The death of two people, robberies and a dangerous heat wave have left legions of Brazilian fans of Taylor Swift angry and disappointed on the pop superstar’s three-day Eras tour in Rio de Janeiro, which concluded Monday night.
Gabriel Mongenot Santana Milhomem Santos, 25, a fan who traveled from the central-western region of the country to see Swift, was stabbed to death on a beach Copacabana around 3 a.m. on Monday, local police announced in a statement. It was the second death of a Swift fan in four days. On Friday, Ana Clara Benevides Machado, 23, fell ill during the singer’s first show in the city and died that same night in a hospital.
Several fans also reported fainting from the extreme heat, being victims of muggings, or being detained in a police raid. The Rio de Janeiro Municipal Health Department has said that Benevides, who, according to a friend, fainted during Swift’s second song, ‘Cruel Summer,’ experienced cardiorespiratory arrest, but the exact cause of his death is still unknown.
The Forensic Medical Institute of Rio de Janeiro examined the body on Saturday and said additional laboratory tests should be performed, media outlet G1 reported. In a statement posted on Instagram, Swift said Benevides’ death left her “heartbroken”. Before Friday’s concert, fans lined up for hours outside the Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium, where temperatures reached as high as 41 degrees, with a heat index of nearly 59 degrees Celsius (138 degrees Fahrenheit).
Inside the stadium, concertgoers They complained about the unbearable heat. and some said they had a hard time getting water. “I didn’t imagine that my dream could turn into a nightmare,” said Kléssia Menezes, who told R7 TV that she had gotten stuck with hundreds of other people on one of the ramps heading to a VIP area on Saturday when security personnel blocked the entrance.