London (AFP) – Fans flocked to London’s Wembley Stadium on Thursday ahead of Taylor Swift’s return to the stage a week after her Vienna concerts were cancelled due to a foiled suicide attack plot. Hundreds of ecstatic so-called “Swifties” streamed towards the stadium hours before the American mega-star was due to wrap up the European leg of her “Eras” tour with the first of five sell-out shows.
“It doesn’t feel real, that it’s actually happening!” excited ticket-holder Katie Moulson, 24, told AFP as she arrived at Wembley mid-afternoon. Around 90,000 fans will again pack the venue each night, with additional ticket checks, hundreds of security guards, and restrictions in place after the scare over the Austrian plot. The Islamic State group-inspired plan to launch an attack using explosives and knives led to the cancellation of all three of her concerts in the Austrian capital last week. Three alleged IS sympathisers have been arrested on charges of plotting the atrocity, which was thwarted with the help of US intelligence.
London’s Metropolitan Police has said there was “nothing to indicate” any links between the events in Vienna and Swift’s gigs in the UK capital. However, it was working “closely with venue security teams and other partners to ensure there are appropriate security and policing plans in place.”
– ‘Brought us all together’ –
Extra security had not dampened the spirits of fans decked out in glittery skirts, tasselled jackets, cowboy hats, and stacks of friendship bracelets — a current must-have for “Swifties” — as they descended on northwest London. “After Vienna, it’s good to hear that they’ve upped the security,” student Brodie MacArthur, 23, told AFP, as she arrived wearing a long white dress inspired by Swift’s latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”
“In the back of your head, there’s still worries. But there are a lot of people here to keep it safe,” she added. Swift’s return to the British capital, following three sold-out shows in June, comes two weeks after three young girls were killed in a stabbing at a dance class themed around the pop star’s music in northwest England. Following the knife attack, the star said she was “completely in shock” and at a “complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.”
Swift fans launched a fundraiser for the victims of the attack, which raised nearly £400,000 ($514,000) under the banner “Swifties for Southport.” The mass stabbing and fans’ response “made you realise how much Swifties need each other,” said MacArthur. “Because obviously there’s been such horrible events, that just brought us all together more.” Swift has not yet commented on the decision to cancel the Vienna shows.
“I think she’s just ready to come back and perform,” speculated Lauren Thies, 19, who has attended five previous Swift concerts with her mother, Denise. “She loves performing for her fans,” the teenager added.
– ‘Anticipation’ –
Fans from around the world have travelled to Wembley, where Swift is performing more “Eras” tour shows than anywhere else. “I was worried, because this is the first concert after that (Vienna). So I was afraid to look at my phone and see something,” said Denise, who flew in with Lauren from US state New Jersey.
“I was really nervous; I thought for sure she would consider cancelling her shows here,” said Juan Ramirez, 28, another American who took an 11-hour flight from California for the event. “It’s been an agonising anticipation of the concert. But we’re finally here and I love it,” Ramirez added, dressed in a pink outfit, including a bandanna and heart-shaped sunglasses.
Ahead of the evening performance, fans sang Swift’s songs and exchanged bracelets with each other, a tradition among Swifties during the tour. Moulson, from Suffolk in eastern England, gave some bracelets to some of the security guards drafted in. “They quite enjoy having a bracelet,” Moulson said, donned in DIY sparkly purple boots and a tinsel-lined jacket. Denise said she has made more than 400 bracelets for her daughter and their friends.
Both of them have a bucket list of London spots mentioned in Swift’s songs they will visit after the concert, including the Black Dog pub in Vauxhall, south London, namechecked in her latest album. “Since she’s doing five nights here, it’s going to be very meaningful to her,” Lauren said about the concert. “And she loves London,” Denise added.
© 2024 AFP
