Taylor Swift fans triggered earthquake monitors as Eras tour rocked Edinburgh
The British Geological Survey said the US superstar’s concerts at Murrayfield caused seismic activity.
The enthusiastic dancing by tens of thousands of Taylor Swift fans at her record-breaking concerts in Edinburgh was picked up by earthquake monitors.
Nearly 73,000 Swifties attended each of three concerts at Murrayfield Stadium from Friday to Sunday and their rapturous reception for the star meant earthquake readings were detected up to 3.7 miles away.
The British Geological Survey (BGS) said fans on the first night of the UK leg of Swift’s mammoth international Eras tour generated the most seismic activity, with spikes caused by dancing particularly evident during her songs Cruel Summer, Ready For It? and Shake It Off.
The earthquake monitors recorded fans dancing in time to the music and reached a peak at 160 beats per minute during Ready For It?, with the BGS saying the crowd was transmitting around 80kW of energy – equivalent to around 6,000 car batteries.
The four-minute applause during Champagne Problems the same night also caused a spike on the monitors.
A similar pattern occurred on all three nights, with Friday recording 23.4 nanometres (nm) of movement compared to 22.8nm on Saturday and 23.3nm on Sunday.
The seismic activity from the concerts was detected at two monitoring stations, the furthest of which was 3.7 miles away at the BGS office in the Lyell Centre.
Earthquake monitors have recorded activity during other dates on the Eras tour, including in Los Angeles and Seattle in the US.
Callum Harrison, BGS seismologist, said: “BGS is the national body responsible for recording earthquakes to inform the Government, public, industry and regulators, and allow for a greater understanding of earthquake risk and plan for future events.
“It’s amazing that we’ve been able to measure the reaction of thousands of concertgoers remotely through our data. The opportunity to explore a seismic activity created by a different kind of phenomenon has been a thrill.
“Clearly Scotland’s reputation for providing some of the most enthusiastic audiences remains well intact.”
The BGS said the vibrations generated by the concert are unlikely to have been felt by anyone other than those in the immediate vicinity.
Edinburgh City Council approved an increase to the stadium capacity to 72,990 for each night and Swift thanked fans for breaking “the all-time attendance record for a stadium show in Scotland three times in a row”.
The US superstar plays the first of three nights at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool on Thursday, and will then move on to Cardiff and London.
She will then play three nights in Dublin and, after a host of shows in Europe, will return to London in August to end the UK and European stint of the tour, which is estimated to be worth up to £1 billion to the UK economy.
