On 17 November 2023, Brazilian student Ana Clara Benevides Machado died from a cardiac arrest at a concert of the Eras Tour by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift at Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos, Rio de Janeiro, amidst a heat wave and a venue ban on personal water bottles. A criminal investigation was opened to determine an official cause of death and a consumer inquiry was launched on the event organizer T4F, a Brazilian entertainment company. Forensic analysis attributed cardiac arrest to heat exhaustion.
Rio de Janeiro recorded an abnormal heat index of 59.3 °C (138.7 °F), as part of a heat wave in Brazil, on the day of the concert, which was attended by over 60,000 people. T4F reportedly prohibited concertgoers from bringing their own food and water into the venue, citing "security concerns", which caused about one thousand dehydrated attendees to faint before and during the show.
Benevides queued outside the stadium for around eight hours before stadium personnel allowed entry. She posted pictures and videos of herself to social media and described the drawn-out waiting experience as a "mess". Feeling unwell, she reported to paramedics and fainted shortly after the concert began. She was transported to Salgado Filho Hospital, where she arrived without a pulse; the hospital declared her dead after an hour of failed resuscitation attempts.
The death sparked widespread public condemnation of T4F for poor concert management. Many Swifties claimed that the water bottle ban, exacerbated by the heat wave and the stadium's closed vents, caused attendees to fall sick and led to Benevides' death. Swift publicly grieved for Benevides and postponed her 18 November concert to 20 November, citing "extreme temperatures". Politicians such as the federal minister of justice and public security, Flávio Dino, and the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, announced that precautions would be implemented at future events, with free water stations amongst other obligations. Congresswoman Erika Hilton opined that T4F should be held accountable and voiced for a bill that criminalizes lack of free water at concerts. On 22 November 2023, the government of Brazil passed a federal ordinance mandating free and easily accessible water stations at events henceforth. Some of the Critics considered the death a consequence of climate inaction and urged for relevant governmental initiatives in Brazil. In March 2024, NBC News reported that around 100 municipal and state legislatures in Brazil have enshrined mandatory water access at large-scale events into law, attributing it to the "Taylor Swift effect".
Background
Taylor Swift announced the Latin American leg of her sixth headlining concert tour, the Eras Tour, on 2 June 2023, with Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo amongst its stops in November 2023, marking Swift's return to Brazil after an eleven-year gap. More shows were added in both cities following high demand.
Brazilian entertainment company T4F – Time For Fun served as the official event organizer for the tour's Brazilian leg, responsible for the ticket sales and stadium management in the country. A well-known entertainment company in Latin America, T4F was once considered one of the top tour promoters by American music industry magazine Billboard. T4F mainly offers services for event promotion, operations of box office and venue, and food, beverage and merchandise sales amongst others, according to its official website. Unrest was reported on 11 June 2023, outside the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo venues' box offices as scalpers attempted to bypass the queued fans, including some armed scalpers who threatened violence; police arrived at the scene to maintain order. T4F was reported over 100 times to authorities for their inaction. On 20 June, congress members of Brazil filed the "Taylor Swift Law", which penalized scalpers with up to four years in prison and a fine of up to 100 times the value of the ticket. According to a report by The Washington Post, "Swift's team didn't directly hire the company" for the Brazilian leg.
From 14 November 2023, Brazil began experiencing a heat wave, with red alerts issued to around 3,000 towns and cities across the country. According to The Independent, "over a hundred million people have reportedly been impacted by the extreme weather".
Biography Ana Clara Benevides Machado was born on 22 July 2000, in Sonora, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. She had been living in Rondonópolis, Mato Grosso, where she studied psychology at the Federal University of Rondonópolis and was scheduled to graduate in April 2024. Benevides was described by her friends as a person who "loved" Swift and was fulfilling a "dream" by traveling across the country on her first airplane flight to watch Swift perform live.
Incident The first Brazilian concert of the Eras Tour was held in Rio de Janeiro on 17 November 2023. Over 60,000 people attended the concert. T4F reportedly prohibited concertgoers from bringing their own food and water inside the venue, citing "security concerns". T4F sold 300 ml cups of drinking water inside the stadium; one fan said they "were expensive and hard to get a hold of"; as per The Washington Post, the water cups cost $2 each, but many attendees "found themselves stuck in crowds too dense for vendors to reach". According to Variety, it was one of the hottest days recorded in Rio de Janeiro, with a heat index of 59.3 °C (138.74 °F), exacerbated by humidity of 84% and a lack of a breeze. A number of fans became dehydrated and fainted before and during the show; video footage posted to social media showed queued fans with disposable coolers, fans, umbrellas and bags of ice. Time reported that thousands of fans, especially those with general admission tickets for the floor, waited for hours in the sun before being allowed inside the stadium around 7:30 p.m.
Benevides and a friend arrived at the concert venue, Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos, at approximately 11:00 a.m. BRT; they were "early-entry" VIP ticket holders. Benevides created a WhatsApp group to keep her family updated on the concert and would regularly share pictures and videos. Benevides posted a video of herself on Instagram queueing to enter the stadium while seeking shade under an umbrella. Benevides told her followers, while fanning her face, that she arrived at 11 a.m. and that she was "still in the mess". Another attendee compared the conditions inside of the stadium to a sauna: "It was extremely hot. My hair got so wet from sweat as soon as I came in. There was a point at which I had to check my breathing to make sure I wasn't going to pass out." Others stated that the venue closed its vents, which used to be open, to prevent outsiders from viewing the concert and that the stadium's sod in the VIP section was covered with metal sheeting which had heated up in the sun and burned some attendees who attempted to sit on it. Benevides drank plenty of water but saw several concertgoers looking "distressed" and others "yelling for water". Benevides and her friend brought water with them, which they drank while they waited outside of the venue; once inside, they purchased room temperature water from T4F.
Before the show began, Benevides reported to paramedics present at the stadium that she was feeling unwell. She fainted at around 7:30 p.m., during Swift's performance of "Cruel Summer", the second song on the show's set-list. According to T4F, paramedics attended to Benevides before she was rushed to a first aid centre, and then to Salgado Filho Hospital, where she died an hour later, despite several resuscitation attempts. Rio de Janeiro's health service agency reported that she arrived at the hospital without a pulse. The state's public prosecutor opened a criminal investigation and announced that Benevides' body was being examined to determine a cause of death. Folha de S.Paulo reported cardiorespiratory arrest as the cause; news about Benevides' death was first reported by Folha de S.Paulo, citing a confirmation from Benevides' cousin, Estela. According to Buenos Aires Herald, Benevides died of "cardiac arrest due to dehydration".
As the concert progressed, some fans attempted to indicate to Swift that they needed water and held signs. Swift paused her performance during the Evermore act of the show, noting the fainted audience members, and asked "whoever in charge" to dispense water to them several times during the concert. The crowds chanted "water, water" repeatedly; when stadium staff did not respond, Swift's team began distributing water bottles to the crowd. While singing "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)", around the halfway mark of the show, Swift collected a water bottle from one side of the stage and gave it to a dehydrated fan on the other side. According to firefighters' estimates, around one thousand people fainted during the event. Swift was also seen struggling to breathe on-stage between performances; while Swift had performed the same set without problems for many months up to that point, due to the extreme temperatures in the stadium, it became increasingly difficult especially for Swift and her crew. Her dancers often shed their jackets or heavier outer layers in favor of a simple bottom layer, to help them stay cool. During the second and third nights, the fire effects during "Bad Blood" were not used.
Reactions
Following the news of the death, T4F attracted widespread criticism from concert-goers, fans, and Brazilian politicians for the mismanagement of the concert. Several fans claimed that T4F "refused" to provide concertgoers water.
T4F On 17 November, following the news about the death of Benevides, T4F posted to social media explaining her death. In a video statement posted on 23 November, T4F CEO Serafim Abreu apologized to the concertgoers, admitting that the company "could have taken some additional measures" in response to the heat, and expressed "devastation" at Benevides' death, claiming the company is ready "to provide assistance to Benevides' family as needed". Abreu acknowledged that the company could have created shaded areas in the stadium, change the scheduled time for the shows, and emphasized that entry with water cups was allowed. T4F also said "the ban on entry of water bottles into stadiums is a requirement made by public bodies".
Taylor Swift Swift posted on social media that she was "devastated" by the news: "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. I can't even tell you how devastated I am by this [...] she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young". Swift met five people who were friends and family members of Benevides at her November 26, 2023 concert São Paulo. Swift covered travel expenses for the family members who came to meet her and made a donation to her parents. At a show in Rio de Janeiro following the incident, Swift performed an emotional rendition of her song "Bigger Than the Whole Sky" in what many fans took as a tribute to Benevides, though Swift did not mention Benevides by name. She had previously added that "I'm not going to be able to speak about this from stage because I feel overwhelmed by grief when I even try 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".
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