by the time Fans learned that Taylor Swift’s three-night concert in Vienna had been canceled due to a terrorist threat, and authorities were working tirelessly behind the scenes to uncover and thwart a plot that threatened the lives of thousands of people. The week’s events have reignited concerns internationally about the safety of large-scale events, with Swift’s concerts the largest to face such a threat in years.
Many experts in live event security and risk management say Rolling Stone Canceling the concerts was the right decision, even with police intervention before the attack. Neither Swift nor Barracuda Music were legally obligated to cancel them, but experts say the decision was common sense..
“There was a credible terrorist threat, involving ISIS,” said Steve Adelman, an attorney who serves as vice president of the Juvenile Safety Coalition. “The man who was arrested had the means to commit mass murder.” Rolling Stone“This is more than enough to warrant cancellation.”
“From everything I’ve read, and given the security information and unclassified intelligence briefings, it seems like the organizers made this decision out of an abundance of caution, and that the authorities didn’t know how serious this was, so I think they made the right decision,” says Mark Camillo, senior consultant at Contemporary Services, which provides security and crowd management expertise for sporting and entertainment events in the United States. “Tourists need to be prepared for this… because the popularity of different performers could lead to interest in exploiting the event for political gain or, in this case, to promote an extremist agenda.”
When authorities don’t forcefully cancel a show, it’s up to the organizers and the talent to determine the cause of action, Adelman says. “There’s a famous line from a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decision,” he says. “Justice [Potter] Stewart wrote [of obscenity]“I know it when I see it.” It’s like this: There’s no clear line or set criteria. It’s not entirely clear. It will be in the eyes of the beholder. It will depend on countless circumstances on the ground.”
While there is a protocol for dealing with risks such as bad weather at major events, “man-made threats,” such as terrorism, are largely uncharted territory, says Camillo. “There is no standard. There are only best practices and what security professionals consider to be experience through observation. What the Austrians are doing now will be studied very carefully, and this should allow other hosting venues across Europe and perhaps the US to have their own decision-making matrix.”
There are no uniform federal regulations for live events in the United States, though the Department of Homeland Security applies “Special Event Evaluation Classifications” to events of national significance, from parades to the World Cup. It’s up to sports venues and governing bodies like the NFL to determine their own best practices. They can also follow guidance from organizations like the International Venue Managers Association and the National Center for Spectacle Sports Safety and Security. The way concerts are sometimes planned with less than a month’s notice makes it difficult to seek federal support, Camillo says.
What made Swift’s concerts even more dangerous was that 10,000 Swift fans were expected to listen to the concert outside the stadium at each show, with Austrian officials saying Thursday that the suspect’s goal was to “kill as many people outside the venue as possible.” Fans outside would be more at risk because they would be outside the official perimeter of the event and lacked security.
“It's a very easy target,” Adelman said. “There's no security zone for the people sitting on the hill outside the stadium. Given the fact that those people can't be protected… I don't imagine there's any risk to the safety of those people.” [canceling] “It was a complicated decision to make.”
Camillo says it’s up to security officials to work with local authorities to provide the resources needed to protect crowds in the event of an attack. That can be difficult if the number of police available is limited; the law enforcement people see at stadiums are often off-duty police officers earning extra pay. The more time event organizers have to plan ahead and work with local authorities, the safer the event will be.
“They handled it absolutely right,” adds Ross Simmons, managing partner of event consultancy Venue Solutions Group. “On the surface it may seem like it was understandable, but [they] “I can’t know who else might have been involved, or who might have been part of a collective conspiracy. There could have been more people, you just don’t know. You can never know everything and out of an abundance of caution, this is the right decision.”
To mitigate the risk to outdoor fans, Adelman says, event organizers could create a perimeter around the venue or simply encourage fans not to congregate outside for their own safety. “If someone with the level of influence that Taylor Swift has said, ‘Swifties, I love you. I don’t want you to get hurt, please don’t congregate en masse outside of where I can protect you because I don’t want you to be in danger,’ I think a lot of fans would be sad, but it would be very effective,” he says.
The planned attack on Swift’s shows is the latest in a series of terrorist threats to hit concerts around the world over the past decade, with attacks escalating since the late 2000s, according to a 2022 study by Cambridge University Press. There have been devastating attacks in Paris, Las Vegas and Manchester, and most recently, Sabrina Carpenter and Noel Gallagher were forced to cancel shows due to bomb threats.
The reason groups like ISIS target concerts is simple: “They weren’t specifically targeting Taylor Swift or her fans, they were targeting large crowds,” says Peter van Ostaeyen, a historian and Arab specialist on ISIS. “When ISIS wants to carry out an attack, they target large groups of people because they want as many dead as possible.”
The Vienna plot illustrates how the Islamic State remains an organization capable of carrying out attacks around the world, Van Ostaeyen says. The group’s global operations are coordinated by a “provincial directorate,” which helps potential attackers with logistics, resources, tasks and direction. “We don’t really know how they do it,” Van Ostaeyen says. “They somehow communicate and receive instructions.” In Europe, many potential attackers have been teenagers with local citizenship and Islamist backgrounds, like the teenagers caught so far in the Taylor Swift plot.
The Islamic State has carried out a steady number of attacks worldwide this year, including high-profile attacks at a concert in Kerman, Iran, in January that killed 103 people and at the Crocus City Hall outside Moscow in March that killed 145. “All security services recognize that ISIS remains a real threat,” says Van Ostaeyen, noting that despite regular successes by Western intelligence agencies in disrupting plots, capturing suspects and killing ISIS leaders, the group is still there. “This problem will be with us for years to come.”
It is unclear whether Swift's panic attack this week will lead to changes to security procedures for her upcoming shows in London. A representative for the London Metropolitan Police said: The New York Times “There is no indication that the issues being investigated by the Austrian authorities will have an impact on upcoming events here in London,” Adelman said. He doesn’t expect “anything to change for the vast majority of venues or events” in terms of security protocols internationally. But it’s safe to assume that the live events world is watching Austria’s response and re-evaluating safety measures across the board.
Simmons says Rolling Stone Many of the organizers he works with are planning to add more visible security measures to upcoming shows to help ease the suffering of concertgoers. “It starts a conversation,” Simmons says. “What should we be thinking about? What can we do effectively with the resources we have?” “The best thing that happens, in our industry, is that the phones start ringing, we start talking to each other, we start brainstorming, and hopefully everyone becomes safer.”
Perhaps the most terrifying concern is how one of the suspects managed to get a job as a vendor at the Austrian stadium. Given that the suspect is only 17 years old, Adelman and Simons say there is likely to be little information available through a background check.
However, background checks can be useful for catching what Camillo calls “insider threats.” He says the special events he has worked at require background checks for employees, including vendors, concessionaires, workers, and even security screeners. “They should all have a background check,” he says. “But background checks shouldn’t be confused with background checks.” investigation“And this goes much deeper than that… These costs are very high. The question is: Is a venue willing to pay for a background check on an employee who may only be there for four to six weeks to prepare for an event, or is a venue expected to pay for a background check on an employee who may only be there for four to six weeks to prepare for an event?”
Safety also falls on concertgoers, Camillo says, who should use common sense and plan ahead when attending mass gatherings. He says people should read the guidelines on the venue’s website so they don’t accidentally bring in prohibited items (like the wrong size bag) and distract security screening from spotting a real threat. They should also refrain from entering places that are already “crowded,” since terrorists’ intentions are to cause panic and cause casualties, and people who are already frightened could be at risk. Finally, the safest place to be is inside the venue rather than outside because security is there. “I always plan to enter the stadium or arena when it opens rather than waiting and getting caught in a dense crowd that could lead to a stampede,” he says.
He also subscribes to the well-known advice: “If you see something, tell me.” He says: “If someone or something looks out of place—a school bag or a backpack—please report it to the authorities. No matter how hard they try, they can’t see everything. The best eyes and ears are the eyes and ears of an attentive crowd.”
