Police have arrested a suspected stalker of Taylor Swift at one of the singer’s recent shows in Germany.
The incident took place at the pop star’s show in Gelsenkirchen on Wednesday (July 17) – one of three shows the singer performed in the city.
An American man, who has not been publicly identified, was arrested by authorities as he tried to attend the gig. He had a ticket for the show, and was taken into custody outside the venue after police became aware of his alleged threats against Swift.
According to reports by AP and Deadline, the man was brought to attention after making threats against the ‘Midnights’ singer and her partner Travis Kelce. It has also been reported that organisers of the event had tipped off authorities about the alleged stalker’s behaviour online.
It isn’t clear at time of writing who the man is, nor what the nature of the alleged threats were. A court has ordered the man to be held through Saturday.
This isn’t the first time that the singer-songwriter has faced issues with obsessive fans. At the start of the year, for instance, it was reported that an alleged stalker had been arrested for a third time in five days outside her New York home.
33-year-old David Crowe was first arrested outside the singer’s townhouse in the Tribeca district on January 20 after he allegedly tried to enter the residence.The complaint said that he has been asked not to approach the building 10 times, and has been spotted there 30 times in the last two months.
Assistant District Attorney Harriet Jiranek said: “[His] continued conduct in showing up to this location despite numerous directives to leave shows a clear risk that the defendant will not abide by court orders to return to court.”
In total, Swift will play seven shows in Germany across the next two weeks, including upcoming slots in Munich and Hamberg. The dates all come as part of her record-breaking ‘Eras Tour’, which has already seen her play countless shows across North America, Asia, Australia and Europe.
She recently performed a run of live shows in the UK as part of the stint, and will return to the capital next month for five more dates at London’s Wembley Stadium. She’ll then finish the tour with a second North American leg across November and December. You can find any remaining tickets to the London shows here.
Last month, NME gave Swift’s first Edinburgh show of the tour a glowing five-star review, writing: “Despite being an arena show, in a huge, cavernous venue, Swift and her fans have managed to cultivate a community. Strangers swap friendship bracelets, laugh and cry together, and embrace the tour’s in-jokes and lore (for example shouting “one, two, three, let’s go bitch” during ‘Delicate’).
“It’s the power of Swift, an artist who’s inspired not only the renaming of a Scottish Loch, but also countless fans to come out and embrace being a part of the ‘Eras’ family. With ‘The Eras Tour’, then, Swift’s managed to craft a marvel of a show that comes with a beating heart.”
Meanwhile, her latest album,‘The Tortured Poets Department’, recently became the biggest album of the year so far in the US after shifting 4.66million equivalent album units in the first half of this year.
It also became the first album by a woman to spend its first 12 weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 chart.