Woman Gaga performs throughout her free live performance on Copacabana Seashore in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Might 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 largest present of her profession.
“Tonight, we’re making historical past. (…) Thanks for making historical past with me,” Woman Gaga instructed a screaming crowd.
The Mom Monster, as she is understood, kicked off the present at round 22:10 p.m. native time together with her 2011 music “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 – a lot of them younger – arrived on the seashore on the break of day to safe a great spot, 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 await the beginning of Woman Gaga’s free live performance on Copacabana seashore in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Might 3, 2025.
Bruna Prado/AP
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Bruna Prado/AP
“Right now is the very best day of my life,” stated Manoela Dobes, a 27-year-old designer who was carrying a gown plastered with {a photograph} from when she met Woman Gaga in the USA in 2019. “It is surreal to be right here.”
Madonna additionally turned Copacabana Seashore into an enormous dance ground final 12 months.
The massive-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 exercise to town throughout what was beforehand thought of the off-season – filling resorts and rising spending in bars, eating places, and retail, producing jobs and revenue for the inhabitants,” stated Osmar Lima, town’s secretary of financial growth, 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 at the least 600 million reais (some $106 million) into Rio’s economic system.
Comparable live shows are scheduled to happen yearly in Might at the least 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 staff danced to Woman Gaga’s 2008 hit music “LoveGame” and gave directions for Saturday in a video. A free exhibition celebrating her profession offered out.
Whereas the overwhelming majority of attendees have 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 look at Woman Gaga’s free live performance in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Might 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 have been a 100% fan of Woman Gaga my complete life,” stated Serrano, who was carrying a T-shirt that includes Woman Gaga’s outlandish costumes over time.
For her, the mega-star represents “complete freedom of expression – being who one desires with out disgrace.”
Rio officers have a historical past of organizing big live shows on Copacabana Seashore. Madonna’s present drew an estimated 1.6 million followers final 12 months, whereas 4 million individuals flooded onto the seashore for a 1994 New 12 months’s Eve present by Rod Stewart in 1994. Based on Guinness World Information, that was the largest free rock live performance in historical past.
To make sure followers may hear the songs, sixteen sound towers have been unfold alongside the seashore.
Rio state’s safety plan included the presence of three,300 army and 1,500 law enforcement officials, and 400 army firefighters.
Amongst these current have been Woman Gaga admirers who bear in mind their disappointment in 2017, when the artist canceled a efficiency scheduled in Rio on the final minute because of well being points.
Ricardo Filho, who has been a fan since childhood, stated it was well worth the wait.
“She’s the very best artist on this planet,” the 25-year-old stated, as chants of “Gaga, I really like you” in Portuguese rose from the group behind him.
