To close out her latest world tour, Madonna performed a free show on Copacabana beach in Rio in front of the largest live crowd in her four-decade career. We take a look back, in pictures.
ADVERTISEMENTTalk about a grand finale.
Madonna transformed Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro into a sea of her fans on Saturday for the closing show of her latest world tour, The Celebration Tour, which has performed in 80 locations since October.
The final concert, announced last March, was free for everyone, and drew the largest crowd of the pop superstar’s four-decade career. Riotur, Rio City Hall’s tourism agency, estimated that 1.6 million people flocked to the beach to get a glimpse of Madonna.
That would make the show more than 10 times bigger than Madonna’s previous record attendance of 130,000 at Paris’ Parc des Sceaux in 1987.
It was a spectacular end to the singer’s first stage retrospective, which featured massive hits of her career – including “Like a Prayer,” “Ray of Light,” “Hung Up,” and “Holiday” – as well as elaborate costumes and choreography.
The show began with her 1998 hit “Nothing Really Matters” that drew huge cheers from the tightly-packed crowd on the beach.
Those lucky enough to have balconies overlooking the beachfront held house parties to watch the show. Helicopters and drones flew overhead and motorboats and sailboats filled the bay, which meant the audience spanned land, air and sea.
At the start of the show, the 65-year-old told the crowd: “Here we are in the most beautiful place in the world. This place is magic.”
Catch upon some of the photos that captured the atmosphere and festivities that took Rio by storm this weekend.
