Arena Market: Brazil

Vast, rich in resources, and well-positioned between the powerbrokers of the old international order and the emerging markets of the Global South, Brazil has seen the world revolve in its direction in recent years. While it remains a highly complex and unequal country, under returning president Lula da Silva it now has diplomatic, economic, and decarbonisation opportunities that, some suggest, could transform it into a superpower of the 21st century.

And, if touring infrastructure is a barometer of a country’s modernity, as well as its spending power, investability, and global connections, then things in Brazil are already on the up. The key cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are both awaiting the completion of major arena projects of different kinds, giving new options to a country that already stands as South America’s prime touring destination.

In Rio, the news concerns the revival of the city’s iconic Canecão arena, which once hosted concerts from some of Brazil’s biggest stars, including Roberto Carlos, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, and Antônio Carlos Jobim, but closed in 2010 and was demolished in 2019.

A consortium of veteran promoter Luiz Oscar Niemeyer’s Bonus Track Entretenimento and sports and cultural marketing group Klefer Entretenimento e Participações last year won an auction for a 30-year lease on the plot and plans to build a new 6,000-capacity arena near the site of the previous one.

“It’s where popular music was born – all the major acts in Brazil have played there,” said Niemeyer last year. “The whole country knows about it, and there’s a lot of history related to this place. Everyone’s very excited about it reopening, and everywhere I go, people are congratulating me. It’s going to become a tourism point of Rio.”

“It’s where popular music was born – all the major acts in Brazil have played there”

At the time of the auction – at which the Bonus-Klefer consortium won out over WTorre, the group that manages another major Brazilian concert destination, Palmeiras football club’s Allianz Parque stadium in São Paulo – the new building was slated for 2025, with an expectation of around 120 concerts a year.

An even bigger project currently in the quiet period between announcement and completion is the new

20,000-capacity arena in São Paulo’s Anhembi district, piloted by Oak View Group, Live Nation, and GL Events. Announced in 2021 and much anticipated by Latin American promoters, the arena will be, almost inconceivably, the first modern arena in Brazilian’s main music market and biggest city, which has a metropolitan population of nearly 23m.

Oak View Group COO Francesca Bodie recently elaborated on São Paulo’s strategic appeal to OVG, identifying it as one of a number of “countries or cities that not only attract from surrounding countries but serve as the point of destination for a much broader area. From a financial perspective, São Paulo is an incredible point of destination for not only Brazil but for Latin America. That’s why we want to plant our flag there.”

The new arena, which promises to put sustainability at the top of its agenda, represents a huge new piece in a network of modern arenas across South America that also includes phenomenally busy venues, many of them new, in key cities such as Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Santiago, and Montevideo.

Promoters concur that Brazil’s live market, much like those of nearby countries, has been a little flat in 2024, buffeted by ongoing inflationary pressure and reticent consumers. All the same, schedules are full in the larger venues.

Promoters concur that Brazil’s live market, much like those of nearby countries, has been a little flat in 2024, buffeted by ongoing inflationary pressure and reticent consumers.

São Paulo may not yet have an arena of the largest, newest kind, but it has Opus Entretenimento’s 7,000-cap Vibra São Paulo (once Credicard Hall), which reopened in 2022 and remains an extremely busy stop for international and regional tours.

Grupo São Paulo Eventos’s Espaço Unimed in Barra Funda, west of São Paulo, has an 8,000 capacity, and in this configuration, it has welcomed Ivete Sangalo, Los Hermanos, Morrissey, Noel Gallagher, and others since a major renovation in 2012 – though it can also scale down to a 3,000-cap format with tables.

GL Events’ 18,000-capacity Farmasi Arena, until recently the Jeunesse Arena, is the key arena in Rio with 400,000 visitors a year. In addition to signing a new naming rights contract with Farmasi, a beauty and personal care brand, it has expanded its food options this year and introduced an in-house pre-show DJ.

“In 2024, we’ll host at least 30 big events in Farmasi Arena,” says Silvia Albuquerque, GL Events director of venues. “From UFC in May to Cirque du Soleil’s Crystal in June and Eric Clapton’s concert in September, we are hosting a vast array of national and international productions. In terms of Brazilian artists, we also have Caetano & Bethânia’s new joint tour, completely sold out in record time.”

Also working hard in Rio is Time 4 Fun’s 8,450-cap Qualistage arena in Barra da Tijuca, where McFly, Bruce Dickinson, Thiaguinho, and Titãs are some of the recent highlights.

As international tourers increasingly appreciate, Brazil also has plenty of cities worth visiting outside São Paulo and Rio, with a diversity of venues of varying ages.

As international tourers increasingly appreciate, Brazil also has plenty of cities worth visiting outside São Paulo and Rio, with a diversity of venues of varying ages.

Part of the urban area of Greater Florianópolis, the former Hard Rock Live Florianópolis, last year became Arena Opus, its management transferring to Opus Entretenimento. With space for 17,000 fans indoors and a 540sqm stage, the venue is a frequent stop for larger Brazilian artists.

Also on the map are Fortaleza’s 30,000-cap Centro de Eventos do Ceará; the vintage 14,586-cap Ginásio Gigantinho and mid-size 5,500-cap Pepsi On Stage in Porto Alegre; the 5,000-cap outdoor Concha Acústica do Teatro Castro Alves auditorium in Salvador; the 11,105-cap Ginásio Nilson Nelson in the capital, Brasilia; and the Classic Hall in the north- eastern city of Recife.

Another stop on the broader Brazilian circuit is the much-frequented city of Curitiba and its Ligga Arena – not an arena in the strictest sense but a 42,000-capacity stadium with a retractable roof, reputedly the only such venue in Latin America. It has picked up tours by Louis Tomlinson, Roger Waters, Roberto Carlos, and Michael Bublé in the past couple of years. An indoor arena was originally planned alongside but has not yet materialised.

The 25,000-cap Pedreira Paulo Leminski, also in Curitiba, is an outdoor space with an onsite opera house, Ópera de Arame, that has welcomed Post Malone, Imagine Dragons, and Backstreet Boys in recent times, with Paul McCartney, AC/ DC, Guns N’ Roses, and Ed Sheeran among the greatest hits of former years.