Shaken by cancellation of concerts in Vienna, Swifties shake off and flock to London

LONDON — For Herve Tram, being a Taylor Swift fan isn’t just about music.

The 28-year-old computer network engineer from Paris sees himself as part of a community, one of the Swifties as they are known. So when the pop superstar’s shows in Vienna were canceled last week due to a terrorist threat, Tram took a small personal step: she gave away two extra tickets to her upcoming concerts in London to two fans who missed out on the chance to- and see the guiding light in the capital of Austria.

“That’s the power of this fandom,” Tram said. “We take care of each other.”

Swift’s community of fans, who flocked to stadiums around the world to see the 3 1/2-hour shows on her Eras tour and sing along to songs they know by heart, has been rocked in recent days.

First, a knife-wielding attacker killed three little girls at a Swift-themed dance class in northern England, sparking a week of anti-immigrant unrest in Britain after right-wing activists spread misinformation about the suspect. Then the shows in Vienna were canceled after police arrested three Islamic State-inspired extremists they believed were planning to attack the concert venue.

But none of that dampened fans’ excitement to see Swift during five shows Thursday through Tuesday at London’s Wembley Stadium, which will wrap up the European leg of the Eras Tour. Fans want to wear Swift-inspired outfits, exchange handmade friendship bracelets, and of course, dance.

Take Meagan Berneaud, 30, of Columbus, Ohio, who has been a Swift fan since she was 13.

Berneaud considered traveling to London after recent events reminded her of the two and a half hours she spent locked up during a 2016 terrorist attack at Ohio State University. But she decided to go ahead and even set up a thread on X, formerly known as Twitter, to connect fans who missed the Vienna shows with people willing to sell or donate tickets to the London concerts. It has had over 3,000 views.

“I just have to tell myself that I’m not living in fear,” she said. “I have to put my trust … that law enforcement can do everything they can to keep us safe.”

Some fans who had planned to see the show in Vienna were willing to overcome their anxieties to try to attend another show, taking encouragement from Swift’s song “Fearless.”

“And I don’t know why.

But with you I’d dance up a storm.

In my best dress.

Fearless.”

It’s a number she belts out as she twirls and twirls in an assortment of sparkly dresses in the song’s video.

Presila Koleva, 26, a design engineer from Cambridge, England, had been looking forward to seeing Swift in Vienna for more than a year, buying a replica of a green dress Swift is wearing on her Folklore tour in eras tournament and making 30 bracelets. to trade with other fans. He was heartbroken when the shows were cancelled.

But then he got in touch with Tram, who gave him one of his tickets. That dress will be worn.

“There (are) good people who will do something nice for someone they don’t know, just because they’ve seen them go through this really awful situation,” she said. “It could have ended so badly.”

The enthusiasm of Swift’s fans and a set list that includes more than 40 songs from all phases of her career helped make the Eras Tour the highest-grossing of all time, with ticket sales exceeding $1 billion last year, according to Pollstar Boxoffice . , which collects data about the live music industry. The tour is expected to push that record to over $2 billion before it wraps up later this year in Indianapolis.

Demand for the London gigs shows no sign of abating, with ticket prices reaching thousands of pounds on unregulated sites.

With Swift’s European tour coming to an end and young fans having a flexible schedule, especially during the summer, the recent events will not affect demand for tickets to the London shows, said Rafi Mohammed, an expert on pricing strategies and founder of Cambridge. , Massachusetts-based Culture of Profit consultancy.

“Otherwise you have three sold out concerts in Vienna that have been cancelled. That, coupled with the end of the tournament, you will probably see some additional demand,” he said.

Even so, security is a concern.

London’s Metropolitan Police Service tried to offer reassurance, saying it had learned lessons from the 2017 attack on an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena, which killed 22 people and injured hundreds more.

Organizers have promised “extra ticket checks” at the 90,000-capacity Wembley Stadium, which bans concert-goers from bringing anything much larger than a tiny bag into the venue. Those without tickets will be moved away from the stadium.

“London is a big city. We are used to organizing all these events,” said Tracy Halliwell, head of tourism for Visit London. “You’re going to see there’s a bigger police presence on the ground and that’s just to make sure everything … runs smoothly.”

For his part, Tram focuses on what fans can do, recalling how Parisians responded after the attack on the Bataclan theater in 2015 to show that terror will not succeed.

“We’ve seen hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets to show they’re not afraid, and I think (we’ll) see that in London,” he said. “The fans will show that they are not afraid. And like Taylor said, we’re fearless.”