Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour ends its European leg in London on Tuesday after the American megastar thrilled hundreds of thousands of fans in a dozen countries.
“I wish I could have toured Europe more. This is a dream audience,” the 34-year-old singer told her fans at the Paris La Défense arena, where she opened her concert series in May.
Four months later, here are five takeaways from Swift’s time in Europe, as she performed “in style” in front of 90,000 fans at the British capital’s Wembley Stadium.
From “Swiftflation” to the economic boom: Hotel prices in European cities rose rapidly as fans from all over the world flocked to the cities.
Following Swift’s lyrics, “Take your passport and my hand,” 120,000 Swifties from 130 countries traveled to Stockholm in May, where they expected to spend half a billion Swedish kronor, according to the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.
Hotel room prices have also risen by “around 295 percent,” the chamber’s chief economist, Carl Bergkvist, told AFP. Some economists fear that the Swift wave could lead to a renewed increase in Swedish consumer prices.
Two concerts in Madrid brought an estimated 25 million euros to the economy of the Spanish capital.
And the tour is expected to boost the British economy by almost a billion pounds, Barclays Bank said in a study entitled “Swiftonomics.”
Seismologists across the continent have recorded swifts literally shaking the ground.
In May, concerts in Lisbon triggered seismic activity that was measured up to six kilometers from the stadium. The strongest activity was appropriately recorded during the song “Shake it off” and reached a magnitude of 0.82 on the Richter scale.
In Edinburgh, the British Geological Survey announced that fan favorites “Ready for It?”, “Cruel Summer” and “Champagne Problems” caused the “most significant seismic activity.”
During “Ready for It?” the crowd in the Scottish capital transmitted a power of about 80 kilowatts, which is equivalent to about 6,000 car batteries, the geologists said.
The final month of the European tour was overshadowed by a foiled suicide attack: Austrian authorities announced that an Islamic State sympathizer was planning a deadly attack on a Swift concert in Vienna.
Three suspects were arrested and all three concert dates in Vienna in August were cancelled following an investigation conducted with the support of the US secret service.
Disappointed Swifties tried to lighten their mood by meeting at Corneliusgasse in Vienna, which is very dear to Swift’s fans because of its similarity to her hit “Cornelia Street”, to sing the pop star’s songs and exchange bracelets with each other – an Eras Tour tradition among fans.
On July 29, tragedy struck when three girls were killed in a stabbing during a Swift-themed dance class in the north-west English town of Southport.
“I am still reeling from the horror of yesterday’s attack in Southport and am in complete shock,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post before a concert in Warsaw, Poland.
Swift met two survivors of the attack during her shows in London in August. A mother posted pictures of the girls backstage with Swift after a concert on TikTok, Rolling Stone magazine reported.
Their fans raised almost £400,000 for the victims under the slogan “Swifties for Southport”.
Fans without tickets dressed up and exchanged wristbands while listening to the concerts outside the stadium, a practice known as “Tay-gating.”
In Madrid, Swift said, around 50,000 “people came and listened to the show” and “participated in the show remotely” on both nights.
Officials in London and Amsterdam, however, warned fans not to gather outside the venues as this could disturb local residents.
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