(Image via npr.org)
Volunteer Writer: Emma Bowser
Email: ebowser@umassd.edu
Ana Clara Benevides Machado, a 23-year-old Taylor Swift fan, passed away the same day after attending Swift’s first concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 17th, 2023, during an extreme heatwave.
Rio de Janeiro welcomed Taylor Swift to Brazil the best way they knew how – by projecting the message onto the Christ the Redeemer statue.
The statue regularly welcomes celebrities to the nation, but it is used to communicate other messages to the public as well. In July 2023, the statue bore a clock representing the “urgent state of the climate crisis.”
Climate change has resulted in an extreme heatwave in Brazil, with the temperature peaking at 112.6 degrees Fahrenheit in the city of Araçuaí and 138 degrees Fahrenheit in the Nilton Santos Stadium, where Swift performed on her visit to the country for the Eras Tour.
This is the highest-ever heat index to be recorded in Brazil.
The worst part is that it’s not even summer yet. Spring isn’t over in South America until December 22nd. The hottest month of the year is usually February – which is still three months away, which leaves plenty of opportunities for more heat-related deaths.
According to the organizers of the Rio show, Time4Fun, Benevides received medical attention from paramedics before the concert. She was taken to the first aid station at the venue, then to Salgado Filho Hospital, where she died one hour later.
She was studying psychology and planned to graduate in April of 2024. She attended the concert with a friend and had traveled over 1,000 miles to see Swift’s performance.
It was during Swift’s second song of the night, “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince,” when she collapsed and lost consciousness.
The original statements claim that the cause of her death was a combination of cardiac and respiratory arrest. However, a preliminary coroner’s report was recently released, citing that she had suffered a pulmonary hemorrhage. According to the Brazillian Report, “Benevides had no pre-existing illnesses and experts say the most likely reason for her death was a reaction to extreme temperature.”
Further testing is planned.
Because of this, authorities started a criminal investigation into the cause of Benevides’ death, which has yet to reach a conclusion. The alleged crime is a danger to the life and/or health of concert attendees. The event organizers are expected to provide testimonies, and the investigation will include everything from lack of water access to the structure of the venue’s building.
Reports posted on social media from concertgoers reveal that attendees were forbidden from bringing water into the Nilton Santos Stadium and that “the city’s mayor has demanded changes before Swift’s final two shows.”
Fans described the experience in the stadium as having a sauna-like atmosphere. The distress caused by heat, humidity, and dehydration was visible among attendees. Elizabeth Morin, one of the concert attendees, says that her hair quickly became wet from sweat and that “there was a point at which I had to check my breathing to make sure I wasn’t going to pass out.“
Swift even paused the performance at one point to make a request on stage for a group of concert attendees to be given water after they caught her attention with a signal for help by using their phones.
During her performance of “All Too Well,” she threw a water bottle into the crowd and later was seen urging the staff at the stadium to provide water to the concert attendees while the event was still happening.
Justice Minister Flávio Dino stated on X that emergency rules regarding water access for private and public events would be put in place to protect citizens from the heat as much as possible. Federal authorities have since announced that free water will be available at large events like concerts.
State prosecutors are planning to monitor authorities’ efforts to protect the public from the risks that the heatwave poses as a way to ensure the citizen’s safety.
The municipality has also required that the company in charge of the show’s production “provide new water distribution points, more brigades and ambulances, and advance entrance to the show by one hour.“
Lack of access to water isn’t the only problem, though. According to fans who were inside the stadium for the concert, the ventilation outlets had been covered up so that people outside of the stadium couldn’t watch what was happening.
There was also a “metal plate installed near the stage railing to protect the grass” that contributed to the dangerously high temperatures, and the pyrotechnics involved in the performance turned the stadium into an oven.
After the concert, attendees took to the internet to show evidence of the injuries and illnesses that they suffered. Fans claim that they received second and even third-degree burns as well as dehydration and overheating.
On November 18th, Swift announced that the concert scheduled for that day would be postponed because of the extreme temperatures in Rio, saying that the health and safety of fans, performers, and staff was more important than adhering to a schedule.
Swift’s announcement didn’t specify a date or time for the concert, but Time4Fun later stated that the show was rescheduled for November 20th and that all tickets that had already been purchased for the 18th would be valid for the 20th.
In her official statement about Benevide’s death, Swift says that she is devastated about what had happened and would not be addressing the topic on the stage because she was overwhelmed by grief. This is not what she expected when she decided to tour in Brazil.
Furthermore, she expressed sympathy for Benevides’ friends and family, and that her broken heart goes out to them. She didn’t know much about Benevides except that she was young and beautiful.
On November 17th, Swift met with Benevides’ family and posed for a photo posted to X with them. They wore matching shirts featuring a picture of Benevides, and a video that was posted to X “showed the family in the VIP section during the concert’s closing night” in Brazil.
Benevides’ death was a deeply unfortunate occurrence, leaving fans and the general public questioning who will be held responsible and what actions will be taken to prevent more heat-related deaths from happening as summer rapidly approaches the Southern Hemisphere.