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.

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.

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.

Nehammer proposed empowering Austrian law enforcement agencies with the power to decrypt private digital communications within judicial purview to combat organised crime.

[14] 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.

[15] 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.

[19] 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.

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.

[27] The articles discovered at the 19-year-old, first suspect's residence were subsequently revealed to be precursors for explosives,[16] blank ammunition,[30] timers, machetes, steroids, and €21,000 in counterfeit cash,[31] as well as al-Qaeda-related items and propaganda[21] that indicated "concrete preparatory acts" in the "advanced stages".

[32] 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.

[25] 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.

[37] 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.

[24] 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.

[20] The national security spokesperson of the White House, John Kirby, spoke to reporters on 10 August regarding the role of the US in providing intelligence to Austria: "The United States has an enduring focus on our counterterrorism mission.

And so as part of that work, the United States did share information with Austrian partners to enable the disruption of a threat to Taylor Swift’s concerts there in Vienna.

[46] Bence Rétvári, parliamentary state secretary of the Hungarian Ministry of Interior, blamed pro-migration politicians and opined that incidents such as this plot and the Southport stabbing constitute a "dire warning" for Europe.

[47] Some American journalists opined that the US requires a more robust counter-terrorism policy and considered the plot and other contemporaneous attacks a direct result of president Joe Biden's decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan and other sensitive areas.

Mayor Sadiq Khan said London would "carry on" with hosting Swift's forthcoming concerts at the Wembley Stadium, as the city has "a huge amount of experience in policing these events, we’re never complacent, many lessons were learned after the awful Manchester Arena attack."

"[58][59] The UK Minister of State for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention, Diana Johnson, spoke to LBC, promising that the Scotland Yard will look at "all the intelligence" ahead of Swift's London concerts.

[64] Nehammer, in an interview for Bild, opined that it has become mandatory for Austrian agencies to undergo technical upgrades "so they're on an equal footing with terrorists, with organised crime, so we can combat them," and in order to do that, "it's vital that messenger services like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram can be decrypted for security authorities, under judicial oversight, while upholding the rule of law".

[67] Multiple businesses in Vienna, including eateries, pubs and beaches, provided respite, offers and deals to Swifties to "make up" for the cancelled concerts.