Note: Sorry for the seriously clunky title.
As the entire world knows, a young woman, Ana Clara Benevides Machado, died from dehydration from the heat prior to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert last Friday in Rio. My daughter—who is the same age as the woman who died—and I attended the Sunday and Monday Rio concerts. What would have been a simply joyful event became marked with a difficult set of complex thoughts and feelings. I planned this trip with my daughter so I could bounce back from a rough year that included my mother’s death, the finalization of a heartbreaking divorce, and a surgery that had me laid up for six weeks. And now the concert that was to bring joy to thousands was marked by tragedy.
I don’t know the specific details about the Benevides death, but here are some things that I imagine might have contributed to the perfect storm.
The shows here are General Admission (GA) by section. The floor doesn’t have chairs (unlike U.S. shows), so it is just a mob of people. To get a good spot, people arrive early. My daughter and I met a guy on the train home after Sunday’s show who also had tickets for the Saturday show that was postponed. He told showed up at ten a.m. on Saturday to get a good place in line and was in the stadium when the show was canceled. He thought it was a good decision to postpone the show: he thought more people would have died.
I imagine Benevides didn’t have any water all day, not just during the show. Imagine sitting outside since ten a.m. in 100 degree heat with no water bottle waiting to get into the show you’ve dreamed of for months. You are thrilled and full of anticipation. Once you get a good spot in the crowd, you don’t want to leave because you won’t get your spot back. Also, you don’t want to be chugging too much water because you have to pee and then you’d also lose your spot to see a performer whose music has changed your life. Couple this with an otherwise healthy young person who thinks they will never die, and you have a perfect storm for some to die of heat and dehydration.
What changed?
After the young woman’s death, the best thing that happened was the stadium changed the policy to allow people to bring in factory sealed bottles of plastic water and snacks. I can see why they don’t want metal water bottles in the show for security, but that doesn’t mean they need to exclude all water. Safety and security are not the same. Letting people bring water into the show keeps them safe. Making sure people don’t get beaten on the head with a full Hydroflask is security.
Do I think the Brazilians should get rid of General Admission? That is up to them to decide, not me. Not having an assigned seat might have contributed to her death, but it didn’t cause it. Lack of water caused her death, and if there are good ways to make sure people are hydrated, then it is fine.
One good thing about GA is that large groups of friends can attend the concert together because that can each buy one ticket in the same section. On the train to the shows, we saw packs of women traveling to the show together. Claire-Adele saw the show in Seattle and there weren’t as many large groups going to the show together.
I hope Taylor Swift and her team are recovering after the death of her fan. I was shaken after hearing the news—I can’t imagine how Swift felt. A kind woman and her tween daughter helped my daughter and I navigate the Rio Metro and train systems by to get to the show. We were transferring from the Metro to the train when we heard the show was postponed. The tween daughter was stunned and dismayed when she heard the concert was postponed, and the worried she wouldn’t be able to attend the show on a different date.
I have to admit I was relieved the show was canceled. I wasn’t sure the stadium could deliver on their promise to provide water to the crowd in that short of time. Emotionally, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be at a show where someone unnecessarily died less than twenty-four hours before.
Swift is both a brilliant performer and concerned about the health and welfare of her fans. The heavens answered the water question on Sunday with continuous rain during the show. Swift is reported to love rain shows, and perhaps the rain had a healing effect on her and the crowd. Sunday’s show was phenomenal, yet Monday’s was less muted, more vibrant.
I imagine there are some haters out there who would think that Taylor should have canceled all of her Rio shows and to avoid any such possible tragedy from ever occurring.
Bullshit.
The girl died from stadium policies that are the same around the globe. Because this death happened at the biggest concert tour of the century, it caught the attention of the world.
The Eras Tour has brought show much joy to so many people. I couldn’t have imagined it without seeing it for myself. I dreamed about this show before I saw it. I can’t imagine what it was like for the true Swifties. When I looked around the crowd, I saw people crying. I get it. I cried more than a few tears of joy myself.
And yet Taylor’s specialty is singing about sorrow and sadness while dressed in sequins and sparkles. For her surprise song on Sunday, she sang “Bigger Than the Whole Sky,” a song clearly about grief and loss, a tribute to Benevides.
My daughter asked me, “Is it okay that we still had fun?” Honestly, I am not sure. I want to say yes, but I am conflicted. The shows we saw were magnificent. As my daughter said, the Eras Tour is a work of art.
My heart goes to to Benevides’ family, especially her mother, losing a daughter so beautiful and full of promise. I lost an infant daughter twenty-five years ago, and here I am in Brazil celebrating a new life with my daughter. I imagine Benevides was kind, only because so many Swifties are. Whether this is due to Taylor’s influence or because Swifties are a self-selecting crowd, I don’t know. Yet, my heart breaks.
My heart breaks for Benevides herself. Not only was her life cut short, but she missed the show.
It is hard to find consolation in any unnecessary and untimely death, but I will say this: I hope the last few hours of this young woman’s life were some of her happiest, full of unrivaled joy, delight and love.
I can’t imagine otherwise.
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