A 23-year-old Taylor Swift fan died at the singer’s Eras Tour concert in Rio de Janeiro on Friday evening, according to a statement from the show’s organizers in Brazil. Swift announced on Instagram Stories on Saturday that she was postponing her planned concerts to Monday due to extreme temperatures. Swift has two more shows in Rio on Saturday and Sunday.
While the cause of Ana Clara Benevides Machado’s death was not announced, media reported that fans were not allowed to bring water into the stadium despite soaring temperatures, and the city’s mayor called for changes ahead of Swift’s final two shows.
Swift posted on her Instagram Stories following news of the fan’s death that she was “heartbroken” and that she felt “overwhelmed with grief” when she even tried to talk about it.
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“There is very little information that I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and way too young,” the singer wrote.
Taylor Swift posted a message on her Instagram Stories following the death of a fan during a concert in Rio. Taylor Swift Instagram
Show organizers Time4Fun said on Instagram that Benevides was attended to by paramedics after feeling unwell. She was taken to the stadium’s first aid center and then to a hospital, where she died an hour later, the statement said.
Several local media outlets reported that water bottles would not be allowed at the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium, even though Rio and most of Brazil experienced record-breaking temperatures this week amid a dangerous and prolonged heatwave, with fans queuing for several hours in the sun.
Meteorologist Andrew Kozak told CBS News that Brazil had a heat index of over 130° this week, making it deadly to be outside, even for short periods of time.
Justice Minister Flávio Dino said on X that the ministry would introduce “emergency rules” for access to water at fairs and other public events.
Online news site G1 reported that a friend of Benevides’ who attended the concert with her said her friend fainted at the start of the concert when Swift performed her second song, “Cruel Summer.”
Taylor Swift performs on stage during the “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” at the Estadio Olimpico Nilton Santos on November 17, 2023 in Rio de Janeiro. Buda Mendes via Getty Images
A photo of the two friends shows them in Taylor Swift T-shirts at the stadium.
“We always said that if (Taylor Swift) came to Brazil, we would find a way. The ticket was very expensive, but we still found a way,” she told G1 shortly after her friend’s death.
Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes said on X that the “loss of a young woman’s life… is unacceptable.”
As authorities investigate the circumstances of the death, Paes wrote, the community on Saturday will demand that the show’s production company provide new water distribution points, more brigades and ambulances and advance entry to the show by an hour.
Taylor Swift performs on stage during the “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” at the Estadio Olimpico Nilton Santos on November 17, 2023 in Rio de Janeiro. Buda Mendes/TAS23/Getty Images
She wrote that this was the last thing she ever thought “when we decided to bring this tour to Brazil.”
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