Taylor Swift is “overwhelmed by grief” following the death of a young female fan before the star’s Eras tour show in heatwave-riddled Rio de Janeiro last night (Nov. 17). Per Folha de S.Paulo, 23-year-old Ana Clara Benevides passed out in the front row at Estadio Nilton Santos and later died of cardiac arrest at a local hospital.
Swift wrote on Instagram Stories that “it is with 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. There’s very little information I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young.”
She added, “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.”
Temperatures were nearly 100 degrees in Rio yesterday, leading Swift to pause the show during “Champagne Problems” to ask security to distribute water to fans near the front of the stage. “Whoever is in charge of giving them that, just make sure that happens,” she said. “Can I get a signal that you know where they are?”
Brazil Federal Deputy Erika Hilton has since reported concert promoter T4F to the Federal Public ministry for not allowing attendees to bring their own water bottles into the venue. In a statement, Minister of Justice and Public Flavio Dino mandated that from now on, event production companies must provide free drinking water for events with “high heat exposure.”
The Eras tour arrived in Latin America last weekend with three shows in Buenos Aires. At the first of the three Rio concerts last night, Swift played “Stay Beautiful” from her 2006 self-titled debut for the first time in 15 years, and also debuted the new 1989 “Vault” track “Suburban Legends.”
