LEILA FADEL, HOST:
When organizers canceled Taylor Swift's three scheduled performances in Vienna this week, more than 150,000 hearts broke. Many ticket holders had already traveled long distances before Austrian authorities uncovered what they said were plans to attack her concerts. Reporter Lucy Grindon spoke with some sad Swifties.
LUCY GRINDON, BYLINE: Brittney Driewer (ph) from York, Neb., and Hannah Broughton (ph) from Omaha have loved Taylor Swift since they were kids. They listened to her earliest CDs in the back seats of their moms' cars.
BRITTNEY DRIEWER: We just called our moms. And my mom was crying on the phone. She was like, I am just so glad that you guys will be safe.
GRINDON: In the U.S., tickets were much too expensive for them. In Vienna, they were cheaper, about $500 apiece for spots on the stadium floor. Even with the added costs of international flights and a hotel, this whole trip was still cheaper than seeing Swift in the States. Now, after saving money for months and crossing an ocean, they're still not going to get to see her.
HANNAH BROUGHTON: We made it happen over a year of planning. We can't make it happen again. That's just the hard truth.
GRINDON: Neither of them has ever seen Swift perform. Broughton says she's been imagining it since she was a little girl. She remembers rearranging the furniture in her bedroom to create a pretend concert stage.
BROUGHTON: I was, like, 9-years-old at the time. And obviously this all seems so, like, materialistic for being so sad that everything has been canceled, because there are obviously bigger problems in the world right now. But it was a big dream.
GRINDON: It was a dream for Veronica (ph) from Romania, too. She didn't want to share her last name for security reasons. She says major artists almost never come to this part of Europe.
VERONICA: You're always like, OK, they're coming to London and they're coming to Paris and maybe, like, Berlin. But it usually ends there. And especially, like, we're from Romania. If in Vienna we can say that nobody comes here, in Romania you can clearly say nobody ever comes here to tour.
GRINDON: She says it's disheartening that this moment was derailed by the threat of terrorism.
VERONICA: It's something that's been coming up in Europe more and more often. It's like, I don't want people to think that we're not being understanding of the situation. We are. But we're also allowing ourselves to feel a little bit sad.
GRINDON: Broughton from Omaha says Swift's songs have always helped her get through all kinds of hard feelings in the past.
BROUGHTON: Whether it comes from family, it comes from friends, it comes from men, she always had something that you can relate to. I hope she writes a song about this. I don't know.
(LAUGHTER)
GRINDON: She's still excited to explore Vienna, but she's devastated she can't see Swift. Tickets for the final leg of Swift's tour, which will take place back in North America later this year, cost thousands of dollars.
For NPR News, I'm Lucy Grindon in Vienna. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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