US-UK ‘special relationship’ allowed Taylor Swift tour to continue in face of terror threat, ambassador tells LBC
Three Taylor Swift concerts were cancelled in Vienna in 2024 after authorities uncovered a planned Islamic State terror plot.
The special relationship between the US and UK was critical in ensuring Taylor Swift's final London Eras Tour dates went ahead, after a terror threat in Vienna forced shows to be cancelled, the US Ambassador has revealed.
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In August 2024, a terrorism plot by followers of the Islamic State was planned to target the singer's concert in Vienna, but was fortunately uncovered and foiled.
However, the three concerts at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion were still cancelled due to safety concerns.
Swift had just five more dates left of her European leg of the tour, which took place in London at Wembley Stadium. Thankfully, for the hundreds of thousands of fans that attended, all concerts went ahead with increased security measures.
US Ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens has now revealed in an exclusive opinion piece for LBC that it was thanks to the special relationship between our two countries that the shows went ahead safely.
Ambassador Stephens wrote: "Our cooperation has helped us navigate decades of complex world events."
He said: "You may not know this, but it was communication between UK Counterterror police, Wembley Arena, and our Embassy security team that enabled the last UK leg of the Taylor Swift Eras tour to go ahead, after a terrorist threat in Vienna, Austria, led to the cancellation of her concert there.
"Our experts got together to assess the threat, look at it from all angles, before determining the UK concerts could go ahead allowing over a million fans to attend and, importantly, contributing over a billion pounds to the UK economy.
"So if you enjoyed a Taylor Swift concert last time she came to the UK, you have the special relationship to thank!"
Read more: Taylor Swift breaks down in tears over Southport attack after meeting victims' families
The American singer addressed the Vienna terror plot after the final London shows concluded with an emotional post on Instagram.
She wrote at the time: "Walking onstage in London was a rollercoaster of emotions. Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating."
Swift said the terror plot had left her with a "new sense of fear", but she was "so grateful" to authorities for their work foiling the attack.
She said: "I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London.
"My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us."
"My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that," she added.
"And then London felt like a beautiful dream sequence. All five crowds at Wembley Stadium were bursting with passion, joy, and exuberance.
"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."
Swift's Disney+ tour documentary Taylor Swift: The End of an Era showed the singer during the final London shows, where she spoke candidly about her fears for fans.
In episode one of the six-part docuseries, Swift and longtime friend Ed Sheeran are backstage at Wembley, hours before he appears as a guest on stage at the first concert since the terror plot.
“I didn’t even get to go,” Swift tells him of Vienna. “I was on the plane headed there. I just need to do this show and re-remember the joy of it because I’m a little bit just like..."
The final London concerts were also just weeks after the Southport attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, which left three young girls dead.
Swift is visibly upset in the documentary as she says: “We dodged, like, a massacre situation? And so I’ve just been kind of all over the place.
"There was this horrible attack in Liverpool at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party, and it was little kids that …” She can’t stop herself crying. “I can’t even explain it,” she whispers.
Before the Wembley show Swift met with some of the victims of the Southport attack and their families.
LBC has contacted the Met Police for comment.