Madonna plays biggest-ever show to 1.6 million fans

Madonna delivered the biggest concert of her career on Saturday night (4 May) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

An estimated 1.6 million people attended the free show at Copacabana Beach, where the 65-year-old wrapped up her Celebration Tour.

The star performed for over two hours, delivering a 26-song setlist featuring guest appearances from two Brazilian musicians – Anitta joined for ‘Vogue’, while Pabllo Vittar guested on the tour debut of ‘Music’.

The concert, promoted by Bonus Track in partnership with Live Nation, was The Queen of Pop’s first gig in Brazil since 2012 and was the only South American date of the tour.

No tickets were required for the event, with fans granted entry on a first-come-first-serve basis on the day of the performance.

The star performed for over two hours, delivering a 26-song setlist featuring guest appearances

According to Reuters, many attendees had waited for hours or even days to secure a good spot, while others watched from boats or beachfront apartments. The show was also broadcast live on Brazilian free-to-air television network TV Globo.

The event was presented by financial services company Itaú, and sponsored by the City of Rio de Janeiro, the State Government of Rio de Janeiro and Heineken, with support from Deezer.

Before Saturday night, Madonna’s best-attended show was a performance at Parc de Sceaux in Paris, France on 1987’s Who’s That Girl World Tour, which drew 131,100 concertgoers.

Copacabana Beach is renowned for mega concerts by artists such as The Rolling Stones in 2006 and Rod Stewart, who broke the world record for the most-attended concert of all time when he performed there in front of 4.2 million people in 1994.

Madonna launched The Celebration Tour in London last October with the first of six sold-out nights at The O2. Its European leg grossed $77.5 million from 429,000 ticket sales, according to Billboard Boxscore.

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