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Taylor Swift's Wembley Concert: A Triumphant Return Amidst Security Concerns

22 August, 2024 - 12:44AM
Taylor Swift's Wembley Concert: A Triumphant Return Amidst Security Concerns
Credit: metro.co.uk

Taylor Swift returned to the stage at London’s Wembley Stadium on Thursday, just over a week after three of her Eras Tour concerts in Vienna were canceled when police in the Austrian city thwarted a terror attack plot targeting one of her shows. Swift did not acknowledge the situation at Thursday’s show as some anticipated. She began the concert, as usual, by welcoming the audience with a short speech about how much of a “delight and a thrill” it is to perform for them. The superstar has also yet to make a comment about the matter on her social media. CNN has reached out to Swift’s representative for comment. During the acoustic set toward the end of the show, Ed Sheeran joined Swift on stage for a series of songs, including “Everything Has Changed,” a song on Swift’s “Red” album on which Sheeran is a featured artist, and “Endgame” from her “Reputation” album. They also sang Sheeran’s hit song “Thinking Out Loud.” Swift last performed her concert in front of audiences in Warsaw, Poland in the beginning of August. She was supposed to begin a three-show stop in Vienna on August 9 when Austrian authorities said they had prevented an ISIS-inspired plot to attack one of her concerts during that leg. Three teenagers have since been detained in connection with the investigation and are suspected of plotting a suicide attack. Investigators found a stockpile of chemicals, explosive devices, detonators and over $20,000 in counterfeit cash at the home of the main suspect, a 19-year-old ISIS sympathizer who had been radicalized online, according to Franz Ruf, public security director at Austria’s interior ministry. Thursday’s concert kicked off the first of five shows Swift is scheduled to perform at Wembley Stadium, the run serving as her final European tour stop before she heads back to North America. The band Paramore opened for Swift on Thursday, with supporting opening act Sofia Isella. Holly Humberstone, Suki Waterhouse, Maisie Peters and Raye will respectively fill that role over the remainder of the London tour stop. Paramore, who was set to open for Swift at the three Vienna shows, did not address the cancellations or terror threat while on stage on Thursday either. CNN previously reached out to representatives for Paramore and each supporting artist for comment, and have not heard back. With safety and security top of mind following the Vienna cancellations, both Wembley Stadium and London authorities have publicly outlined their plan to keep concertgoers safe. London Mayor Sadiq Khan told Sky News in an interview last week that the capital city has “a huge amount of experience in policing these events” and that they’re “never complacent.” Recalling the “many lessons” learned from the horrific 2017 Manchester Arena attack, which left 22 people dead and injured hundreds at an Ariana Grande concert, Khan said that they would be “working closely with police (and) ensuring that the Taylor Swift concerts can take place in London safely.” CNN has reached out to a representative for Grande for comment. “London plays host to a significant number of very high profile events each year with millions of visitors having a safe and enjoyable experience,” a spokesperson for the London Metropolitan Police told CNN in a statement on Tuesday. The statement continued: “There is nothing to indicate that the matters being investigated by the Austrian authorities will have an impact on upcoming events here in London. As always, we will continue to keep any new information under careful review.” The Met Police are working closely with the venue’s security teams and other partners to ensure that the appropriate safety measures are in place for the shows, the statement added. Wembley Stadium also outlined on their official website that the venue will “collaborate closely” with police, the Safety Advisory Group and relevant authorities “to ensure that the stadium’s security protocols meet the highest standards.” Wembley Stadium — which already hosted Swift for Eras Tour shows in June — also specified that people who do not have tickets to the concerts are not allowed to stand outside of the venue, outlawing a tradition that many Swifties have participated in at various venues throughout the tour. The new counterterrorism measures, which include stronger monitoring of “messenger services,” come in the wake of a thwarted attack at a Taylor Swift concert. Austria's chancellor presented a pack of measures to fight counterterrorism to his intelligence council on Tuesday, including stronger monitoring of “messenger services,” in the wake of a thwarted terrorist attack over the weekend at a Taylor Swift concert.  “It has become clear that Islamist terror poses a threat to security and freedom in Austria,” a list of priorities from the government, published in the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitüng, read.  “Legal measures should empower the services of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of the Interior to monitor the content of messages”.  The move comes after Chancellor Karl Nehammer told German media over the weekend that Austria's intelligence agencies should be able to decrypt messenger apps like WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram, so security agencies can review content there when necessary.  Austrian police arrested three teenagers between the ages of 17 and 19 in connection with the attempted terrorist activity on August 8, police told media in a press conference.  A search of one of the 19-year-old’s house found the technical equipment needed to make explosives.  This isn't the first time the Austrian parliament has tried to extend social media monitoring powers to its police force.  In 2018, the Austrian government passed a law that allowed police forces to review real-time conversations on WhatsApp and other services if a court order allows it in connection to terrorist activity. One section of the newly passed Code of Criminal Procedure (or Strafprozessordnung in German) let a so-called “federal trojan” software bypass encryption on these messaging applications.  The Austrian Constitutional Court eventually struck down parts of that law in 2019, saying that it was a “grave encroachment on users' rights to privacy,” according to its ruling.  The ruling called the Trojan software a “particularly intense” form of surveillance because the data obtained by computer systems includes information about personal preferences, tendencies, and their lifestyle. After a 2020 terrorist attack in Vienna, the government tried again.  The case for a federal trojan has been gaining traction this year after Egisto Ott, a former Austrian intelligence officer, was charged with allegedly handing over cell phone data of high-ranking officials to the Russians.  Epicenter.works, an Austrian-based fundamental rights NGO, said in a July press release that a federal trojan to bypass encryption would “mass jeopardise the security of all smartphones”.  “For a state trojan, the state has to spend taxpayers' money on security loopholes… this is where the absurd reversal of interests become clear,” the statement says.  For now, the country’s directorate of state protection (DSN) currently has a division of their national police force that reviews complaints made about online content that deals with extremism or terrorism.  Those complaints will then be forwarded to the social media company dealing with them, which has to decide whether the content violates their standards.

Taylor Swift's Wembley Concert: A Triumphant Return Amidst Security Concerns
Credit: i-scmp.com
Taylor Swift's Wembley Concert: A Triumphant Return Amidst Security Concerns
Credit: alamy.com
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Taylor Swift Vienna Terrorism Taylor Swift Eras Tour wembley stadium concert security Terrorist Attack Vienna london
Luca Rossi
Luca Rossi

Environmental Reporter

Reporting on environmental issues and sustainability.