Taylor Swift returns to stage under heavy guard after foiled attack in Vienna

On Thursday night in London, the American pop superstar resumes her “Eras” tour, which was interrupted last week for security reasons.

A resumption of tour under high surveillance. This is what awaits global pop star Taylor Swift, 34, expected Thursday evening in London for the continuation of her monumental “Eras” tour. Last week, her three concerts planned in Vienna had to be cancelled at the last minute after the discovery of a suicide bombing plot. To date, a total of three suspects have been arrested, including a 19-year-old Islamist, as part of the investigation.

Nearly 90,000 fans are expected to flock to Wembley Stadium for each of the singer’s final five European concerts, almost a year and a half after she launched her massive US tour. The cancellation of the Vienna concerts helped avoid a “bloodbath”, According to the Austrian authorities, there was no “no other choice”, the organizers stressed for their part. The London police wanted to be reassuring, stating that ticket checks will be reinforced at the entrance, coupled with additional security measures around the stadium.

“There is no indication that the matter currently under investigation by the Austrian authorities will have any impact on future events in London,” she said in a statement. For his part, London Mayor Sadiq Khan also assured Sky News that the city was working “working closely with the police to ensure that Taylor Swift’s concerts can take place safely in London.”

Following a string of sold-out shows in London in June, Swift’s return to the UK capital also comes nearly two weeks after three girls were killed in a knife attack in Southport, northwest England, which sparked a wave of xenophobic riots across the country. The children, aged six, seven and nine, were attending a dance class themed around songs by Swift, who said she “completely in shock” and expressed her grief on social media. The American star, who has a close relationship with her fan community, the “Swifties”, has not yet commented on the decision to cancel her concerts in the Austrian capital.

Ticket holders have been warned on the Wembley website that “additional checks” would take place at the stadium “before the entrance”. Fans without tickets will not be allowed to gather around the stadium to hear the music, as they usually do at the American star’s concerts. During his show at the end of July in Madrid, nearly 50,000 people attended “listened to the concert from a hill” near, “participating from afar” at the party, Taylor Swift had indicated. “No one is allowed to stand in front of an entrance or (…) in front of the stadium” And “non-ticket holders will be moved”, was this time indicated.

Some of the star’s fans, who form a tight-knit and active community on social media, have agreed to resell or even give their tickets to other “Swifties” who missed out on a concert in Vienna. Catherine Santamaria, who was due to attend with her 14-year-old daughter Carla, told the British PA news agency that she had been offered tickets to Monday’s Wembley concert by another fan, after she wrote in an online group that the teenager was “devastated”.

London will conclude the European leg of the tour, which began in Paris in May. The global star, a genuine pop phenomenon, will then travel to Canada for the final concerts of a worldwide series with enormous economic repercussions. At the end of last year, “Eras” became the first tour in history to sell more than a billion dollars in tickets.