Two Taylor Swift concerts at the Lumen Field stadium in the US city of Seattle made headlines when seismic activity was recorded during the famous singer’s Eras tour performances in July last year.

The earth-shaking events caused by Taylor Swift fans – known as Swifties – as they rocked the stadium over two consecutive nights, were detected on a local seismometer and the data was studied by seismologist Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a geology professor at the Western Washington University.

According to Caplan-Auerbach, the Swifties responded to the singer’s electrifying performances on July 22-23, 2023, by generating seismic activity equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake. Dubbed the ‘Swift Quake’, the shaking was “twice as strong as ‘Beast Quake’”, the seismologist told CNN, referring to the 2011 incident when Seattle Seahawks fans responded to Marshawn ‘Beast Mode’ Lynch’s famous touchdown during a local NFL game, with the celebrations recorded on the same seismometer as the Taylor Swift concerts.

Swift’s Eras tour was her first in five years, and the Seattle concerts were held toward the end of the US leg of the tour.

Image: Taylor Swift / UNSW

However, this isn’t the first time fans have rocked performance and sporting arenas. The noise created by Seattle Seahawks fans has repeatedly shown up as microearthquakes on the seismometer at the University of Washington, which is located very close to the stadium.

In 2018, during the FIFA World Cup match between Mexico and Germany in distant Russia, fans in Mexico City celebrating their country’s win triggered local seismometers, which registered tremors at two sites.

Image: https://accorstadium.com.au/

Branko Miletic

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