Taylor Swift, who arrived in Brazil on Thursday, was greeted by a projection which appeared to make the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro look like it was wearing a Tshirt similar to the shirt she wore for her video. “You Belong to Me” Music video decorated with Brazilian state names and symbols.
Tragic events have followed this warm welcome.
A fan died in the sweltering heat at Friday night’s show in Rio de Janeiro. Ms. Swift rescheduled her Saturday show to Monday at the eleventh hour. Swift postponed the Saturday concert until Monday to the disappointment of thousands of fans, who had already begun filling the stadium. According to the military police, a fan that was in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday for the concert was stabbed and killed earlier that day.
The fatalities and other problems were a departure from the triumphant first leg of Ms. Swift’s Eras Tour, a career-spanning production that broke records in North America. As the tour’s second show in Rio de Janeiro approached on Sunday night, fans grappled with ruined travel plans, extreme heat and disappointment.
Anne Di Motta, 30, a psychologist in São Paulo, Brazil, was supposed to attend the Saturday night show and said she would be returning home before the rescheduled concert on Monday because she had to work.
“I spent the last 17 years waiting for the opportunity to go, to fulfill my teenage dream of meeting someone I’ve known since her first single,” Ms. Di Motta said. “And to be sitting three hours in a chair, completely wet with sweat, having to overcome several personal challenges to be there completely alone, to receive the news that it was canceled — it was completely devastating.”
Swift said in an Instagram post hours before the concert at the open-air soccer stadium was scheduled to begin that it had been cancelled because of extreme temperatures. Swift announced the post on Instagram hours before her concert at an outdoor soccer stadium was scheduled to start. “The safety and well-being of my fans, fellow performers and crew has to and always will come first,” She said
By that time, thousands of Swift fans had made the trip to see her. Swift, enduring the peak of the day’s heat, which reached 93 degrees Fahrenheit, or 33 degrees Celsius, before they were asked to leave the venue.
Swift’s representative did not immediately respond to questions sent via email. Swift did not respond immediately to emails asking about the cancellation of her Saturday concert.
Swift’s performance in Argentina was the first of her Eras tour outside North America. Swift’s first performance outside North America was in Argentina. A storm forced Swift to cancel one of her shows in Buenos Aires. She is scheduled to perform in São Paulo on Nov. 24, Nov. 25 and Nov. 26, before traveling next year to cities across South America, Asia, Australia and Europe.
Julia Alvarenga was a social influencer. The stadium The video said that the concert had been postponed. Share widely on the Internet She had arrived at the theatre for her show at 11 am “Taylor Swift, I’m wearing a geriatric diaper that doesn’t even close on me,” Ms. Alvarenga said.
“I bought water, I bought a fan, everyone is crying, screaming, so you show up on this stage!” Ms. Alvarenga said.
Gabriela Werner, 24, a marketing analyst, bought tickets for each show in Rio and two in São Paulo, and said she started preparing for the heat three months ago by working out in a gym without air conditioning in the middle of the day. She lives in Porto Alegre about 700 miles south of Rio.
While waiting in line for Sunday night’s concert, Ms. Werner said the atmosphere was much calmer than that of the Friday show. “It’s not so hot, and everyone’s kind of holding back because of the nights before and everything that happened,” She said
Swift to return to Brazil. Swift’s return to Brazil was not something she expected. “I’m sure she’s traumatized,” Ms. Werner stated.
Ms. Werner, along with many other fans of the show Time for Fun in Brazil, has blamed them for the problems. Wadih Damous, the head of Brazil’s consumer protection agency, said the government would investigate Time for Fun. The company said that they would increase staffing, provide free drinking water and let fans enter the stadium with food and drink.
The police reported that there was unrest in the area as crowds left the stadium Saturday night.
Matheus duarte, a 24-year-old warehouse worker, saw people shouting about a raid in the nearby shopping mall after leaving the stadium.
“I don’t really know if it really happened, but I saw desperate people running,” Mr. Duarte said. “And as soon as I saw it, I started running along and hid in a car park.”
The military police reported that there were no reports of robberies, or muggings, on Saturday night. The military police reported that a fan who was in Rio de Janeiro to attend the concert had been stabbed in the chest after a failed robbery attempt in Copacabana. They said that two men were arrested. The civil police confirmed that Gabriel Mongenot Santana Milhomem Santos had been stabbed while he was with his friends.
During Friday’s show, Ana Clara Benevides, 23, died after losing consciousness, officials said. She was pronounced dead of cardiac arrest after being taken to a hospital, according to city officials and the Brazilian company that organized Ms. Swift’s show, Time for Fun.
Ms. Benevides, a psychology student, had traveled from Rondonópolis, which is about 880 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro, for the concert, O Globo reported. Her friend Emiliane Félix, 22, told O Globo that Ms. Benevides had been sending her friends photos of her outfits for the concert “for over a month.”
Ms. Benevides wrote about her excitement for the concert on X, a social media platform formerly called Twitter. Nov. 7, “I don’t know what my purpose in life will be after I see Taylor.”
The fans complained of extreme heat and a lack water at the concert held on Friday. The heat index, which is a measure for how hot it feels due to the humidity in the air, reached 139° Fahrenheit. It was a Rio record.
Swift said she was a “strange” person in an online posting. Swift claimed that she was a victim of a robbery. “devastated” by her fan’s death. “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,” She said
Luiza Guimarães, 33, an economist, said that she was disappointed it took so long for Saturday’s show to be canceled because some fans were already unsure if it would go on after Ms. Benevides’s death and were worried about the heat. “Really, the production of the show was very reckless and everything was very poorly managed,” She said
Ms. Guimarães said that she doesn’t blame Ms. Swift was not to blame for the problems, and she felt that the musician should be. “very, very discouraged.”
Jack Nicas Contributed reporting from Buenos Aires.