Water is sprayed over the stage as Taylor Swift in Rio de Janeiro in November 2023.
Photographer: TAS2023/Getty Images South AmericaGreener Living
On a Warming Planet, Outdoor Concerts Need a New Safety Playbook
As climate change supercharges extreme weather around the world, many concert venues, organizers and fans are ill-prepared for rising risks.
Just before Ana Clara Benevides lost consciousness, she likely found it hard to breathe.
Packed with 60,000 people in Rio de Janeiro’s Nilton Santos Stadium for a Nov. 17 Taylor Swift concert — amidst a heat wave with a “real feel” of 138F (59C) — the 23-year-old would have been unbearably thirsty, her heart beating fast, her skin hot. Benevides fainted as Swift sang “Cruel Summer,” the second song of the set. Four hours later, she would be dead from heat exhaustion.