S Poddar
Taylor Swift shared the emotional burden she had to face by canceling three Vienna concerts in the Eras tour early this month after a thwarted plot of a terror attack, admitting to deep fear and guilt.
Concerts were canceled due to a thwarted terror attack foiled by Austrian authorities. Three teenagers, one 17-, one 18-, and one 19-year-old, were taken into custody in connection with the plot, which supposedly had Swift’s shows as a target. According to Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of state protection and intelligence at the Austrian interior ministry, the 19-year-old had planned a suicide attack aiming to kill hundreds of people. The suspect, a man who recently pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State group and went online-bred, had bomb-making materials at his house.
Swift shared her mixed emotions, as she closed the European leg of the tour with the fifth and final shows in London on Wednesday, through an Instagram post. It was her first public statement since the incident in Vienna; thus, it was a “rollercoaster of emotions.”
“Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating,” Swift wrote. “But the reason for the cancellations being a terrorist attack filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives.”
Swift was very appreciative with her fans, who had been so supportive and united during such a tough time. She reassured that the main concern for her after the Vienna cancellations was making sure that almost half a million people attending her London shows remained safe. “My team and I worked hand in glove with the stadium staff and the British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for all that they did for us,” she wrote. In a candid moment, Swift explained why she kept quiet about the whole thing until now, saying it was an example of “when you’re showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it’s right to.” She also made it quite clear that she held off from making a statement earlier because she didn’t want to incite anyone who would do harm to her fans.
“My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that,” she said, reflecting back on the completion of shows under such unsettled circumstances.
Initial reactions by officials had held that the Vienna concerts could go ahead, scheduled for 8 to 10 August at the Ernst Happel Stadium, but with tightened security. But the performances were canceled because of what Vienna police chief Gerhard Purstl called an “abstract danger.”
Swift will return to North America in November and December for some Canadian shows that will actually bring a close to the Eras tour. It’s already made history as the highest-grossing tour ever, raking in over $1 billion, causing seismic activity at some of the stops.
As Swift concludes her tour across Europe, the reflec-tions of the Vienna incident will remain a strong memo-r Eis that being a global superstar does not come with its easy dosage of complications and challenges. Her expressions of thankfulness toward authorities and fans, coupled with a strong focus on safety, underscore how deep her commitment runs toward her music and those who support it.
