When it comes to Taylor Swift’s upcoming events, she’s not one to cancel or back away unless there’s a very serious reason to. Sadly, her shows in Vienna, Austria had to be canceled. This is because two suspects were arrested for reportedly planning a terror attack that involved the Eras Tour. Mere hours after this news broke, Taylor Swift's shows in Vienna were canceled.
Barracuda Music released a statement on Instagram about why the shows will not be happening. It read:
Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Vienna Shows cancelled due to government officials confirmation of planned terrorist attack. With confirmation from goverment officials of a planned terrorist attack at Ernst Happel Stadium, we have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety. All tickets will be automatically refunded within the next 10 business days.
At the time of this writing, it’s unclear if the shows will be rescheduled and if the Swifties will get to see the Eras Tour in Austria. Considering the statement and Taylor Swift’s website both note that the shows have been canceled and reiterate the point that all tickets will be automatically refunded, it seems unlikely that the concerts will get new dates.
In the past, Swift’s Eras Tour shows have been rescheduled. During “truly chaotic” weather in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the pop star’s concert was moved to a few days later. Also, the day after a fan died right before a concert in Rio during a major heat wave, the singer’s next show was postponed in Brazil because of the extreme heat.
This latest cancellation is unlike anything that has caused a show to not go on before.
Reportedly, there were plans for attacks at major events in Vienna, including Taylor Swift's concert, per NBC. She was scheduled to play this Thursday, Friday and Saturday for over 65,000 fans per day, ABC reported. Now the shows will not be happening.
At first, the plan wasn’t to cancel the concerts, and it was explained that there would be increased security. However, the final decision ended up being to not move forward with the shows.
According to ABC, a 19-year-old Austrian citizen was arrested Wednesday morning for this plan, and another was arrested this afternoon. Allegedly, these two "radicalized themselves online," Franz Ruf, the director-general of public safety in the Ministry of the Interior said.
The 19-year-old had pledged allegiance to ISIS, NBC noted, and it was reported that they had specific plans for their attacks. Per the report, after the first suspect was arrested a bomb squad found chemical substances. Now, there is an investigation happening to see if those substances could have been used to build a bomb.
As this news story unfolds, we’ll be sure to keep you posted. There’s still a lot that’s unknown about the alleged attack and the suspects arrested for it. At the time of this writing, Taylor Swift also has not released her own statement about the cancellation of her shows.
