Woman Gaga performs throughout her free live performance on Copacabana Seashore in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Could 3, 2025.
Silvia Izquierdo/AP
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Silvia Izquierdo/AP
RIO DE JANEIRO — Woman Gaga gave a free live performance Saturday evening in entrance of two million followers who poured onto Copacabana Seashore for the most important present of her profession.
“Tonight, we’re making history. (…) Thank you for making history with me,” Woman Gaga advised a screaming crowd.
The Mom Monster, as she is understood, kicked off the present at round 22:10 p.m. native time along with her 2011 tune “Bloody Mary.” Cries of pleasure rose from the tightly-packed followers who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the huge stretch of sand.
Live performance organizers stated 2.1 million individuals attended the present.
Woman Gaga carried out her basic hits, together with “Poker Face” and “Alejandro,” switching between an array of clothes together with one with the colours of the Brazilian flag.
Some followers – lots of them younger – arrived on the seashore on the break of day to safe a great place, armed with snacks and drinks. They spent the day underneath a blazing solar, whereas others perched in bushes, decided to get a panoramic view.
Followers cheer as they look ahead to the beginning of Woman Gaga’s free live performance on Copacabana seashore in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Could 3, 2025.
Bruna Prado/AP
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Bruna Prado/AP
“Today is the best day of my life,” stated Manoela Dobes, a 27-year-old designer who was carrying a costume plastered with {a photograph} from when she met Woman Gaga in the USA in 2019. “It’s surreal to be here.”
Madonna additionally turned Copacabana Seashore into a large dance ground final yr.
The big-scale performances are a part of an effort led by Metropolis Corridor to spice up financial exercise after Carnival and New Years’ Eve festivities and the upcoming month-long Saint John’s Day celebrations in June.
“It brings activity to the city during what was previously considered the low season – filling hotels and increasing spending in bars, restaurants, and retail, generating jobs and income for the population,” stated Osmar Lima, town’s secretary of financial improvement, in a press release launched by Rio Metropolis Corridor’s tourism division final month.
Rio’s Metropolis Corridor stated in a current report that the present ought to inject not less than 600 million reais (some $106 million) into Rio’s economic system.
Comparable concert events are scheduled to happen yearly in Could not less than till 2028.
Woman Gaga arrived in Rio within the early hours of Tuesday. The town has been alive with Gaga-mania since, because it geared as much as welcome the pop star for her first present within the nation since 2012. Rio’s metro workers danced to Woman Gaga’s 2008 hit tune “LoveGame” and gave directions for Saturday in a video. A free exhibition celebrating her profession offered out.
Whereas the overwhelming majority of attendees had been from Rio, the occasion additionally attracted Brazilians from throughout the nation and worldwide guests.
Greater than 500,000 vacationers poured into town within the days main as much as the present, greater than double the preliminary forecast, in response to knowledge from the native bus station and Tom Jobim airport, Rio’s Metropolis Corridor stated in a press release on Friday.
Followers pack the shore of Copacabana seashore to observe Woman Gaga’s free live performance in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Could 3, 2025.
Bruna Prado/AP
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Bruna Prado/AP
Ingrid Serrano, a 30-year-old engineer, made a cross-continent journey from Colombia to Brazil to attend the present.
“I’ve been a 100% fan of Lady Gaga my whole life,” stated Serrano, who was carrying a T-shirt that includes Woman Gaga’s outlandish costumes through the years.
For her, the mega-star represents “total freedom of expression – being who one wants without shame.”
Rio officers have a historical past of organizing large concert events on Copacabana Seashore. Madonna’s present drew an estimated 1.6 million followers final yr, whereas 4 million individuals flooded onto the seashore for a 1994 New 12 months’s Eve present by Rod Stewart in 1994. In keeping with Guinness World Data, that was the most important free rock live performance in historical past.
To make sure followers might hear the songs, sixteen sound towers had been unfold alongside the seashore.
Rio state’s safety plan included the presence of three,300 navy and 1,500 law enforcement officials, and 400 navy firefighters.
Amongst these current had been Woman Gaga admirers who keep in mind their disappointment in 2017, when the artist canceled a efficiency scheduled in Rio on the final minute as a result of well being points.
Ricardo Filho, who has been a fan since childhood, stated it was definitely worth the wait.
“She’s the best artist in the world,” the 25-year-old stated, as chants of “Gaga, I love you” in Portuguese rose from the gang behind him.
