Failed terrorist attack at a Taylor Swift concert
In August 2024, a terrorism plot assisted by the Islamic State, a jihadist militant group, targeting a concert of the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna, the capital city of Austria, was uncovered and neutralised. Three males, aged 17, 18 and 19, were arrested for involvement in the plot that was intended to mass murder concert attendees as well as onlookers in the stadium vicinity.
Three concerts of the Eras Tour, Swift's sixth concert tour, were scheduled to take place from 8–10 August 2024 at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion—the penultimate stop of the tour's European leg, in what would have been Swift's first-ever concerts in Austria. The tickets went on sale in July 2023 and all three dates sold out within the first few hours, marking the fastest and largest ticket-sale in Austrian history; over 200,000 people had been expected to attend the shows in the stadium premises. The police detained a suspect of terrorism a day before the first show, stating that the concerts can proceed as planned with additional security measures in place. However, following the arrest of a second suspect and a confirmation by the Government of Austria of the extensive terrorist plan to attack the tour and Vienna at-large, Swift's event partner Barracuda Music cancelled the concerts indefinitely—a decision welcomed by Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer. 
Authorities stated that the suspects, who are all teenagers, had been radicalised online and were found to be in possession of explosive chemicals, bladed articles, al-Qaeda-related devices, counterfeit money, and a car equipped with a police siren for organising a suicide attack on the concert. The Austrian Federal Police, EKO Cobra, the United States Intelligence Community, and Europol collaborated to prevent the attack. Nehammer proposed empowering Austrian law enforcement agencies with the power to decrypt private digital communications within judicial purview to combat organised crime. The Eras Tour's final European shows took place in London's Wembley Stadium with additional security and administrative support from the Greater London Authority and Metropolitan Police.
Background.
Vienna is the capital, and the most populous city of Austria. It is also the fifth-largest city by population in the European Union. As part of broader Islamic terrorism in Europe, Vienna saw its first terror attack on 2 November 2020.
The American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift embarked on her sixth concert tour, the Eras Tour, which commenced on 17 March 2023, in Glendale, Arizona, United States, and concluded on 8 December 2024, in Vancouver, Canada, with over 100 shows across five continents. The Eras Tour quickly became the world's highest-grossing tour of all time within its first 60 shows, becoming the first tour ever to surpass $1 billion in revenue. The tour has had a documented cultural and economic impact worldwide, which has been the subject of widespread media coverage and analysis.
Swift announced the European leg of the tour on 20 June 2023, including one concert at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna, in what would have been Swift's first-ever show in the country. Following popular demand, eight more shows were added to the leg, which saw Vienna receive a second show. Further demand expanded the European leg once again, with 14 additional shows in continental Europe, including a third consecutive show in Vienna.All 170,000 tickets for the three Vienna shows sold out within the first few hours of sale, marking the largest and fastest ticket sale ever in the history of Austria. Vienna experienced a significant impact on its rental market, with booking rates for the nights of the concerts recorded in February 2024, 44 percent higher than at the same point the previous year. By the end of March 2024, the number of nights booked in the city for the length of the tour's stay in the second week of August had risen by 430 percent compared with the same period in 2023.
Arrests.
On 7 August 2024, mainstream media reported that the Austrian federal police took a 19-year-old male, a dual citizen of Austria and North Macedonia, into custody for allegedly plotting a terror attack on Swift's concerts in Vienna. His name has been identified as Beran A. (Aliji, Aliyi), according to "The Guardian", even though no names were officially released in line with Austrian privacy rules. He was previously known to the authorities as a suspect of terrorism and was arrested following a large police operation in Ternitz, Lower Austria, where his house is located, with over 100 nearby residents evacuated temporarily. The operation crew had told the civilians that there was a gas leak. Austrian public security director-general Franz Ruf stated that a bomb squad found chemical substances and technical devices at the residence, which were sent for forensic examination. However, Ruf assured that the shows would take place as scheduled, with additional security measures in place to deter remaining threats, as over 65,000 fans are expected to attend each day and 20,000 more outside the venue. The suspect's parents had been away at the time of the raid.
A second suspect, a 17-year-old male Austrian citizen of Turkish and Croatian descent, who was in contact with the 19-year-old, was arrested on 7 August as well, later in the afternoon. EKO Cobra, the federal tactical unit of Austria, assisted with the arrests of the suspects. Police stated that the suspects were radicalized on the Internet and had pledged their allegiance to the Islamic State (IS), a jihadist militant Islamist group, in July 2024. Vienna was a target of their planned attack, with "a particular focus" on Swift's concerts. The second suspect was hired by a facility company providing security services at the stadium during Swift's concerts.
A 15-year-old Turkish citizen, who had been asked by the main suspect about ignition mechanisms and was found near the stadium, was placed under police custody for intensive questioning, but not arrested; he has since been released from custody but will be treated as a witness, while the first two suspects have been transferred to a prison in Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria, held in a pre-trial detention with a state prosecutor appointed for each of them. Police stated that the 15-year-old was not part of the plot but that he knew many of its details, helping corroborate "some key elements of the main suspect's confession."
Despite officials saying that they were not looking for any more suspects, Gerhard Karner, the minister of the interior of Austria, stated on 9 August that an 18-year-old Iraqi male has been detained as the third suspect in the terror plot. According to the "Kronen Zeitung", the third suspect has been living in Austria as a refugee. Karner also announced that he had initiated the process of revoking the 18-year-old's residence permit under a special provision "designed to deal with dangerous refugees or immigrants" as he had also pledged himself to the IS.
Investigation.
The articles discovered at the 19-year-old, first suspect's residence were subsequently revealed to be precursors for explosives, blank ammunition, timers, machetes, steroids, and in counterfeit cash, as well as al-Qaeda-related items and propaganda that indicated "concrete preparatory acts" in the "advanced stages". The police also stated that he "had successfully fabricated bombs using instructions found online". Upon further enquiry, it was determined that the first suspect "had planned to execute a deadly suicide attack during the concert", aiming to kill a large number of people. He had also "drastically changed" his physical appearance since July. One of the suspect's neighbors told Puls 4 that he mostly "kept to himself" and had grown a "Taliban" beard recently. Christian Samwald, mayor of Ternitz, said "there had been shock and dismay in Ternitz about the news because there had been no prior indication that the youth harbored any radical inclinations."
According to United States officials, US Intelligence had uncovered the threat to Swift's concerts in Vienna when the 19-year-old uploaded an "oath of allegiance" to the Islamic State on the messaging app Telegram in early July, whilst participating in IS-K Telegram groups. US Intelligence then passed the information to the Europol and the Austrian police, cautioning of the suspects' plans for a terrorist attack. Austrian authorities then planned the police operation in Ternitz. US investigators stated that the plot was only assisted but not directly operated by the IS, and that the Austrian law enforcement is looking for an additional person or people who may have some knowledge of the plans. The police later stated that "the pair had aspirational plans for attacking Vienna's major events sites and specifically had homed in on this coming weekend's Swift concerts", and planned to use explosives and knives to carry it out. The Macedonian Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed that it has received a request from Austrian investigators to look into the 19-year-old's background.
On 8 August, it was reported that the 19-year-old, who is regarded as the "main suspect", fully confessed to attack plans during a police interrogation, according to Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of Austria's Directorate of State Security and Intelligence. Most of the plans and preparations were made at the main suspect's home. Haijawi-Pirchner stated that the 19-year-old had resigned his job at a steelworks factory, also in Ternitz, telling colleagues he "still had big plans" and that he confessed he had sought to kill "as many people as possible" by driving a car into the crowds before using knives, machetes and the homemade explosive devices. "Kurier" reported that he had stolen chemicals from the factory in order to build the bombs. His accomplice, the 17-year-old, had also broken up with his girlfriend the preceding week, which investigators believe was done in preparation for the attack. As per an Austria Press Agency report on 11 August, the 19-year-old then denied involvement in the plot and claimed he is not a supporter of the IS; his lawyer argued that her client simply wanted to be "cool", wanted to use explosives "out in a forest but never intended to kill people" and "ordered [knives and other weapons] on Amazon because he liked them."
As of 10 August, the investigation continues to scrutinise the "networks" of the suspects. The Ministry of the Interior claimed in a statement that investigators have turned to "evaluating physical and electronic evidence", and will interrogate more individuals and search additional locations. On 11 August, Karl Nehammer, the chancellor of Austria since 2021, claimed that "more ISIS supporters" have been identified. 
On 28 August 2024, David S. Cohen stated at the Intelligence Summit, Washington D.C., that the information used by Austrian police on 7 August to disrupt the plot was provided to them by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): "They were plotting to kill a huge number, tens of thousands of people at this concert, I am sure many Americans [...] The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do." Cohen did not disclose how the CIA obtained the information about the planned attack.
Impact, reaction, and aftermath.
Following the arrest of the second suspect, the event organiser of Swift's concerts in Vienna, Barracuda Music, announced that all three shows would be cancelled with tickets refunded, after receiving confirmation from the government of Austria of the elaborate terrorist plan. The organiser stated, "We have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone's safety", with all tickets "automatically refunded" within the next 10 days. In a subsequent press conference, Barracuda pointed out that Swift's management had played a significant part in the decision, and that a key moment was when they were informed that the 17-year-old suspect would have worked on site in the stadium before and during the concerts. It marked the first time Swift had cancelled a concert since 2014, when her Bangkok show was called off due to the military coup in Thailand. 
Nehammer, the head of government of Austria, released a statement: "The cancelation of the Taylor Swift concerts by the organizers is a bitter disappointment for all fans in Austria. The situation surrounding the apparently planned terrorist attack in Vienna was very serious. Thanks to the intensive cooperation of our police and the newly established DSN with foreign services, the threat was recognized early, combated and a tragedy prevented. Many thanks to the emergency services who are currently investigating at full speed." He also praised Swift and her team for acting "responsibly"