Taylor Swift issued her first statement on Wednesday about the Vienna concerts that were canceled earlier this month due to a terrorist threat.
“Having our Vienna shows canceled was devastating. 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,” she wrote on Instagram.
She added, “But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together.”
Swift explained that she had waited for the appropriate time to comment on the situation. “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,” she wrote.
She added that her five nights at Wembley Stadium in London “felt like a beautiful dream sequence … 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.”
The pop star explained that she and her team “worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities” to guarantee attendees’ safety at the London shows. “Let me be very clear: 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,” she said.
Three of her concerts that would have taken place at Vienna’s Happel Stadium were canceled and Austrian government authorities 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 at the time.
Swift concluded her Instagram post with the message, “We’ll see you all again when we resume The Eras Tour in October, but for now we get to take a much needed rest. Thank you for the adventure of a lifetime. May it continue.”
