Taylor Swift’s Rio Show Turns Nightmare: Fans Recount ‘Unbearable’ Chaos at Friday Concert

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, where fans—and even the famed Christ the Redeemer monument—greeted her with open arms. What was meant to be a “dream” for hundreds of Swifties rapidly turned into a nightmare, with the death of a fan in oppressive heat.

NBC News spoke with four fans who were stationed in separate parts of Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium during Friday’s concert. They claimed to have seen many people pass out. Water was also in short supply because participants were not permitted to bring their own.

Igor Paiva, 33, who went from Brasilia to see Swift, recounted “abysmal” heat, scores of spectators fainting out, and a venue that was “unequipped” to manage it.

“I regretted going as soon as I arrived.” “I was drenched in sweat, and there was nowhere to go,” he added. We were not permitted to drink water. There were no drinking fountains.”

Many fans, however, were not as fortunate as Paiva, who got tickets to all three Rio gigs; he described Sunday’s show as “as smooth as it could be,” while Swift played under considerably better—wet — circumstances.

There was no concert do-over for those who could only get tickets for Friday, and their recollections of Swift’s show were tainted by their awful concertgoing experience.

Since November 12, parts of Brazil have been suffering from a heat wave. According to Weather Underground, temperatures in Rio hit 88 degrees Fahrenheit with humidity at 66% about 6 p.m., and Saturday was much warmer.

According to MetSul Meteorologia, the city reported the highest heat index recorded since monitoring began in 2014 on Friday – 138 degrees Fahrenheit — breaking the previous record set Tuesday.

Paiva made the difficult decision to leave Swift’s three-and-a-half-hour set on Friday.

“I was dizzy and nauseated.” I had hazy eyesight. It was a bad place to be. So I decided to leave because I couldn’t take it any longer,” he explained. “I just could not find somewhere to catch a breath of fresh air.”

He couldn’t locate an exit when he eventually decided to go.

“That’s when I began to realize how bad the situation was,” Paiva told reporters. “When I left, it was not easy for me to find an exit, because everything was covered up; the gaps in the stadium were covered.”

Paiva stated that the stadium normally has more ventilation, but that “wooden planks” appeared to have been drilled across the stadium’s openings, converting an already suffocating situation into an “inferno.”

“People are passing out,” he received a text message from his buddies in the general admission pit. We require assistance. We require water.”

“There was simply no way for people to get water, let alone buy water.” They were unable to abandon their positions. Paiva described the situation as “impossible.”

T4F, the firm that arranged the Eras Tour in Brazil, and a Swift spokesman did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

T4F announced on social media Saturday morning that spectators will be allowed to bring specific water bottles and food into the arena and that free water will be provided in the lines and around the stadium. It is further said that extra medical stations, ambulances, and mobile intensive care units will be made available.

Rio’s municipal hall repeated the adjustment in food and beverage limits on its social media pages on Saturday. The office stated in an email statement on Monday that the stadium is city property but has been leased to Botafogo, a Brazilian football club that has been in charge of its operations since 2007. The team has been contacted by NBC News for comment.

Liana Hiltner, a 24-year-old Salvadoran fan, claimed she suffered heatstroke at Friday’s event and struggled to receive medical assistance.

“I knew it would be hot and did everything I could to not get sick, but I got heatstroke and had to look for medical attention,” she went on to say. “My body failed me, but my dream kept me going.”

Hiltner stated that there was no medic stationed in her region.

“I started puking. I was trembling and shivering, and it was awful. I was perspiring. “I was pouring water on myself to cool down, and the vents were indeed covered,” Hiltner explained, referring to the wooden planks that looked to be restricting airflow into the stadium.

The girl behind Hiltner was proposed to during the song “Love Story” and looked to nearly pass out as a result. “I’m not feeling good,” she informed Hiltner after the proposal. “I’m not feeling well.”

Looking for water and medical help while feeling ill was “hell,” Hiltner claimed. She was also frightened of losing her seat or being given medicine that would make her miss the rest of the show.

“It was my dream,” she explained. “I would not give up on my dream.” I was also accompanied by my cousin. It was also her fantasy.”

Andrea Rosas’ water bottle was taken at the stadium’s entry, and she struggled to get water inside.

“I tried to buy water as soon as I got into the stadium.” “There were some people selling water around, and I bought from them,” Rosas, 29, explained. “I paid, but they never came back with the water that I paid for.”

She had to make a difficult choice: stay where she was and risk dehydration in the heat, or walk inside to buy water from the stadium itself and risk losing the place she had spent hours standing in line in the sun to acquire.

“I decided to go inside and lose my spot to get water,” Rosas explained, adding that the water cost around $2 and was “not even in a bottle that they were selling.” It was little more than a cup of water.”

T4F stated in a Saturday notice that it was not responsible for supplying water or food at the event.

Rosas flew from Lima, Peru, to attend all three nights of Swift’s scheduled Rio de Janeiro gigs. She admitted that she “almost fainted, like, four times” during the event and was “really scared” when she witnessed a fan puke.

Paiva stated that he was anxious about attending a show of this scale in Rio de Janeiro, which he admitted has infrastructural and public safety issues, but that the conditions were significantly worse than he had anticipated and were mainly preventable.

“I don’t think that it’s impossible to go to a concert when we have heat like that, but I believe there was such bad decision-making for the first night,” he told reporters. “Everything that could go wrong did.”

Swift is due to play Monday night in Rio at the postponed event from Saturday.

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