Taylor Swift Said Her 'Biggest Fear' Was a Concert Attack 5 Years Before Vienna Eras Tour Shows Were Targeted

Mar. 15, 2025

Taylor Swift performing in 2024.Photo:Getty Images

Getty Images

Years beforeTaylor Swift’s Eras Tour stops in Vienna, Austria, were the subject of analleged planned terrorist attackearlier this week, the pop icon revealed such a horrifying event is her “biggest fear.”

In a 2019interview withELLE, Swift reflected on feeling “completely terrified” to go on tour after multiple highly publicized terrorist attacks killed dozens of concertgoers.

“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,” she said, referring to two deadly 2017 incidents: the bombing after anAriana Grandeconcert in Manchester, England, and the shooting duringJason Aldean’s performance at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas.

Taylor Swift performs in Arizona in March 2023.Kevin Winter/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

Kevin Winter/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

“There was a tremendous amount of planning, expense, and effort put into keeping my fans safe,” recalled Swift, noting that her “fear of violence” also carried over “into my personal life.”

“I carry QuikClot army grade bandage dressing, which is for gunshot or stab wounds. Websites and tabloids have taken it upon themselves to post every home address I’ve ever had online,” she explained. “You get enough stalkers trying to break into your house and you kind of start prepping for bad things.”

On Aug. 7, authorities confirmed that two men were arrested in connection to a planned attack on the concerts that were set to take place at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna from Aug. 8 to 10. Theshows were later canceled, and theofficial Taylor Nation accountshared aa promoter postabout the situation via Instagram Stories.

Taylor Swift.John Shearer/TAS23/Getty

John Shearer/TAS23/Getty

Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of Austria’s Directorate of State Security and Intelligence, shared in anews conferenceon Aug. 8 that the 19-year-old Austrian suspect they detained admitted to intending “to carry out an attack” at Swift’s concert “using explosives and knives,” according toNBC News,CNNandLe Monde.

“His aim was to kill himself and a large number of people during the concert either today or tomorrow,” he added, according toLe Monde.

Taylor Swift performs in London in June 2024.Kevin Mazur/Getty

Kevin Mazur/Getty

Haijawi-Pirchner said, per NBC News, that investigators found items including hydrogen peroxide, detonators, detonator cables and homemade explosives that were already assembled at the man’s apartment.

This included a 17-year-old who worked at a facility management company that would have provided services to the Ernst Happel Stadium, which was Swift’s concert venue, and a 15-year-old who had been in the stadium area when he was detained. They noted that the 15-year-old refused to speak with authorities so far.

source: people.com