Taylor Swift postpones Brazil show due to sweltering heat, day after fan dies during concert

RIO DE JANEIRO — Taylor Swift has postponed her Eras Tour concert in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday after a 23-year-old fan died during her show Friday night, according to a message posted on Instagram. .

“I am writing this from the locker room of the stadium. Due to the extreme temperatures in Rio, we have decided to postpone tonight’s show,” the singer said in a handwritten note on Instagram. “The safety and well-being of my fans, performers and staff must and will always come first.”

The cause of death of Ana Clara Benevides Machado, a young woman who sought medical attention at the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium during Friday’s game, has not yet been announced. Rio de Janeiro’s prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal investigation and said Benivedes’ body was being examined.

Benevides’ death shocked many in Brazil. She first flew from the country’s midwestern region to Rio to meet her favorite musicians. She also created a WhatsApp group to keep her family updated, sending photos and videos every day, family members told online news site G1.

Fans and politicians were outraged by her death, speculating it was related to the heat.

Concert-goers complained that they were not allowed to bring water into the stadium despite the stifling weather. As temperatures continued to rise on Saturday, with two shows still scheduled, federal authorities announced that free water will now be provided at concerts and other large shows. event.

A friend of Benevides, who also attended the concert, told local media that they were all given water while waiting to enter the stadium.

Swift shared a statement on social media on Saturday morning, saying she was “heartbroken.”

“I have very little information other than that she is very beautiful and very young,” the singer said of the young woman.

Time4Fun, the show’s organizer, said on Instagram that paramedics treated Benevides after she reported feeling unwell, according to a statement from Brazil’s live entertainment company. She was taken to an emergency center and then to hospital, where she died an hour later. explain.

Fans attending Friday’s show said they were not allowed to bring water bottles into the stadium despite record-breaking temperatures in Rio de Janeiro and much of Brazil this week amid a dangerous and prolonged heat wave. Rio de Janeiro’s daytime high on Friday was 39.1 degrees Celsius (102.4 degrees Fahrenheit), but it felt hotter.

Rio de Janeiro’s apparent temperature (a combination of temperature and humidity) reached 59 degrees Celsius (138 degrees Fahrenheit) on Friday morning, the highest ever recorded there.

Elizabeth Morin, 26, who recently moved to Rio from Los Angeles, described conditions inside the stadium as “sauna-like.”

“It was very hot. When I came in, my hair was soaked with sweat,” she said. “There was a point where I had to check my breathing to make sure I wasn’t passing out.”

Maureen said she drank a lot of water but saw “a lot of people looking in pain” and others “yelling for water.” She said she was able to get water from the edge of the area where she was standing, but it was much more difficult to access from other parts of the stadium, “especially if you’re worried about losing your particular spot.”

Morin said that during the performance, Swift paused her performance and asked for water on stage for a group of people who managed to get the singer’s attention.

“They were holding up their phones and saying ‘we need water,'” she recalled.

Two other concertgoers interviewed by The Associated Press said they woke people who were feeling sick from the heat during the show.

On the way to Rio, Benevides sent a video broadcast by Globo News to his family, telling them: “Mom, look at the plane, it’s moving. Mom, I’m on the plane. Oh my God! I very happy!”

Then, before the concert, she posted a video on Instagram of herself wearing a Taylor Swift T-shirt and friendship bracelets, seeking shade under an umbrella while waiting in line to enter the stadium.

Like her, thousands of fans waited for hours in the sun before being allowed inside.

Fanning her face, she told her followers that she arrived at 11 a.m. – the show started around 7:30 p.m. – and that it was “still a mess.”

Benevides’ friend Daniele Menin, who attended the concert with her, told online news site G1 that her friend passed out at the start of the concert, while Swift was performing her first number. The second song “Cruel Summer”.

“We always said that when (Taylor Swift) came to Brazil, we would find a way. It was very expensive, but we still found a way,” Menin told G1.

Justice Minister Flávio Dino said on Free and easily accessible drinking water must be provided.

Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes wrote on

Still, the concert was postponed.

“We were on the train. Everyone was very disappointed,” said Hely Olivares, a 41-year-old Venezuelan who traveled from Panama to see the artist.

Before postponing the concert, Swift wrote on Instagram that she would not talk about the deaths on stage “because it makes me so sad when I try to talk about it.”

“I would like to say now that I feel this loss deeply and my heart goes out to her family and friends,” she said.