In this series, Newsweek is recapping every show Taylor Swift has performed on the Eras Tour, city by city.
Taylor Swift’s two shows in Seattle generated seismic activity equivalent to an earthquake.
The “Don’t Blame Me” singer’s Eras Tour rolled into the city on July 22, 2023, for two nights, and it seems all the noise and movement caused such a ruckus that it registered as if it were a 2.3-magnitude earthquake.
Dubbed the “Swift Quake,” it’s thought to have been triggered by a combination of the music and fans dancing at Lumen Field. The music apparently shook the ground and registered on seismometers. The data showed a similar pattern across both of Swift’s nights in Seattle.
Seismologist Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a geology professor at Western Washington University, told CNN that music, speakers and the beat can “drive into the ground and shake it.”
She also said the Swift Quake “doubled” the activity picked up in the Beast Quake in 2011 when Seattle Seahawks fans went crazy after Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch scored a touchdown.
CNN journalist Chloe Melas was at one of Swift’s shows in Seattle and said it was “unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.”
“You could literally feel the ground shaking beneath your feet,” she said.
Swift later posted a message on Instagram saying how much she had loved the Seattle concerts, which boasted celebrity guests like singers Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello.
“Seattle that was genuinely one of my favorite weekends ever,” Swift wrote alongside a carousel of snaps that showed her on stage at Lumen Field. “Thank you for everything. All the cheering, screaming, jumping, dancing, singing at the top of your lungs.”
Taylor Swift’s Surprise Songs in Seattle
July 22: “Everything Has Changed” and “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things”
July 23: “Message in a Bottle” and “Tied Together With a Smile”
Learn more about all the record-breaking, sentimental and just downright hilarious moments from Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour with Newsweek’s interactive timeline and map here.
