RIO DE JANEIRO –
Madonna will give a free concert on Copacabana beach on Saturday night, turning its vast stretch of sand into a massive dance floor. It comes after Rio de Janeiro spent the last few days preparing for the “Queen of Pop’s” historic performance.
Rio City Hall has said about 1.5 million spectators are expected, more than 10 times more than Madonna’s record attendance of 130,000 at Paris’ Parc des Sceaux in 1987. Madonna’s official website has been promoting the show as the largest ever staged in his four-decade career. .
It will be the last show of The Celebration Tour, his first retrospective that began in October in London.
In recent days, the commotion has been palpable. Fans gathered outside the majestic beachfront Copacabana Palace hotel, where Madonna is staying, hoping to catch a glimpse of the pop star. During the sound check on the stage in front of her hotel, they danced on the sand.
“Since Madonna came here, I come every day in this outfit to welcome my idol, my diva, my queen of pop,” said Rosemary de Oliveira Bohrer, 69, wearing a gold conical bra and a cap. black. .
“It’s going to be an unforgettable spectacle here in Copacabana,” said Oliveira Bohrer, a retired civil servant who lives in the area.
Eighteen sound towers have been spread along the beach to ensure that all attendees can hear the hits. His two-hour program will begin at 9:45 pm local time.
The City Council prepared a report in April estimating that the concert will inject 293 million reais ($57 million) into the local economy. Hotel capacity is expected to reach 98 percent in Copacabana, according to Rio’s hotel association. Fans from all over Brazil and even Argentina and France searched for Airbnbs for the weekend, the platform said in a statement. And Rio’s international airport plans 170 additional flights from May 1 to 6, from 27 destinations, the City Council said in a statement.
“It’s a unique opportunity to see Madonna, who knows if she’ll ever come back,” said Alessandro Augusto, 53, who flew from the state of Ceará, about 2,500 kilometers (1,555 miles) from Rio.
“Welcome Queen!” read the Heineken ads plastered around town, the letters above an image of an upturned bottle cap resembling a crown. Heineken wasn’t the only company looking to cash in on the excitement, with bars and restaurants reportedly making “Like a Virgin” cocktails, named for its 1984 hit. A store in the downtown neighborhood famous for selling Carnival costumes completely reinvented itself, filling its shelves with Madonna-themed costumes, fans, fanny packs, and even underwear.
The organization of the mega-event will be similar to New Year’s Eve, when millions of people gather in Copacabana to watch the world-famous fireworks, local authorities said. That annual event often results in widespread robberies and muggings, and there has been some concern that such problems could occur at Madonna’s show.
The security plan for the state of Rio includes the presence of 3,200 soldiers and 1,500 civil police on alert. On the eve of the concert, the Brazilian Navy carried out inspections of the ships that wish to position themselves at sea to follow the show.
A number of large concerts have previously taken place on Copacabana Beach, including a 1994 New Year’s Eve show by Rod Stewart that attracted more than four million fans and was the largest free rock concert in history, according to Guinness World. Records. However, many spectators had come to see the Rio fireworks show, so a more appropriate comparison might be that of the Rolling Stones in 2006, when 1.2 million people crammed into the arena, according to police. military officer from Rio quoted by the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper at the time. .