During Taylor Swift’s first night in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, a sea of fans were subjected to dangerous conditions which led to one concertgoer’s death.
After standing in line for hours to get inside the stadium and claim a good spot in the general admissions area, Ana Clara Benevides “fainted” and had to be “resuscitated at the stadium for about 40 minutes.”
According to Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, Benevides suffered a second cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital, dying shortly after her arrival.
Following news of the Swiftie’s death, other fans who were present for the concert gave insight into the terrible conditions via social media.
In a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, a sweat-drenched Swift could be seen pausing her set to urge staff members to administer water bottles to concertgoers who were chanting for it.
“It’s very hot, so if somebody says they need water when it’s this hot they really need it,” Swift said as fans could be heard yelling “We need water.”
One American concertgoer who had attended the show recalled in a video posted to TikTok what he described as “pretty unsafe” conditions in “unbearable heat.”
“People were really struggling, right in front of me, I saw a girl faint. When we tried to call for help, nobody was able to really come,” he shared.
“Throughout the show, people who were closer to the stage area actually started to leave because it was too hot for them.”
Hours before the show, social media videos showed fans dressed in very little clothing as they tried to hide from the deadly heat with umbrellas. Some also poured water on themselves as they waited to get access to the stadium.
Another fan, who claims to have been at the concert, posted a video to TikTok recalling the grueling weather conditions at the stadium.
“It felt [like] 140 degrees. It’s a freaking heat wave,” one fan said, explaining that “hundreds” of fans had gotten to the stadium “hours” in advance in an attempt to get seats close to the “Lavender Haze” singer.
The fan also claimed the stadium wasn’t allowing concertgoers to bring in water bottles and that it “wasn’t that accessible once you were there.”
Additionally, fans chose to forego getting water once inside the stadium because they “didn’t want to lose their seats.”
At one point as Swift performed “All Too Well,” the fan recalled Swift throwing a bottle of water “super hard to the audience.”
“Taylor herself had to hand out water when she has hundreds of thousands of people there to help us out,” the fan went on, adding that stadium staff had “tried” to give out water to attendees “but it wasn’t enough.”
“I was there. I was dying of heat exhaustion. I was like, almost passing out,” they stated.
Per the National Institute of Meteorology in a statement provided to the Associated Press, Bazil is facing “great danger” from an ongoing heat wave, with parts of the country facing “a high probability of major damage and accidents, with risks to physical integrity or even human life.”
Parts of the country reached upwards of 137 Fahrenheit earlier this week, per AP.
Amid Brazil’s ongoing heat wave, fans at Swift’s Argentina concert faced similar difficulties.
In a video circling TikTok, Swift’s PR rep, Tree Paine, could be seen checking in on a fan who had gone weak from the heat. The young girl drank water as security helped her stand.
Responding to the tragic passing of Benevides, Swift posted her own handwritten statement to her Instagram Story Saturday.
“I can’t believe I’m writing these words but it is with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show,” Swift penned. “I can’t even tell you how devastated I am by this.”
The “Blank Space” singer added that while she knows “very little” information on Benevides, she did know that the fan was “incredibly beautiful and far too young.”
Continuing, Swift said that she is “not going to be able to speak about this from stage” becuase she feels “overwhelmed by grief” when she even “[tries] to talk about it.”
“I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my broken heart goes out to her family and friends. This is the last thing I ever thought would happen when we decided to bring this tour to Brazil,” Swift concluded.
Despite stadium staff preparing for Saturday evening’s show by handing out water bottles and even having firefighters spray the crowd with water, Swift announced that they would be postponing their second concert.
“I’m writing this from my dressing room in the stadium. The decision has been made to postpone tonight’s show due to the extreme temperatures in Rio,” Swift wrote via Instagram. “The safety and well-being of my fans, fellow performers, and crew has to and always will come first.”
Swift has another scheduled show in Rio De Janeiro on Sunday before moving on to São Paulo on Nov. 24.
