Metro Detroiters sing, dance in Vienna streets despite Taylor Swift concert cancellation
By Ruta Ulcinaite
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SOUTHFIELD, Michigan (WXYZ) — Three Taylor Swift shows in Austria were canceled after officials found that an ISIS sympathizer was planning an attack.
Metro Detroiters who made the trip to Vienna specifically for the concert had their hearts broken but decided to not let evil win and filled the streets with songs and bracelet trading.
Andi Parel, her husband and two teenage daughters from Commerce Township planned an entire summer vacation around the Taylor Swift concert after they couldn’t snag tickets for her Detroit show last summer.
“We surprised our daughters with tickets to the concert, so we sort of built this family vacation around the concert,” Parel said.
However on Wednesday, foreign intelligence agencies uncovered a plot to attack the Taylor Swift shows in Vienna by an ISIS-inspired suspect. Investigators found chemicals and explosive devices inside the 19 year-old’s home.
At first, Parel heard the news of the arrest of the suspect Wednesday but at that point, the concert on Thursday was still planned to move ahead.
“I kept sitting there thinking if the show goes on, how do I let them go to this concert? Thinking the whole time what if,” Parel said.
Eventually all three sold-out concerts in the city were canceled. Without the concert, Swifties took to the streets of Vienna to spread music and joy including the Parel family.
“Everyone’s just standing in the middle of the city singing together at every intersection. There’s just hundreds of people singing and hugging each other and trading bracelets, and it really was just a beautiful thing,” Parel said. “It was almost like the whole city just came together. It brought everyone to tears.”
Parel’s daughters still enjoyed their time and even traded bracelets with an Austrian police officer to remind everyone that hate will not win.
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