A 21-year-old Austrian man has been handed a 15-year prison sentence after being convicted of plotting a jihadist-inspired attack targeting Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concerts in Vienna in August 2024.
Identified only as Beran A under Austrian privacy laws, he was found guilty of multiple terrorism-related offences linked to the failed plot.
Authorities say the suspect had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group and had been actively attempting to acquire weapons illegally, including a machine gun and a hand grenade. Prosecutors described him as radicalised, though efforts to secure the weapons were ultimately unsuccessful.
The arrest came just days before Swift was scheduled to perform three sold-out shows at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium, following a tip-off from the CIA. The threat led to the immediate cancellation of all concerts, affecting nearly 200,000 fans and prompting widespread disappointment across the fanbase and the artist herself.
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In a separate ruling, a second 21-year-old man, Arda K from Slovakia, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for related terrorism offences, though he was not directly linked to the concert attack plan. Swift later revealed she experienced “a new sense of fear” after learning of the plot, while also expressing gratitude to authorities for preventing what could have been a tragic attack, saying they were left “grieving concerts and not lives.”
