In Rio de Janeiro it was the biggest audience a female singer has ever had
With her show on Saturday (3) at Copacabana beach, singer Lady Gaga became the female artist with the largest audience in history. She surpassed Madonna, who until then had the largest audience, recorded at the show held at the same location in May 2024.
According to the Rio City Hall count, Lady Gaga attracted an audience of 2.1 million people. At her performance last year, Madonna had an audience of 1.6 million fans.
The concert with the largest audience in history, according to the Guinness Book, was also selected on Copacabana beach: 4.2 million people attended the concert by rock star Rod Stewart on New Year’s Eve from 1994 to 1995.
Second place goes to the French artist and pioneer of electronic music, Jean-Michel Jarre, who brought together more than 3.5 million people at an open concert in Moscow, Russia, in 1997.
Third place belongs to the Brazilian Jorge Ben Jor, who performed on New Year’s Eve from 1993 to 1994, also on Copacabana beach.
The show featured hits by the singer such as “Poker Face”, “Paparazzi” and “Alejandro”, as well as new hits such as “Disease” and “Abracadabra”, as well as moments when the artist became emotional and even dedicated a letter to her Brazilian fans.
A few minutes late, the show opened with a monologue by the “Lady of Chaos” before introducing Act One of the show, which bears the same name.
The show was similar to the performances the singer gave in Mexico City on April 26 and 27 and at the Coachella festival.
On many occasions, the artist addressed the Brazilian audience, either repeating her thanks in Portuguese (“obrigado!”) several times or shouting “Brazil!”. She read a letter in English, which was simultaneously translated by a fan, in which she spoke of her frustration at not being able to come to the country on another occasion due to health problems, and praised the atmosphere on Copacabana beach. Before singing “Shadow of a Man,” Gaga said that she “never wants to leave this beach again.”
Shortly after, she addressed the audience again. “Love heals everything. We need love, we need each other. I would like to dedicate this song to everyone who needs love today,” said the singer. She then also said that she would like to dedicate the song “Blade of Grass” to her fiancé Michael Polansky.
Later, he apologized for not having returned to the country since 2012, saying that he feels a “sense of community” in the country. “I feel a sense of community when I’m here, which is so pure. I can feel what music means to you, and music means a lot to me. I can promise you that the last time I left here, we became friends. Now we are family,” she said.
At the end of the show, an emotional Gaga hugged her dancers and sat down to watch the fireworks and thank the audience while she was applauded, staying on stage for a few more moments and joining in the chorus of “Ga-ga oh-la-la” from “Bad Romance” before finally closing the show.
