Fans flocked to London’s Wembley Stadium on Thursday ahead of Taylor Swift’s return to the stage a week after her Vienna concerts were cancelled due to a foiled suicide attack plot. Hundreds of ecstatic so-called "Swifties” streamed towards the stadium hours before the American mega-star was due to wrap up the European leg of her "Eras” tour with the first of five sell-out shows. "It doesn’t feel real, that it’s actually happening!” excited ticket-holder Katie Moulson, 24, told AFP as she arrived at Wembley mid-afternoon.
Around 90,000 fans will again pack the venue each night, with additional ticket checks and restrictions in place after the scare over the Austrian plot. Revelations of an Islamic State-inspired plan to launch an attack using explosives and knives there led to the cancellation of all three of her concerts in the Austrian capital last week. Three alleged Islamic State sympathizers have been arrested on charges of plotting the atrocity, which was thwarted with the help of US intelligence. London’s Metropolitan Police has said there was "nothing to indicate” any links with her upcoming gigs in the capital.
But it was working "closely with venue security teams and other partners to ensure there are appropriate security and policing plans in place”. Fans have been warned on Wembley’s website to expect "additional ticket checks” around the stadium.
No ‘Tay-gating’
The extra security had not dampened the spirits of fans decked out in glittery skirts, tassled jackets, cowboy hats and stacks of friendship bracelets - a current must-have for "Swifties” - as they descended on northwest London. "After Vienna, it’s good to hear that they’ve upped the security”, student Brodie MacArthur, 23, told AFP, as she arrived wearing a long white dress inspired by Swift’s latest album, "The Tortured Poets Department”. "In the back of your head, there’s still worries. But there are a lot of people here to keep it safe,” she added.
Swift’s return to the British capital, following three sold-out shows in June, comes two weeks after three young girls were killed in a stabbing at a dance class themed around the pop star’s music in northwest England. Following the knife attack, the star said she was "completely in shock” and at a "complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families”. She has not yet commented on the decision to cancel the Vienna shows. This time in London fans without tickets will not be allowed to "Tay-gate” the event - the practice of Swift fans standing outside the venue during the live show to hear the music. The stadium’s website says that "no one is allowed to stand outside any entrance or... at the front of the stadium” and "non-ticket holders will be moved on”. While the practice was not permitted at her June concerts there, some fans still managed to gather outside Wembley.
No ‘Tay-gating’
After two performances in Madrid at the end of July, Swift noted around 50,000 "people came out and listened to the show” from a nearby hillside on both nights, "participating in the show from afar”. Her last appearances in the British capital were attended by some high-profile names. They included Keir Starmer, who was then running to become Britain’s prime minister, and Prince William - celebrating his birthday - along with his children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
The singer posted a photo posing with the royals and her boyfriend, American football player Travis Kelce, with the caption "Happy Bday M8! London shows are off to a splendid start”. After wrapping up the European leg of her record-breaking tour - which began in Paris in May and saw the star perform across the continent - Swift will head back to North America. Its final leg there starts on October 18 in Miami. — AFP