Swifties in Vienna cry, commiserate and try to shake it off after concerts canned

Just as she was boarding her flight at Boston Logan International Airport headed for a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, Ms Mary DePetris excitedly checked the online fan group, Swiftie Nation.

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Austrian authorities had disco vered a terrorist plot targeting Taylor Swift's Eras Tour in the city, she read. On Aug 7, just before take-off, organisers cancelled all three shows scheduled for Aug 8 to 10.

Ms Depetris, 47, stepped onto the plane and broke the news to some of her fellow passengers.

"Half the plane was crying," she said. "It's not just about the shows, it's the community coming together and feeling safe at her concerts, and Swifties letting their guard down. And this just shifted all of that. How can we do that now that we feel we are targeted?"

As the estimated 200,000 people who had been expected to worship at Swift's proscenium in Vienna grappled with crushing disappointment, wasted money and a measure of fear at narrowly avoiding danger, a sea of fans flooded the baroque city looking for ways to shake it off.

They traded Eras merchandise in the shadow of the vacant stadium or dissolved into tears when they caught the strains of Swift's stanzas drifting from the doorways of sympathetic gift shops or churches.