform five concerts at London's Wembley Stadium between Aug. 15 and 20 to close the European leg of her record-setting Eras Tour.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said officials have learned lessons from a 2017 attack during an Ariana Grande concert at northwest England's Manchester Arena in which a suicide bomber killed 22 people. Khan said Thursday that this month's Swift shows will go on.
Karoline Pedersen of Norway planned to go to a London concert – she already saw Swift in May at a Sweden show – but now has second thoughts even though police there say the Austrian plot has no link to the U.K.
"It is not pleasant to have to look over one's shoulder. It angers me that a concert like this, where millions of girls have said they actually feel safe, should be turned into a place of fear," Pedersen told NRK.
Some North American fans have traveled abroad in "tour tourism," a pattern that emerged during Beyoncé's Renaissance world tour. The phenomenon occurred when fans noticed that tighter restrictions on ticket fees and resales in Europe made it no more costly – and potentially cheaper – to see Swift perform abroad rather than closer to home.
Andrew Strauss and his mother, Alison Strauss, heard about the plot Wednesday while sipping wine at a New Jersey airport bar. Suddenly, the 34-year-old's cell phone "started blowing up."
"I was like, 'wait, why are all these people texting me broken heart emojis?'" he told The Associated Press (AP) from Vienna on Thursday. "And then I went on Twitter and I looked at my mom and I was like, 'I think the concert is canceled.'"
The pair were on a direct flight to Austria and "you could see it, like, ripple through people finding out," he said.
While he has already seen Swift in concert, his mother has not. The show was the start of a European vacation with other family members so they decided to stay in Vienna anyway.
"I actually want to write to her and tell her: 'This was a great mother-son event. Can you get me tickets in the U.S. for one of the concerts?'" Alison Strauss, 62, said.
The pair said they still support Swift and believe the concert organizers made the correct decision.
"It's not in her nature to put anybody in danger,″ Alison Strauss said. "And to play three sold-out concerts is probably way too much to risk."
