Three of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour concerts scheduled for this weekend in Vienna, Austria, have been canceled following a thwarted terror plot that saw two suspects arrested.
The pop megastar was due to perform at the city’s Ernst Happel Stadium on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Initial reports that the shows would go on as scheduled gave way to a subsequent confirmation from Barracuda Music that the shows had, indeed, been canceled.
Austrian government authorities said on Wednesday that they had arrested two suspected extremists: a 19-year-old, who was arrested in the town of Ternitz, south of Vienna; and another person who was apprehended in Vienna, the Associated Press reported.
Franz Ruf, the public security director at Austria’s interior ministry, said that authorities were aware of “preparatory actions” for a possible attack “and also that there is a focus by the 19-year-old perpetrator on the Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna,” the Austria Press Agency reported.
He also said that the 19-year-old suspect had pledged an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State group and is believed to have become radicalized on the Internet.
The thwarted terror attack follows July’s deadly assault on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England, where three children were stabbed to death. The suspect, a 17-year-old, was arrested.
“The horror of yesterday’s attack in Southport is washing over me continuously and I’m just completely in shock … The loss of life and innocence, and the horrendous trauma inflicted on everyone who was there, the families, and first responders,” the singer shared in an Instagram Story at the time. “These were just little kids at a dance class. I am at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.”
In an Instagram message on Wednesday, Barracuda Music wrote that they had “no choice” but to cancel the shows.
“With confirmation from government 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,” the message read in both German and English.
The event organizers also said that all tickets will be automatically refunded within the next 10 business days and to check oeticket for updates.
Swift is next set to bring her Eras tour to Wembley Stadium in London, where she will perform five nights in a row, beginning Aug. 15. In October, she is scheduled to bring her tour back to the U.S., beginning with three nights at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
