Taylor Swift stood backstage at Wembley Stadium, hands trembling uncontrollably. Just hours earlier, she’d met families whose children were murdered at a dance class celebrating her music. Now, 90,000 fans waited outside, expecting three-and-a-half hours of pop spectacle.
According to the new Disney+ documentary The End of an Era, Swift told her mother through tears, “I’m having a very physical reaction to my anxiety”. The darkest chapter of music’s most lucrative tour—$2 billion across 149 shows—was about to unfold.
Three Girls Killed at a Taylor Swift Dance Party
On July 29, 2024, a 17-year-old armed with a knife entered the Hart Space studio in Southport, England, where 26 children aged six to 13 attended a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop. Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Da Silva Aguiar, 9, were killed. Ten others were injured, including two adults who tried to protect the children.
Swift posted on Instagram the next day, stating she was “completely in shock” and “at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families”.
CIA Stops Bomb Plot Aimed at Tens of Thousands
Just weeks after Southport, Austrian authorities arrested three suspects connected to the Islamic State who planned to detonate explosives at Swift’s Vienna concerts. According to CIA Deputy Director David Cohen, the plotters intended “to kill a huge number, tens of thousands of people at this concert, including many Americans”.
The main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian, had pledged allegiance to ISIS and gained access to the concert venue before his August 6 arrest. All three Vienna shows—expected to draw 200,000 fans—were cancelled.
“We Dodged a Massacre Situation”
In the documentary’s opening episode, Swift reflects on the Vienna terror plot with visible anguish. “Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine we would have to face a terrorist plot,” she says. Fighting back tears, she continues: “We’ve had a very scary, violent run of things on the tour. We dodged a massacre situation”.
Swift explained that the cancellations left her with “a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many had planned on coming to those shows.”
A New Kind of Fear After 20 Years Onstage
The 35-year-old singer revealed how the threats fundamentally changed her relationship with performing. According to Swift in the documentary, “I have been performing for 20 years. Mentally, being afraid that something is going to happen to your fans at any moment—that’s new”.
She described the psychological toll: “I need to lock my anxiety off from the audience. You are the leader of the show, and they can sense any shift in your energy”. This fear marked a turning point in the tour’s final European leg.
Walking on Thin Ice: Five Final European Shows
Before her August return to Wembley Stadium in London, Swift filmed herself at the Rosewood Hotel, voice quavering. “It feels quite strange approaching these final five shows in Europe. We’ve completed 128 shows so far, but this is the first one where I feel like I’m skating on thin ice”.
She referenced both tragedies: “There was this horrible attack in Liverpool at a Taylor Swift dance party, and it was little kids”. Then she broke down crying on camera.
Meeting the Southport Families Hours Before Showtime
Swift privately met with survivors and families of the Southport victims backstage before each of her five August Wembley performances. In footage from the documentary, she wipes away tears while preparing herself: “I’m gonna meet some of these families tonight and put on a pop concert. I’m gonna be fine when I meet them, I’m not going to do this, I swear to God”.
Her mother Andrea later told her, “I know you don’t like it, but I know you helped them”.
Shaking Hands and a Mother’s Comfort
After meeting the grieving families, Swift returned to her dressing room visibly shaken. Backstage footage shows her mother, Andrea, comforting her with tissues as Taylor cries. Swift confessed to her mother, “I’m trying to calm down. My hands are shaking”.
Ed Sheeran, scheduled to appear as a surprise guest that evening, arrived to offer support. Swift’s mother remarked that he was “just what the doctor ordered.” Swift then had to prepare to perform for 90,000 fans.
Locking Emotions Away for Three-and-a-Half Hours
Swift explained the mental compartmentalization required to perform after such trauma. “So any of this gets out of the way before you ever go on stage. You lock it off,” she says in the documentary. For three-and-a-half hours each night, Swift performed 44 to 46 songs spanning her entire career. She continued: “They don’t have to worry about you. I’m at the Eras Tour, everything is fine”.
This ritual was repeated across five consecutive Wembley shows in August 2024.
The $2 Billion Tour That Almost Derailed
By the tour’s conclusion in Vancouver on December 8, 2024, the Eras Tour had grossed $2,077,618,725—the first concert tour in history to surpass $2 billion. Swift performed 149 shows across 21 countries over 21 months, selling a total of 10,168,008 tickets. The average ticket price reached $204, far exceeding the industry average of $131.
Yet the summer of 2024—with three children murdered and three concerts cancelled due to a bomb plot—nearly ended it all.
753,112 Fans at Wembley Alone
Swift’s eight total nights at Wembley Stadium in London drew 753,112 fans, roughly equivalent to the population of Seattle. The venue became her most-performed location on the entire tour, with Swift telling the crowd, “You made me the first solo artist to ever play Wembley eight times in a single tour”.
Each show averaged 90,000 attendees. During the August run—performed while processing grief and terror threats—Swift maintained the full three-hour-plus spectacle.
Documentary Premieres One Year After Tour’s End
Disney+ released the first two episodes of The End of an Era on December 12, 2025, exactly one year after the tour’s final show in Vancouver. Swift attended a special New York City screening on December 9 with her mother Andrea, father Scott, brother Austin, and tour crew members.
The six-episode docuseries releases weekly through December 26, offering unprecedented access to the tour’s development, impact, and darkest moments.
From Friendship Bracelets to Terror Targets
The Eras Tour began as a celebration—fans exchanging friendship bracelets, singing every lyric, and creating what some called “Woodstock without the drugs.” Swift’s setlist journeyed through 18 years of music, from 2008’s “Love Story” to 2024’s “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart”. But the summer of 2024 transformed the tour’s meaning.
What started as joyful nostalgia became a test of resilience as Swift navigated performing amid tragedy.
The Highest-Grossing Tour in History
The Eras Tour more than doubled the previous record held by Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which grossed $939 million over 330 shows. Swift achieved a total of $2 billion across just 149 performances.
The tour averaged $13.9 million gross per show, with the largest single-night attendance reaching 96,006 in Melbourne, Australia, on February 16, 2024. Pollstar confirmed that Swift became the first solo artist ever to sell over 10 million tickets on a single tour.
Every Show Sold Out—No Exceptions
All 149 Eras Tour concerts sold out completely, with remaining tickets reselling at astronomical prices or traded at face value within the Swiftie community. According to Taylor Swift Touring, the production company that released the official figures to The New York Times, 10,168,008 fans attended the shows.
The tour’s $2 billion figure doesn’t include merchandise sales—stadiums opened sales booths a day early in many cities to accommodate demand.
“People Have Completely Forgotten I Am a Human Being”
Backstage at Wembley, Swift confided in her mother a painful realization about the toll of fame. “People have completely forgotten I am a human being in all of this,” she said, voice breaking. Despite the global adulation—10 million fans across five continents—Swift grappled with isolation.
She described living in “a reality that’s unreal” while needing to “handle all the feelings” before taking the stage.
Travis Kelce and a Mother’s Matchmaking
The documentary also reveals how Swift’s mother, Andrea, encouraged her romance with NFL star Travis Kelce. Andrea recalled seeing headlines about Kelce bringing a friendship bracelet with his phone number to Swift’s concert in July 2023, telling her daughter it was “so earnest” and “the sweetest thing”.
Swift and Kelce began dating around September 2023 and announced their engagement on Instagram on August 26, 2025.
Southport Attacker Sentenced to 52 Years
Axel Rudakubana, 18, pleaded guilty in January 2025 to murdering Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe, and Alice Da Silva Aguiar, plus 10 counts of attempted murder. Judge Julian Goose called it “the most extreme, shocking, and exceptionally serious crime,” stating Rudakubana had a settled and determined intention to kill and would have killed all 26 children if not stopped.
He was sentenced to 52 years in prison. The families remembered their daughters making friendship bracelets and singing Taylor Swift songs moments before the attack.
Vienna Suspects Still Await Trial
The three suspects arrested in connection with the Vienna bomb plot remain in pre-trial detention as of publication. The main suspect allegedly confessed to planning an attack “using explosives and knives” outside the Ernst-Happel-Stadion, where 65,000 fans would be inside and another 30,000 gathering outside.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer called the cancellation “a bitter disappointment” but praised law enforcement, saying, “Thanks to intensive cooperation, the threat was recognized early, combated, and a tragedy was prevented.” German prosecutors later charged a fourth suspect, a minor, with aiding the plot.
The Show That Almost Didn’t Go On
On August 15, 2024, Swift walked onto the Wembley stage for the first time since Vienna’s cancellation, greeted by 90,000 fans who roared their support. Security had been heightened, with additional ticket checks and restrictions in place. According to attendees, when Swift appeared, the stadium erupted—fans knew what she’d endured.
For three-and-a-half hours, she sang, danced, and smiled through 44 songs. Backstage afterward, the mask finally came off. But for those hours onstage, she’d kept her promise: they didn’t have to worry about her.
Sources:
2024 Southport stabbings – Wikipedia
Taylor Swift ‘in shock’ after stabbing rampage at English children’s dance class leaves three dead and more injured – CNN
Plan to attack Taylor Swift’s Vienna shows intended to kill thousands, CIA official claims – PBS NewsHour
C.I.A. Warning Helped Thwart ISIS Attack at Taylor Swift Concert in Vienna – The New York Times
Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour Wraps as First Tour to Pass $2 Billion in Sales – Billboard
DISNEY+ AND TAYLOR SWIFT HOST SPECIAL SCREENING OF FIRST TWO EPISODES OF UPCOMING DISNEY+ DOCUSERIES “TAYLOR SWIFT | THE END OF AN ERA” – Disney+ Press