2024-08-13 10:00:32
Tens of thousands of fans had already traveled to Vienna when the news came: Taylor Swift’s three concerts were cancelled due to a planned terrorist attack. This led to great emotions among the Swifties, but also to a lot of creativity.
US superstar Taylor Swift was scheduled to perform on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in front of a sold-out 65,000-seat Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna. The singer is currently on her world tour “Eras Tour”.
This is a huge disappointment for the fans, who call themselves Swifties. Many of them traveled there especially for the concert. In an interview with t-online, several fans report how they view the cancellation and what they now want to do instead of the concert.
Mike, a teacher from Düsseldorf, wanted to attend the concert on Thursday. He and his husband flew to Vienna on Tuesday for this. He found out about the cancellation on Wednesday evening through the concert organizer’s Instagram post. “I couldn’t believe it,” he says. “And then I immediately thought: I have to tell the others now.” Mike had already planned to attend the concert with two other friends over a year ago.
“It took a lot of planning, so we’re obviously disappointed, but safety comes first,” he continues. He is definitely not alone in his disappointment. Shortly after the news of the cancellation, he met other angry and emotional fans in Vienna. “I saw a lot of people crying,” says Mike. For many, it would have been their first chance to see Taylor Swift live, as the US superstar has never performed in Austria before.
Mike, his husband and his girlfriends now want to make the best of the situation: “We’re going to enjoy the city a bit and watch the Eras tour film together tonight.” Swift had several concerts of her tour filmed in the USA, and the concert film was due to be released in theaters at the end of 2023.
Mike, however, has not noticed any panic or great fear so far. “People seem rather disappointed, but many are still trying to avoid large crowds for the time being.”
Videos and photos show that a particularly large number of Swifties are currently heading to Corneliusgasse in Vienna. The small street has already become very popular in recent days because the name is reminiscent of the Swift song “Cornelia Street”, which refers to the street of the same name in New York City. Now the street has become a meeting place. In the bright sunshine, fans stand together, sing Swift songs together and, as is usual at the singer’s concerts, exchange homemade friendship bracelets.
Author Anne Sauer is also currently in Vienna. In July she published her book of essays “Look what she made us do” about Taylor Swift and her fans. In it she addresses, among other things, the misogynistic hostility that both Swift and her fans are repeatedly exposed to. On Wednesday evening she read from it in the Viennese bookstore “o*books”.
Sauer was supposed to go to the concert on Thursday, but then the cancellation came. “I’ve been crying quite a lot since this morning, quite uncontrollably, but I think that’s okay,” she says. “It’s an indescribable feeling of loss, a unifying mixture of disbelief, anger and sadness,” Sauer continues. Every single friendship bracelet is therefore now even more of a sign of solidarity and against hate.