Brian McDonald
Madonna gave a free concert on Copacabana beach on Saturday night, transforming Rio de Janeiro’s vast expanse of sand into a huge dance floor filled with a throng of her fans.
It was the last show of The Celebration Tour, his first retrospective, which began in October, in London.
The “Queen of Pop” kicked off the show with her 1998 hit “Nothing Really Matters.” Huge cheers erupted from the agitated, tightly packed crowd pressed against the barriers. Others held parties in well-lit apartments and hotels overlooking the beach. Helicopters and drones flew overhead, and speedboats and sailboats anchored off the beach filled the bay.
“Here we are in the most beautiful place in the world,” Madonna, 65, told the crowd. Highlighting the view of the sea, the mountains and the statue of Christ the Redeemer overlooking the city, she added: “This place is magical.”
Madonna performed her classic hits, including “Like A Virgin” and “Hung Up.” For the intro to “Like A Prayer”, her head was completely covered by a black cape and a rosary in her hands.
Silvia Izquierdo/AP
The star paid a moving tribute to “all the shining lights” lost to AIDS as she sang “Live to Tell,” with black and white photos of people who have died from the disease flashing behind her.
Later, she was joined on stage by Brazilian artists Anitta and Pabllo Vittar.
Rio spent the last few days preparing for the presentation.
An estimated 1.6 million people attended the show, G1 reported, citing Rio’s City Hall tourism agency. That’s more than 10 times Madonna’s record attendance of 130,000 people at the Parc des Sceaux , in Paris in 1987. Madonna’s official website trumpeted the show as the biggest ever in her four-decade career.
In recent days, the buzz was palpable. Fans gathered outside the imposing seaside Copacabana Palace hotel where Madonna is staying, hoping to catch a glimpse of the pop star. During the sound check on the stage set up in front of the hotel, they danced in the sand.
At noon on Saturday, fans crowded in front of the hotel. A man with a white beard carried a sign saying: “Welcome Madonna, you are the best, I love you.”
Flags with “Madonna” printed against a background of the iconic black and white wavy pattern of the Copacabana sidewalk hung from balconies. The area was packed with street vendors and concertgoers dressed in themed t-shirts, sweating in the scorching sun.
Bruna Prado/AP
“Since Madonna arrived here, I come every day in this outfit to welcome my idol, my diva, my queen of pop,” said Rosemary de Oliveira Bohrer, 69, who wore a gold conical bra and a black cap.
“It will be an unforgettable show here in Copacabana,” said Oliveira Bohrer, a retired civil servant who lives in the region.
Eighteen sound towers were spread across the beach to ensure all attendees could hear the hits. His two-hour show started at 10:37 pm local time, almost 50 minutes late.
City Hall produced a report in April estimating that the show would inject 293 million reais (US$57 million) into the local economy. Hotel capacity should reach 98% in Copacabana, according to Rio’s hotel association. Fans from all over Brazil and even Argentina and France looked for Airbnbs for the weekend, the platform said in a statement. Rio’s international airport planned an additional 170 flights between May 1 and 6, from 27 destinations, City Hall said in a statement.
“It’s a unique opportunity to see Madonna, who knows if she’ll come back,” said Alessandro Augusto, 53, who came from the state of Ceará – approximately 2,500 kilometers (1,555 miles) from Rio.
Bruna Prado/AP
“Welcome Queen!” read the Heineken ads dotted around the city, the letters above an image of an upturned bottle cap resembling a crown.
Heineken wasn’t the only company that sought to profit from the unrest. Bars and restaurants prepared “Like a Virgin” cocktails. A store in the central neighborhood, famous for selling Carnival costumes, has completely reinvented itself, stocking its shelves with Madonna-themed costumes, fans, fanny packs and even underwear.
The organization of the mega-event was similar to New Year’s Eve, when millions of people gather in Copacabana to display fireworks, local authorities said. This annual event often produces widespread robberies and assaults, and there was some concern that such problems could occur at Madonna’s concert.
Rio’s state security plan included the presence of 3,200 military personnel and 1,500 civil police officers on standby. Before the show, the Brazilian Navy inspected vessels that wished to position themselves at sea to watch the show.
A number of major concerts have taken place on Copacabana beach before, including a Rod Stewart show on New Year’s Eve 1994 that attracted more than 4 million fans and was the biggest free rock concert in history, according to Guinness. World Records. Many of these spectators also came to watch Rio’s fireworks show, so a more apt comparison might be with the Rolling Stones in 2006, which saw 1.2 million people flock to the sand, according to Rio’s Military Police, the newspaper Folha de São Paulo reported at the time.
Ana Beatriz Soares, a fan who was in Copacabana on Saturday, said that Madonna left her mark over the decades.
“Madonna had to run so that today’s pop artists could walk. That’s why she’s important, because she serves as an inspiration for today’s pop divas,” said Soares.
“And that was 40 years ago. Not 40 days, 40 months. It’s 40 years,” she said.
