For Herve Tram, being a Taylor Swift fan isn’t just about the music.
The 28-year-old computer network engineer from Paris sees himself as part of a community, one of the Swifties as they are known. So when the pop superstar’s shows in Vienna were cancelled last week because of a terror threat, Tram took a small personal step: He gave away two extra tickets to her coming concerts in London to two fans who missed the chance to see their guiding light in the Austrian capital.
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“That’s the power of this fandom,” Tram said. “We look [out] for each other.”
The community of Swift fans, who have flocked to stadiums around the world to see the 3 1/2-hour shows on her Eras Tour and sing along with songs they know by heart, have been shaken in recent days.
First, a knife-wielding attacker murdered three little girls at a Swift-themed dance class in northern England, touching off a week of anti-immigrant unrest across the UK after right-wing activists spread misinformation about the suspect. Then the shows in Vienna were cancelled after police arrested three Islamic State-inspired extremists they believed were planning to attack the concert venue.
But none of that has damped fans’ enthusiasm to see Swift during five shows Thursday through Tuesday at London’s Wembley Stadium that will close out the European leg of the Eras Tour. The fans want to wear Swift-inspired outfits, swap handmade friendship bracelets and, of course, dance.
Read more: Taylor Swift’s Vienna shows cancelled after IS sympathiser arrest
Take Meagan Berneaud, 30, of Columbus, Ohio, who has been a Swift fan since she was 13.
Berneaud had second thoughts about travelling to London after recent events reminded her of the 2 1/2 hours she spent locked down during a 2016 terror attack at Ohio State University. But she decided to go and even set up a thread on X, formerly known as Twitter, to connect fans who missed the Vienna shows with people who were willing to sell or give away tickets to the London concerts. She’s had more than 3,000 views.