Taylor Swift and Disney+ Surprise Fans in Vienna with TV Premiere of Eras Tour Film Following Terror…see more

Taylor Swift and Disney+ Surprise Fans in Vienna with TV Premiere of Eras Tour Film Following Terror Plot Cancellations
Disney partnered with basic cable station ORF to air Swift’s concert movie in Austria on Saturday, Aug. 10

Taylor Swift and Disney have surprised fans in Austria with a special opportunity to see the Eras Tour concert movie in the wake of the pop star having to cancel her scheduled Vienna show dates amid a foiled terror plot.

Disney partnered with cable station ORF to air the Disney+ film Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) as a free TV premiere in Austria on Saturday night, Aug. 10. In addition, the streamer is offering a limited-time, free seven-day trial of Disney+ Premium for those fans who want to stream the movie there beginning on Aug. 10.

Days earlier, on Wednesday, Aug. 7, local authorities in Vienna confirmed that they had arrested two men in connection with a planned attack on Swift’s scheduled concerts at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium on Aug. 8, 9 and 10. A third male suspect was arrested the following day, according to the Associated Press.

Shortly after the initial two arrests, the concert promoter announced that it had “no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety” in an Instagram post, which was then shared to the official Taylor Nation account’s Instagram Stories.

In a news conference on Aug. 8, Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of Austria’s Directorate of State Security and Intelligence, said that one of the detained suspects had admitted to intending “to carry out an attack” at the concert “using explosives and knives,” multiple outlets reported.
“His aim was to kill himself and a large number of people during the concert either today or tomorrow,” Haijawi-Pirchner added, speaking on the day of the first scheduled show.

Though Swift hasn’t canceled a concert date due to any similar threats in the past, the singer has previously admitted that such an attack is one of her “biggest fears.”

In a 2019 ELLE profile, Swift said that she was “completely terrified” to tour following the attacks on Ariana Grande’s Manchester, England, concert and Jason Aldean’s Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest Festival performance two years prior.

“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,” Swift told the outlet, referencing the deadly 2017 bombing after an Ariana Concert in Manchester, England, and the shooting during Jason Aldean’s performance at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas the same year.

“There was a tremendous amount of planning, expense, and effort put into keeping my fans safe,” the performer added.

Though thousands of Austrian fans will no longer have the opportunity to see Swift’s record-breaking concert sensation in their home city, many continued to stay optimistic by gathering in the city to sing some of their favorite hits by the star and trade friendship bracelets — as they would have done at the show.

The day after news of the cancellation, Swifties flooded social media with words in support of the singer and touching messages of resilience.