Megan Brownell social media editor

VIENNA – On Wednesday Aug. 7, “Swifties” traveled from all over to Vienna, Austria, to attend the highly-anticipated Eras Tour. Taylor Swift’s popular world tour has been making its way through Europe all summer and made its way to Austria for the second-to-last stop of the European leg.  

While these Swifties boarded flights and arrived in the city, for the next three days of shows, U.S. Intelligence learned of a plan for a terrorist attack at one of these shows. They passed the information over to Austrian officials as well as Europol. The information stated that three individuals were planning a terrorist attack involving homemade bombs, machetes, and driving through crowds trying to get into the stadium. One of the men is alleged to have pledged to ISIS online in July, according to Vienna State Police Director, Franz Ruf, in an interview with Austria’s public broadcaster. Officials arrested two of the men and decided to cancel all three shows for the safety of Swift, her team, and all fans in attendance. The third man was arrested the next day, and while authorities said they do not know if the bombs would have worked or not, they saved lives by preventing the attack. At least 65,000 fans were expected to attend each day with up to 15,000 listening from outside the stadium.  

While many fans were able to come to terms that it was the right choice, it was hard to see something that they were looking forward to being canceled completely. Most fans were already in the city with non-refundable hotels. Most then decided to still stay and make a vacation out of it. This later led to big groups of fans gathering and singing songs together. Fans came together to make the most of their time even with the shows canceled. Some fans even live streamed the gatherings like people normally do during shows.  

The city of Vienna also worked together to show support for Swift and help the fans make the most of their time in the city. Several museums and restaurants provided free tickets, food, and drink to Eras Tour ticket holders. While fans gathered on “Cornelia Street” (Austria’s version), they participated in the same activities they would have during the show. They sang and danced, wearing themed merch and trading friendship bracelets. A couple even got engaged during the fan version of “Love Story” like fans have done during previous shows.  

The biggest loss for some fans was losing their only chance to see Swift in concert for the Eras Tour. The almost two yearlong tour ends in December of this year, so there aren’t many more chances to go. Resale tickets are thousands of dollars and not everyone can afford that. Some fans were able to get tickets for London shows, a week later, which were still cheaper than the resale prices for the United States and Canada dates. Wembley Stadium, who is hosting the five London shows, even had last minute tickets go up on Ticketmaster, giving fans whose shows had been canceled a chance to attend for the regular ticket price.