RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Lady Gaga staged a free concert on Saturday night before at least a million fans who gathered on Copacabana Beach for the biggest show of her career.
Lady Gaga told a roaring crowd, “This night, we are making history. (…) Thank you for making history with me.”
The Mother Monster, as she’s known, kicked off the show around 10:00 p.m. local time (01:00 GMT) with her 2011 song “Bloody Mary.” Cheers erupted from fans packed shoulder to shoulder along the expansive beach, who grew thrilled when Gaga revealed a dress in the colors of the Brazilian flag.
Lady Gaga performed her signature hits, including “Poker Face” and “Born This Way,” backed by dozens of dancers and musicians in extravagant costumes.
Just as in her recent shows in Mexico, Gaga paused to share emotional words with the fans from a balcony where she unfurled a Brazilian flag. She especially thanked them for waiting 13 years for her to return to perform live in the country.
“Perhaps you may wonder why it took me so long to come back, but the truth is I was healing, I was getting stronger,” she said. “While I was healing something powerful was happening, you stayed there, you kept carrying me and asking me to return when I was ready, Brazil, I’m ready.”
Gaga also said that the people of Brazil are as vibrant and beautiful “as the sun and the moon rising over the ocean here on Copacabana Beach.”
After these words she performed Alejandro.
“I can promise you that the last time I came we became friends, but now we are family, thank you very much,” she stated before performing her Oscar- and Grammy-winning song “Shallow” from the film “A Star Is Born.”
Some fans, many of them young, arrived at the beach at dawn to stake out good spots, armed with snacks and drinks. They spent the day under a scorching sun, while others climbed trees, determined to get a panoramic view.
Manoela Dobes, a 27-year-old designer wearing a dress featuring a photograph from when she met Lady Gaga in the United States in 2019, said: “Today is the best day of my life. It’s surreal to be here.”
Last year, Madonna also turned Copacabana Beach into a massive dance floor.
The large-scale performances are part of a city-led effort to boost economic activity after Carnaval and New Year celebrations, and ahead of the upcoming Saint John’s Day festivities in June.
Osmar Lima, the city’s secretary of economic development, said in a statement released by the city’s tourism department last month: “It brings activity to the city during what was once considered the off-season, filling hotels and increasing spending in bars, restaurants and shops, creating jobs and income for the population.”
The City of Rio said in a recent report that around 1.6 million people were expected to attend the Lady Gaga concert and that the show should inject at least 600 million reais (about 106 million dollars) into Rio’s economy.
And similar concerts are planned to be held each year in May, at least through 2028.
Lady Gaga arrived in Rio in the early hours of Tuesday. The city has been alive with Gaga-mania since then, as it prepared to welcome the pop star for her first show in the country since 2012. Rio’s metro workers danced to Gaga’s 2008 song “LoveGame” and offered Saturday guidance in a video. A free exhibition celebrating her career sold out.
Although the vast majority of attendees were from Rio, the event also drew Brazilians from across the country and international visitors.
More than 500,000 tourists arrived in the city in the days leading up to the show, more than double the initial forecast, according to data from the local bus terminal and Tom Jobim Airport, the City said on Friday.
Ingrid Serrano, a 30-year-old engineer, made a transcontinental trip from Colombia to Brazil to attend the spectacle.
Serrano, who wore a t-shirt featuring Gaga’s flamboyant outfits over the years, said: “I have been a Lady Gaga fan 100 percent of my life.”
To her, the megastar represents “total freedom of expression, being who you want to be without shame.”
Rio and its authorities have a history of staging large beach concerts. Madonna’s show drew an estimated 1.6 million fans last year, while four million people flooded the beach for Rod Stewart’s New Year’s Eve performance in 1994. According to Guinness World Records, that was the largest free rock concert in history.
To ensure fans could hear the songs, sixteen sound towers were distributed along the beach.
Rio’s state security plan included the presence of 3,300 military personnel and 1,500 police, and 400 military firefighters.
Among the attendees were also Lady Gaga fans who recalled their disappointment in 2017, when the artist canceled a planned Rio performance at the last minute due to health issues.
Ricardo Filho, who has been a fan since childhood, said the wait was worth it.
“She’s the best artist in the world,” the 25-year-old said, as chants of “Gaga, I love you!” rose from the crowd behind him.
