American singer Taylor Swift’s Eras tour shows at Lumen Field in Seattle on July 22 and 23 produced seismic activity equivalent to a 2.3 earthquake.
BBC reports the seismologist dr. Jackie Caplan-Auerbach said the activity was caused by Swift’s fans jumping up and down along with the loud music blaring over the speakers.
The displays beat the previous record in Seattle, known as the city’s “Beast Quake” in 2011. It was generated by American football fans celebrating Marshawn Lynch’s three for the Seattle Seahawks during a game against the New Orleans Saints.
Caplan-Auerbach, a geology professor at Western Washington University, told CNN the difference between the football game and the so-called “Swift Quake”‘s recent concerts was only a magnitude of 0.3, but the “shaking was twice so strong”.
Swift performed in front of a combined audience of around 144,000 fans on both nights.
Afterward, Swift said on Instagram: “Seattle was truly one of my favorite weekends yet. Thanks for everything. All the cheering, shouting, jumping, dancing, singing at the top of their lungs.”
There have been music concerts that have caused seismic activity before, such as the Foo Fighters’ 2011 concert in New Zealand.
SkyNews reports Mouse Reusch, a seismologist at the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, said the waves were turned into a sonogram to work out which songs had the biggest impact according to the beats per minute.
Swift’s hit “Shake it Off” elicited the biggest reaction from fans, as did “Blank Space”.
The New York Times reports Reusch said that Swift’s concert was “the biggest concert” he had experienced in a long time.
The pop megastar is currently four months into her Eras Tour, a sold-out national tour with 52 performances that attracted a crowd of Swifties to sing along to her songs that she has released in her ten-album career.
