Taylor Swift Breaks Silence on Vienna Terror Plot

'The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 22, 2024 7:21 AM CDT
Swift: Canceling Vienna Shows Was 'Devastating'
Fans pose by a Taylor Swift portrait painted on a stairway at Wembley Stadium in London.   (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

After she wrapped up the European leg of her Eras Tour with a concert at London's Wembley Stadium on Tuesday night, Taylor Swift said the cancellation of three shows in Vienna earlier this month was "devastating" and explained why she hadn't spoken out sooner. The shows were called off after authorities said they foiled an ISIS-linked plot to attack the concerts. In a post on Instagram Wednesday, Swift said she decided all her energy "had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London," CNN reports. "My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us," she wrote.

  • "I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows," Swift said. "In cases like this one, 'silence' is actually showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it's right to. My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that."

  • "The reason for the cancellations 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," Swift said. "But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives."
  • London, she said, "felt like a beautiful dream sequence. All five crowds at Wembley Stadium were bursting with passion, joy, and exuberance. The energy in that stadium was like the most giant bear hug from 92,000 people each night, and it brought me back to a place of carefree calm up there."
  • Swift played three shows at Wembley earlier in the tour. The BBC reports that she told fans on Tuesday: "You just made me the first solo artist to ever play Wembley eight times in a single tour. We will never, ever be able to thank you enough for it." The tour will resume in Florida in October.
(More Taylor Swift stories.)

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