STOCKHOLM/SOLNA Stockholm’s neighboring municipality of Solna and its Friends Arena is used to world stars, but this weekend it seems that all records will be broken.
The number one star of the pop music world Taylor Swift will start his series of three concerts today, Friday. The concerts are the only ones in the Nordic countries.
The first people queuing outside the Arena had already arrived early, which meant that we had to wait almost half a day for the gates to open.
– We’ve been here since six in the morning, so 8.5 hours so far. It’s important to get to the front row so we can breathe the same air as Taylor Swift, the American Nicole Gardner justifies his persistence with a laugh.
– Tickets to his concerts cost thousands of dollars in the United States, so it was clearly cheaper to come here and I also got a nice trip, a real win-win opportunity, New Yorker Deborah Warren reasoned.
A characteristic of Taylor Swift is that her music speaks to people of all ages. For example, the prime minister of Sweden, the leader of the coalition Ulf Kristersson is a self-confessed Swift fan, largely inspired by her three daughters.
And he is not the only one in whose family both children and parents like the American star.
– He writes really great texts that you can relate to. He is also a good role model, from Kalmari Josefine Dejeborn Holmes characterizes Swift.
His mother agrees.
– He seems like such a genuine person both in his lyrics and in his own being, Anna Dejeborn Holmes continue.
The man from Tampere has also come to the same assessment Saila Nieminen.
– He knows how to put into words such feelings, which he himself might not have been able to, and then he is able to handle them better. And those songs are good, it’s nice to dance to them.
Canadian With Jennifer Power still busy in the afternoon. The boots decorated with sparkles are already ready on the table in the hotel lobby, but the bling bling body is still in progress. The purpose is to finish by the evening.
– I just bought a white bodysuit, maybe a little glitter and glue at the last minute, and that’s where it started. We may be in the last minute, but hopefully it will be finished by the evening.
Stockholm Chamber of Commerce: Perfect match for Stockholm
The premises of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce are in the same shopping center, the ground floor of which has already been playing only Taylor Swift for a week. But the Chief Economist Carl Bergqvist is not chosen, and it is explained by numbers.
Three sold-out Areena concerts is an achievement that doesn’t immediately come to Bergvist’s mind.
According to the Chamber of Commerce’s calculations, the Stockholm region nets almost half a billion kroner, or forty million euros, from the concert weekend. And the invoices do not include concert tickets or, for example, plane tickets.
There are 150,000 concertgoers, of which 80% come from outside Stockholm. As many people come to the concerts from the United States as from Finland, i.e. 10,000.
For Americans, Stockholm is an attractive concert destination, as the tickets are clearly cheaper than in the United States.
– A perfect match for Stockholm, Bergqvist admits.
He would have liked to have gone to the concert himself, but he didn’t manage to get a ticket.
Lots of cops, but no particular threat
Ola Österling The Stockholm police are not nervous, even though the concerts are organized in Sweden, which last August raised its terror threat level to the second highest level of the five-point scale, i.e. to four.
According to Österling, there are more police on duty than usual during the weekend, but only because the concerts are huge public events, and the city is therefore more crowded than usual.
The police have also introduced surveillance cameras and drones.
According to Österling, there has been no threat to Taylor Swift or the concerts.
It has come as a surprise to many concert ticket buyers that practically all kinds of bags are prohibited.
– This has been done since last August, i.e. since the terrorist threat assessment was raised, Österling justifies.
The hotel sets a price record
The Comfort Hotel on the side of the Friends Arena is currently occupied by almost no one other than Taylor Swift’s admirers.
Sam Radstake Nissen according to the hotel is usually full during all concerts and events. Unlike, for example, last summer Beyoncé’s concerts is that now three concerts gather a much larger audience.
The hotel is now fully investing in its concert guests. The elevators are themed after Swift’s albums, and makeup and photo services are also available.
The hotel manager admits that demand is driving up prices. Whereas on a quiet weekend you can get a room for less than a hundred euros, now there are still some canceled rooms for over 500 euros.