Lady Gaga rocks Copacabana Beach with a free concert for more than 2
million fans
[May 05, 2025]
By ELÉONORE HUGHES
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Lady Gaga gave a free concert Saturday night in
front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach for the biggest
show of her career.
“Tonight, we're making history. (...) Thank you for making history with
me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd.
The Mother Monster, as she is known, kicked off the show at around 22:10
p.m. local time with her 2011 song “Bloody Mary.” Cries of joy rose from
the tightly-packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the
vast stretch of sand.
Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show.
Lady Gaga performed her classic hits, including “Poker Face” and
“Alejandro,” switching between an array of dresses including one with
the colors of the Brazilian flag.
Some fans - many of them young - arrived on the beach at the crack of
dawn to secure a good spot, armed with snacks and drinks. They spent the
day under a blazing sun, while others perched in trees, determined to
get a panoramic view.
“Today is the best day of my life,” said Manoela Dobes, a 27-year-old
designer who was wearing a dress plastered with a photograph from when
she met Lady Gaga in the United States in 2019. “It's surreal to be
here.”
Madonna also turned Copacabana Beach into a massive dance floor last
year.
The large-scale performances are part of an effort led by City Hall to
boost economic activity 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,”
said Osmar Lima, the city’s secretary of economic development, in a
statement released by Rio City Hall’s tourism department last month.
Rio’s City Hall said in a recent report that the show should inject at
least 600 million reais (some $106 million) into Rio’s economy.
Similar concerts are scheduled to take place every year in May at least
until 2028.
Lady Gaga arrived in Rio in the early hours of Tuesday. The city has
been alive with Gaga-mania since, as it geared up to welcome the pop
star for her first show in the country since 2012. Rio’s metro employees
danced to Lady Gaga’s 2008 hit song “LoveGame” and gave instructions for
Saturday in a video. A free exhibition celebrating her career sold out.
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Lady Gaga performs during her free concert on Copacabana Beach in
Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
 While the vast majority of attendees
were from Rio, the event also attracted Brazilians from across the
country and international visitors.
More than 500,000 tourists poured into the city in the days leading
up to the show, more than double the initial forecast, according to
data from the local bus station and Tom Jobim airport, Rio’s City
Hall said in a statement on Friday.
Ingrid Serrano, a 30-year-old engineer, made a cross-continent trip
from Colombia to Brazil to attend the show.
“I’ve been a 100% fan of Lady Gaga my whole life,” said Serrano, who
was wearing a T-shirt featuring Lady Gaga’s outlandish costumes over
the years.
For her, the mega-star represents “total freedom of expression -
being who one wants without shame.”
Rio officials have a history of organizing huge concerts on
Copacabana Beach. Madonna’s show drew an estimated 1.6 million fans
last year, while 4 million people flooded onto the beach for a 1994
New Year’s Eve show by Rod Stewart in 1994. According to Guinness
World Records, that was the biggest free rock concert in history.
To ensure fans could hear the songs, sixteen sound towers were
spread along the beach.
Rio state’s security plan included the presence of 3,300 military
and 1,500 police officers, and 400 military firefighters.
Among those present were Lady Gaga admirers who remember their
disappointment in 2017, when the artist canceled a performance
scheduled in Rio at the last minute due to health issues.
Ricardo Filho, who has been a fan since childhood, said it was worth
the wait.
“She's the best artist in the world,” the 25-year-old said, as
chants of “Gaga, I love you” in Portuguese rose from the crowd
behind him.
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