Music

Authorities in Austria have revealed further details about the terrifying plans to attack Taylor Swift‘s now-cancelled shows in Vienna, Austria this weekend. On Thursday (August 8), the Associated Press reported that the main suspect in the case has fully confessed to plans to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue.”
Officials said that the 19-year-old male suspect with North Macedonian roots had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State after being radicalized online and had been planning to attack the shows at Ernst Happel Stadium scheduled for Aug. 8-10. The person identified as the main plotter reportedly quit his regular job and “conspicuously changed his appearance and adapted to IS [Islamic State] propaganda.” Austria’s head of the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence, Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, said the main suspect allegedly wanted to employ knives or homemade explosives to attack Swift’s fans outside the stadium in an effort to cause a mass-casualty event at the shows that were expected to draw more than 195,000 Swifties over the weekend.

The 19-year-old also reportedly uploaded an oath of allegiance to the current leader of the Islamic State group militia to an online account and during a raid on his home investigators said they found chemical substances and unnamed “technical devices” that hinted at “concrete preparatory acts.” The AP also reported that IS and al-Quida materials were also reportedly found at the home of a second, 17-year-old, Austrian suspect, who was reportedly hired earlier this week by a company that provides services at the venue; that suspect was arrested by police special forces near the stadium.

Reuters cited Austria’s Kurier newspaper’s report that sources familiar with the investigation said the main suspect had allegedly stolen chemicals from his former workplace, a metal processing plant in his hometown of Ternitz, and had made progress in building a bomb. According to reports, more than 60 houses around the suspect’s home — where he lived with his parents — were evacuated during the search.

At press time neither suspect’s name had been released in keeping with Austria’s privacy rules. A third person, a 15-year-old who’d been in contact with both suspects, was also reportedly interrogated by police. In a statement on Wednesday, Barracuda Music, the concert promoters for the Austrian shows said, “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. All tickets will be automatically refunded within the next 10 business days.”

Wednesday’s decision to cancel the trio of shows left thousands of Swifties distraught and disappointed, with CNN reporting on a number of fans who traveled great distances and spent thousands of dollars on tickets, bespoke outfits and travel to see what is arguably the biggest tour in pop history praising the foiling of the plot even as they lamented the missed opportunity.

The nation’s vice chancellor, Werner Kogler wrote on X: “For many, a dream has been shattered today. On three evenings in Vienna, tens of thousands of #Swifties should have celebrated life together.”

Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer also commented on X, calling the cancellation of the shows a “bitter disappointment for all fans in Austria,” while calling the planned terror plot “very serious” and thanking the state’s investigative services and Vienna police for recognizing the plan early and preventing a potential tragedy.

“We live in a time in which violent means are being used to attack our western way of life. Islamist terrorism threatens security and freedom in many western countries,” he wrote. “It is important to remain vigilant, stand together and take decisive action against Islamism.”

The news of the attack brought to mind the bombing assault on an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England in 2017 that killed 22 people and injured more than 200. In a resurfaced 2019 essay in Elle, Swift candidly discussed her anxiety about performing live following that ISIS-related suicide bombing and that same year’s mass shooting at Las Vegas’ Route 91 Harvest Music Festival that took 64 lives and left more than 400 wounded.

“My biggest fear,” Swift wrote at the time, “After the Manchester Arena bombing and the Vegas concert shooting, I was completely terrified to go on tour this time because I didn’t know how we were going to keep 3 million fans safe over seven months. There was a tremendous amount of planning, expense, and effort put into keeping my fans safe.”

CNN reported on a disturbing pattern in recent months of teenagers going from chattering online to being radicalized and plotting real-world attacks, with terrorism expert Peter Neumann issuing a recent report showing that teenagers accounted for almost two-thirds of ISIS-linked arrests in Europe in the previous nine months. The study covering 27 ISIS-linked attacks or disrupted plots since October 2023 looked at 58 suspects, 38 of whom were between the ages of 13 and 19, with Europol data showing that the number of attacks and planned attacks “has more than quadrupled” since 2022.

At press time Swift had not commented on the thwarted plot and a spokesperson for the singer could not be reached for comment on a Variety report that the singer’s next, and last, scheduled round of shows on the European leg of the Eras Tour will go on as planned. Swift is currently set to perform at London’s Wembley Stadium over five sold-out nights (Aug.15-20), with authorities reportedly saying that security is being ramped up as Scotland Yard evaluates intelligence in the lead-up to next week’s concerts.

Swift had just announced five new opening acts for the London show:  Raye, Suki Waterhouse, Maisie Peters, Holly Humberstone and Sofia Isella. After the planned Wembley shows, the singer has more than a month off before a scheduled return to the road in North America in October for a final run of dates that kick off on Oct. 18 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.