Quake it off: Taylor Swift fans caused an earthquake at recent concert
If you’re lucky enough to get tickets to the hottest tour of the year (aka Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour), you know it is impossible not to dance and sing at the top of your lungs. However, Swifties recently went so hard that they caused literal seismic waves.
Last weekend Taylor Swift performed in Seattle at Lumen Field. In an Instagram post, she said it was “genuinely one of my favourite weekends ever” and thanked her fans for “all the cheering, screaming, jumping, dancing, singing at the top of your lungs.”
All that excitement for the created seismic activity equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake, seismologist Jackie Caplan-Auerbach has told media outlets.
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Throughout her three-and-a-half-hour marathon show, Swift’s Seattle fans really made it shake in a seismic sense, causing a “Swift Quake,” Caplan-Auerbach told The Seattle Times.
It was the energy during “Blank Space” and “Shake It Off” that really caused the ground to move.
The expert compared the concert to the 2011 Beast Quake when Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch scored a touchdown, and the crowd went wild and caused seismic activity.
Caplan-Auerbach told The Seattle Times the shaking at Swift’s concerts was measured to be equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake while the Beast Quake was a magnitude 2.
I guess I should show the data. Swifties > Seahawks fans.
(except data from the concert may not be caused by the fans–it may be the sound system, so not really a fair comparison). pic.twitter.com/szwowOYQFi
— Jackie Caplan-Auerbach 🇺🇦 🌻 (@geophysichick) July 27, 2023
However, it’s possible concerts are generally getting seismically louder, Caplan-Auerbach suggested. The expert told The Seattle Times she is still analyzing data from The Weeknd’s concert last summer was also slightly louder than the Beast Quake, “though not as loud as ‘Seismic Swift.'”
You too can admire the Beastquake (Taylor's version) by looking at the Station Monitor hosted by @EarthScope_sci! https://t.co/GAvBUoR4VE
— Jackie Caplan-Auerbach 🇺🇦 🌻 (@geophysichick) July 28, 2023
If you attended the Seattle July 22 or 23 concerts, Caplan-Auerbach is encouraging Swifties to send their videos and timestamps of the shows so they can gain a better understanding of the seismic event.
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