Taylor Swift postpones Brazil concert after fan dies amidst "extreme temperatures"
Swift wrote on social media that "The safety and well-being of my fans, fellow performers, and crew has to and always will come first.”"
Taylor Swift has announced that she’s postponing a concert scheduled for tonight in Rio de Janeiro, after a fan died after attending her concert on Friday night in the city. Rio is currently experiencing record heat waves that have generated a heat index (i.e., the subjective experience of heat combining actual temperature and humidity) of 138 degrees Fahrenheit.
Writing tonight on social media, Swift said that “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. The safety and well-being of my fans, fellow performers, and crew has to and always will come first.”
According to Variety, Swift posted last night that she was “devastated” to learn of the death of 23-year-old Ana Clara Benevides Machado, who was reportedly brought to paramedics after feeling unwell just a few songs into Swift’s Eras Tour concert, and died in Rio’s Salgado Filho Hospital shortly after. “I feel overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it,” Swift wrote on social media last night. “I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my broken heart goes out to her family and friends.”
The city’s mayor, Eduardo Paes, wrote on social media that he will be pushing the venue to include more water access, and more waiting ambulances, to respond to emergencies like this in the future; fans were apparently blocked from bringing in outside water bottles for the concert—a decision which has now been reversed—although Swift reportedly stopped the show more than once to ask staff to bring water to concertgoers.
There’s no official word from Swift on when the concert will be postponed until, although organizer TimeForFun has said it will go on on Monday, November 20; meanwhile, the already scheduled Sunday show remains on the books.