American megastar Taylor Swift's “Eras” tour concludes its European leg in London on Tuesday after entertaining hundreds of thousands of fans in more than a dozen countries.
“I wanted to tour more in Europe. These are dream audiences,” the 34-year-old singer told fans at Paris' La Défense arena, where he kicked off a series of shows in May.
Four months later, Swift performed “Style” in front of 90,000 people at Wembley Stadium in the British capital. Here are five takeaways from her European stay.
“Swiftnomics”
From “Swiftflation” to economic boost, European cities saw hotel prices soar as fans from around the world flocked to the city.
According to the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, 120,000 Swifties from 130 countries are expected to visit Stockholm in May, inspired by Swift's lyrics “Grab your passport and my hand,” and spend 500 million Swedish kronor ($46 million) there.
Hotel room prices have also risen by “around 295 percent”, the chamber's chief economist Carl Bergqvist told AFP, adding that some economists fear the Swift Boom could lead to a resurgence in consumer prices in Sweden.
The two concerts in Madrid are estimated to have injected 25 million euros ($27.6 million) into the Spanish capital's economy.
Barclays bank also said in a study called “Swiftonomics” that it predicted the tour would boost the British economy by about 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion).
“Shake it off.”
Seismologists across the continent recorded the Swifties literally shaking the ground.
During a concert in Lisbon in May, seismic activity was measured as far as 6 km (4 miles) away from the stadium, with the strongest earthquake recorded during the performance of the song “Shake it Off”, reaching a magnitude of 0.82 on the Richter scale.
In Edinburgh, the British Geological Survey revealed that fan-favourite songs “Ready for It?,” “Cruel Summer” and “Champagne Problems” caused the “most significant seismic activity.”
Geologists say the crowds in the Scottish capital during “Ready for It?” transmitted around 80 kilowatts of power – the equivalent of around 6,000 car batteries.
Attacks thwarted
The final month of her European tour was marred by a failed suicide bomb plot: Austrian authorities revealed that Islamic State supporters were planning a deadly attack at a Swift concert in Vienna.
An investigation carried out with the help of US intelligence agencies led to the arrest of three suspects and the cancellation of all three concerts scheduled for August in Vienna.
Dejected Swift fans tried to cheer themselves up by gathering at Vienna's Corneliusstrasse, affectionately known as Corneliusstrasse because of its resemblance to Swift's hit “Cornelia Street,” by singing along to the pop star's songs and exchanging bracelets, a tradition on the Eras tour.
Knife tragedy
On July 29th, a tragedy occurred in the northwest English town of Southport when three girls were stabbed to death at a Swift-themed dance class.
“The horror of yesterday's attack in Southport continues to wash over me and I am in complete shock,” Swift wrote on Instagram ahead of a concert in Warsaw, Poland.
According to Rolling Stone, Swift met with two survivors of the attack during a show in London in August, and a photo of the girls backstage with Swift after the concert was posted to TikTok by their mother.
Her fans, under the slogan “Swifties for Southport”, have raised nearly £400,000 for the victims.
“Taegating”
Fans without tickets engaged in a practice known as “tay-gating,” in which they dressed up in costumes and exchanged bracelets while listening to the concert from outside the stadium.
In Madrid, about 50,000 people “gathered on nearby hillsides to listen to the show” on both nights, and some took in the shows from afar, Swift said.
However, authorities in London and Amsterdam have warned fans not to gather outside venues due to the disruption to local residents.
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