VIENNA — Pricey tickets for sold-out Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna. Hundreds of euros, if not more, dropped on flights and hotels. Tens of thousands of Swifties, bedecked in homemade friendship bracelets, devastated by the cancellations of three Eras Tour shows in Austria after authorities foiled an apparent attack plot.
Austrian security officials said two young men wanted to commit an attack outside the stadium, killing as many people as possible using knives or self-made explosives. Concert organizers said they they expected up to 65,000 fans inside Ernst Happel Stadium at each concert and as many as 30,000 onlookers outside, where authorities said the suspects planned to strike. Swifties trade bracelets in the city centre in Vienna on Thursday, Aug.
8, 2024. Organizers of three Taylor Swift concerts in the stadium in Vienna this week called them off on Wednesday after officials announced arrests over an apparent plot to launch an attack on an event in the Vienna area such as the concerts. The venue sat empty Thursday morning aside from media filming outside.
But later in the day on Corneliusgasse — a small street just 3 miles from the stadium — fans flocked to trade friendship bracelets and commiserate about the cancelations. The beaded bracelets, typically bearing Swift’s song titles or popular phrases, are usually swapped at concerts with strangers. The fans gathered on Corneliusgasse specifically because the street name echoes “Cornelia Street,” the name o.