Saturday's free concert marked the end of her “Celebration Tour.” The first concert was held in London last October.
The 65-year-old star got the ball rolling with “Nothing Really Matters” from 1998. This is the first time the “Queen of Pop” has undertaken a retrospective tour, performing songs from her career that has spanned more than four decades.
“We are here in the most beautiful place in the world,” Madonna said, pointing to the view of the sea, the mountains, and the statue of Christ on one of the city’s heights.
Dance Floor: Madonna turned Rio Beach into a huge dance floor. Photograph: Bruna Prado/AP/NTB
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Ten times what it was before
The mayor's office estimated that 1.5 million people attended the concert. This is ten times more than Madonna's previous record concert, when she played in front of 130,000 people at Parc D. Sco in Paris in 1987.
18 towers equipped with speakers have been set up along the beach, so everyone can catch Madonna's hit show. The party lasted two hours and started just after 10:30pm local time on Saturday, about 50 minutes behind schedule.
A record 4 million
This is not the first time that large crowds have gathered on the famous beach to enjoy music. The New Year's Show with Rod Stewart in 1994 attracted more than 4 million people – and is, according to Guinness World Records, the largest free rock concert in history. Perhaps many of them came to watch the New Year's fireworks.
A more apt comparison is a concert with the Rolling Stones in 2006 that brought together 1.2 million people.
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