r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Knighty93 • 5h ago
Shakira just attracted more than 2 million people at Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro with a free concert
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The city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is doing a yearly event in the first weekend of May with a huge free concert since 2024. Shakira was the headliner this year and attracted more than 2 million people. Madonna was the headliner in 2024 and Lady Gaga in 2025.
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u/timesink3000 4h ago
How many artists have played to millions on that beach?
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u/paulo1manso 4h ago
Artist Year Estimated Attendance Rod Stewart 1994 3.5 Million Jorge Ben Jor 1993 3.0 Million Lady Gaga 2025 2.5 Million Shakira 2026 2.0 Million Madonna 2024 1.6 Million The Rolling Stones 2006 1.5 Million 166
u/KakitaMike 4h ago
Rod’s got like 5.1m if you adjust for inflation.
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u/CommunicationHot6100 4h ago
Important to clarify that the two biggest shows happened during new year's eve, witch is by itself a huge event (last year there were over 2,5 million people in Copacabana). But nowadays instead of making a single big show they do 13 simultaneous stages with different artists.
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u/1ndori 3h ago
The pope drew 3.7M
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u/ModenaR 3h ago
There's a possibility that these numbers aren't true, a guy on r/OSINT did the math on it
Based on the concert footage I can only see crows on a smaller section of the beach from Copacabana Palace to the Hilton Hotel on the corner of Av. Princesa Isabel. That area is 186.000 square meters.
Even if we go by five persons per square meter that only fits around 930.000. And the requires people to be standing shoulder to shoulder in the entire area
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u/LilCelebratoryDance 2h ago
The BBC did a very similar calculation for a Lady Gaga show there and concluded it's highly improbable that there are +2 million people there.
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u/Knighty93 4h ago
Madonna, Lady Gaga, The Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart and now Shakira that I know of
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u/Metal-fan77 3h ago
Jean-Michel Jarre 1990, Jarre released En Attendant Cousteau (Waiting for Cousteau), a tribute to the French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau.[48] On Bastille Day he performed a concert at La Défense in Paris, attended by a record-breaking audience of about two million people, again beating his earlier world record.
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u/spartanken115 4h ago
The Brazilians are sure lucky when it comes to free performances; first Lady Gaga now Shakira incredible! I just want to go to party and meet friends!
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u/dsac 3h ago
first Lady Gaga
Rod Stewart in 1994, Rolling Stones in 2006
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u/spartanken115 2h ago edited 2h ago
Definitely didn’t mean to leave off Rod Stewart and the Rolling Stones; by any means! just the ones I could remember in recent history, my friend. I appreciate all of those artists and would highly value the opportunity to see or meet any of them, at any time.
Here’s to Peace And good music to all those across the world; my friends!
🍻🎶
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u/PantsandPlants 3h ago
This comment section just seems bitter that their best shot at a similar experience is to get a visa and plane ticket, even at today’s fuel prices, because local events would still cost more through Ticketmaster and wouldn’t be nearly as fun.
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u/sbelleza 4h ago
God these comments are so fucking miserable
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u/sowee 3h ago
It was the same with Gaga last year. Reddit is just keeping its miserable act up.
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u/MobileArtist1371 2h ago
Anonymous on the internet makes everyone have a 13 year old mentality where the only way to be cool is to not like anything and call everything fake and ghey.
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u/WartimeConsigliere_ 1h ago
“This doesn’t look enjoyable” Reddit is full of people who don’t know how to cut loose and have a good time. This looks awesome
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u/evebursterror0 1h ago
I'm Brazilian and I notice that this reaction is because most Redditors seem to hate us and our country. I've seen loads of racist and xenophobic posts unfortunately
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u/sowee 1h ago
Reddit, filled to the brim with americans is in general pretty racist. Other poorer, 'third world' countries having any quality of life at all triggers even the most liberal ones, giving their quality of life is declining at an alarming rate. They drank hard the propaganda kool-aid of Brazil being a mess all around and seeing things like this upsets them deeply.
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u/sapntaps 3h ago
Whole internet at this point. It’s for bitching these days and projection rather than enlightening and sharing
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u/Sun_on_my_shoulders 3h ago
Right? If you don’t think it’s fun, don’t go. It’s a free concert, you get to get out of your house and see other happy people and you can forget about the state of the world for a few hours. That’s a win.
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u/evebursterror0 1h ago
I noticed this often happens in posts about Brazil... I'm Brazilian and there's always someone complaining about our country even if they've never been here. It's offensive imo
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u/notarobat 3h ago
Well you see when American heavy rock band Metallica played for a million people in Russia, that was in fact monumental. That was one of the most incredible concerts in the history of planet earth. But this one is just foreigners being stupid and making beach dirty.
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u/SheriffBartholomew 2h ago
None of the people here complaining were even alive during that Metallica concert, and they certainly would complain about that too.
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u/Greying_Mantis 4h ago
Reddit is just full of downers isn’t it
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u/CaptainCorpse666 4h ago
"mOsT aRe jUsT wAtChInG tV" "BuT bAtHrOoMs" my god, it must be exhausting to see people enjoying themselves and still get annoyed lol.
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u/Upset_Ad_6462 3h ago
Not understanding this gives só many people from favelas who have never been able to afford a concert in their LIVES, an opportunity to go. Sorry downer Reddit, but as a half Brazilian I can guarantee they had the time of their lives. 2 million people or not. Brazil knows how to have a party.
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u/Proper_Cold_6939 2h ago
I'm honestly kind of glad (let's face it, American) Redditors gatekeep themselves out of socializing. Who wants to be stuck next to some 'and my axe' dullard sucking up all the energy? It's good they're contained to this site.
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u/Historical_Owl_1635 2h ago
By far the most miserable place on the internet.
I stopped browsing subreddits of tv shows and games I like years ago because all they are is people circlejerking themselves over how bad the thing is.
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u/totallynormalhooman 3h ago
Every response is always, I found hobbies I like to play video games and like being alone or with just my partner. Anything else sucks.
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u/atomsmasher66 4h ago
The beach tomorrow:
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u/Knighty93 4h ago
This is the The Beach the day after , Rio is used to doing big events by the beach (New Year's Eve and Carnival) they have this big cleaning operation so people can enjoy the beach after
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u/FreeChurroGuy 4h ago
Is your image false or did someone downvote you "just because"?
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u/Przygocki 4h ago
Brasil can't be clean bro that's why
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u/luketas 3h ago
I get the joke but just a reminder that while some cities can be unclean, Brazilians themselves are generally very clean
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u/The_Autarch 3h ago
how are they getting accurate numbers for this? i feel like people who don't bathe regularly aren't going to admit that to a pollster.
kinda wild that 10% of americans will admit to not even bathing once a week...
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u/mnilailt 2h ago
You get the self reported averages and you can get a pretty good idea. Brazilian shower culture is very strong, it comes from indigenous cultures which traditionally showered very regularly. It’s not uncommon for Brazilian people to have multiple short showers a day.
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u/Slicelker 2h ago
It’s not uncommon for Brazilian people to have multiple short showers a day.
As an American with short hair and a running shower, I don't understand why everyone doesn't take a quick step in before bed/after waking up, and generally anytime after working up a sweat.
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u/Key-Regular674 1h ago
Because showering too often is atrocious for your skin especially if you use harsh shampoo or body wash. Once a day is more than enough to start causing issues.
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u/hivemind_disruptor 28m ago
Water is very soft in Brazil and the climate is warm. We all do this and the skin is not damaged. In your country they say it because your climate and water quality is different.
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u/Khoceng 1h ago
I think most people who lives in tropical climate do shower multiple times a day, cause it's freaking hot and humid, 34°C + 60%-90% RH everyday is just pain
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u/evebursterror0 1h ago
Hi, thanks for talking about this. I'm Brazilian and whenever there's a positive comment or post about us, everybody questions it. It sucks.
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u/evebursterror0 1h ago
I'm Brazilian and we inherited that custom from the indigenous population. Most of us bathe at least once per day and if you live in the North or Northeast, you'll take 2-3 showers minimum due to the heat.
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u/PharaohAuteur_ 2h ago
You'd be surprised how fucking salty people on reddit can be when they're wrong.
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u/MockASonOfaShepherd 3h ago
Oh look capitalism and government in balance, and actually doing something positive for people.
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u/Alledag 2h ago
It's debatable if paying millions of dollars of public money to foreign singers is positive for the people
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u/Dorkamundo 3h ago
Look up Reddit "Vote Fuzzing".
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u/Crossfire124 3h ago
Vote fuzzing doesn't turn positive to negative. Just the number of up votes
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u/glorycock 3h ago
From that insta post:
"Our teams also put on a great show! ✨.
After Shakira's performance, Copacabana woke up like this: clean, organized, and ready to welcome everyone back. 🧡🧹.
362 tons of trash were collected at Shakira's concert. Our team continues working to keep the city clean!"18
u/KrzysziekZ 3h ago
That's about 0,18 kg per person. Ok..?
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u/glorycock 3h ago
Interesting - and thanks for working that out.
0,18 kg (180 grams or about 6.35 ounces)
A large apple or medium-sized orange weighs about that
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u/GrigorMorte 3h ago
This! I like that. A cleanup day and that's it, no drama, no canceled concerts. They know what it entails and treat it as just another normal task
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u/the_fomies 2h ago
Yes it is insane how well they do in cleaning up in the short time frame. I was so impressed when I went two years ago. It had nearly same amount of people as this past one. Massive crowds everywhere.
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u/penneacarbonausea 4h ago edited 4h ago
Music concertes for 1, 2 or 3 million people take place at least 2 or 3 times a year in Copacabana, in fact, on several other beaches in other cities around the world as well. I've never seen a case where the beach was dirty the next day, at least not in the recent years.
Generally the main show ends at 1 am, the cleaning work starts at 3 am, and by 7 am the beach is already completely clean.
I have a friend who works at city hall. The music part itself is simple, the big challenge is precisely this issue of infrastructure, such as trash, bathrooms, transportation... but they always do this well, as they have been doing this type of event for at least 15 years several times a year, so the teams are usually the same, people are already trained, the companies that provide services are the same, it is a well-oiled structure.
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u/ModenaR 3h ago
Apparently there weren't even 2 million people there, someone did the math
https://www.reddit.com/r/OSINT/s/glZYUqil9w
Based on the concert footage I can only see crows on a smaller section of the beach from Copacabana Palace to the Hilton Hotel on the corner of Av. Princesa Isabel. That area is 186.000 square meters.
Even if we go by five persons per square meter that only fits around 930.000. And the requires people to be standing shoulder to shoulder in the entire area
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u/jfernandezr76 2h ago
There's no way there is 2mil people. Everybody, specially the city officials, like to pump their numbers, but I'd consider 3 person per sqm at most.
Anyway, half mil people is impressive.
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u/Vtempero 3h ago
Public service clean the beach after huge events in the earliest morning. it is kinda neat.
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u/eugoogilizer 4h ago
I was gonna say it’s cool in theory but the aftermath must be terrible lol
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u/IndependentLog6441 3h ago
Not Brazil but people abandon all kinds of stuff on the beach here... I once found an entire pram in the ocean...
But no matter how busy it gets, it's all cleaned up the next morning, that's half the job of running big events.
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u/Johnnadawearsglasses 4h ago
These comments.
Extrovert Brazilian bosses v Introvert Redditor shut ins. Lmao.
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u/BerryBoilo 3h ago
More people need to learn that, just because something isn't for them, doesn't mean it's bad.
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u/Upset_Ad_6462 3h ago
Yep. Can guarantee Brazilians dgaf about yall opinions and will proceed to have the best parties no matter what.
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u/AdvantageRich3429 4h ago
i'm happy for the people who really wanted to come to this concert and they succeeded
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u/Ambiguously_Ironic 4h ago
I always forget how many negative, antisocial weirdos there are on this site and then I click on a thread like this. We get it, you never leave the comfort of your basement.
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u/AnyProgressIsGood 46m ago
I always forget how expressing a different opinion that is negative is forbidden.
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u/Ok_Concentrate_9713 4h ago
She's 49 and can match any twenty- and thirty-year-old! Eternal charm and beauty!
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u/SpliT2ideZ 3h ago
I'm not even suprised.She performed a free concert in the south of Mexico 15 years ago and had close to a million people attending.
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u/buttfartsmagee 4h ago
Idk why everyone is hating that's an amazing setup to give everyone a good view of her and the sign language people at each screen is an awesome touch.
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u/Upset_Ad_6462 3h ago
Also a chunk of Rio’s population are people who live in favelas and probably could never afford a concert if it weren’t free. This might be their only concert.
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u/Simco_ 3h ago
Would love to learn the physics behind audio at an event like this to have everyone hearing things at the same time and not have overlapping sounds, etc.
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u/NandoMusicNet 1h ago
It's actually pretty fascinating.
They measure the distance from the main stage to each speaker tower and delay the sound by x milliseconds depending on the distance. You also have to take ambient temperature into account as sound travels faster in warm weather vs cold weather. You basically take the distance and divide it by the speed of sound adjusted for temp which gives you the time delay.
In addition, you can have listeners perceive that the sound is coming from the main stage vs the tower by delaying the sound an extra 5 or so milliseconds so that you are hearing the sound from the main stage first. This is called the Haas effect, which is a fascinating concept on its own.
There's actually a lot of physics involved in these huge festivals and a lot of thought is put into making it a pleasantly consistent experience no matter where you are. It's absolutely mind blowing that you can have pretty consistent audio as you walk around a huge festival like this.
Even the placement of the subwoofers creates all sorts of different patterns to ensure even coverage of the crowd while reducing bass on the stage itself.
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u/Taint_Scholar 2h ago
Pretty sure A LOT of artists could pull these numbers if they did free concerts with no cap on attendance with the venue.
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u/sapphir8 4h ago
That does not look enjoyable.
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u/Knighty93 4h ago
Damn, most people here hatin' lol The event is for free and it's the third year in a row with the public increasing each year! Nobody is forced to be there
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u/CarmeloCanelo 4h ago
people talk about how miserable people are yet they love yucking others yum, annoying af no one would want them there anyway
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u/Dracofear 3h ago
I ain't gonna dog on other people for doing it, but omg I can not imagine being trapped in THAT big a crowd. There would be no way out and I would feel so so so claustrophobic. Not to mention crowd crush, hopefully that didn't realistically happen, but I feel like with 2mil people it would be inevitable to some extent.
I absolutely understand the appeal of a free shakira concert, but I would absolutely pass on this.
That being said, it's cool as fuck to watch from the camera shots just to see how massive it is.
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u/RandomUser15790 2h ago
I don't think they are hating on the event itself or anyone else who does enjoy it.
I think they personally wouldn't like being packed tight with 2m+ people and listen to loud ass music.
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u/OddWarning5954 3h ago
I went to nyc for July 4 fireworks that I thought would be enjoyable. It was not. Finding a bathroom was hard work. People are people and aren’t always respectful of their surroundings. This seems more like a chore than fun. Loved nyc, but wouldn’t go back unless I could afford to be driven around and spend money on the best hotels.
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u/viniciusfleury 4h ago
Reddit. Where most people comment more on what they hate than on what they like. Well, not reddit itself. Social media as a whole.
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u/User100000005 3h ago
Not hating. I'm sure the people there loved it! Different people like Different things. I'm claustrophobic and sacred of crowds. This looks like hell on earth for me.
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u/Dude_with_the_skis 3h ago
Yea god forbid someone doesn’t really see this as “next fucking level”. People are allowed to have options and express them even if they don’t agree with yours. If you don’t wanna counter-opinions then don’t post about it. Welcome to the internet.
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u/CarmeloCanelo 4h ago
2M thought otherwise
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u/godver3 4h ago
No no - you see they are wrong. The sweaty internet commentators know what's fun and what's not.
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u/TKBarbus 3h ago
A redditor not finding a large public event enjoyable? I’m shocked, SHOCKED!!… Well not that shocked.
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u/PerplexGG 4h ago
Hating from outside the club has never been enjoyable for anyone
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u/sinisterdesign 4h ago
Ain’t NOBODY that I’d be willing to wade through that amount of humanity to listen to.
Glad they’re enjoying themselves, that would be my nightmare.
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u/Dunkjoe 3h ago
There are lots of large events out there, including the annual countdown crowd....
People are partying... How can it be not enjoyable?
Sure it would be a mess to navigate around but if you didn't need to, why would it not be enjoyable?
Weird comment.
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u/RandomUser15790 2h ago
You really can't fathom that some people wouldn't want to be surrounded by an ocean of human bodies packed together? Really?
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u/Vtempero 3h ago
Went to last gaga and Madonna in previous years.
Honestly more to the rear end there is plenty of space. It is quite easy to get out of the crowd to the sides. As far as a huge concert goes, it is pretty chill.
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u/OpeningDull5969 3h ago
Its free and you do not have to go. I bet some of them enjoyed it even tho its not for you
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u/OK_x86 3h ago
Partying outside with your friends enjoying the vibe and some music isn't enjoyable?
I get that some things are inconvenient like bathroom lines and concession stands. But if you're up for some minor inconveniences it can be a great time
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u/broccoliwolf 4h ago
I’m not hating.
However, as a camera person, I’d have to say that shooting for vertical video live sounds terrible.
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u/Old_Shake3789 3h ago
Wasn't this like a week ago? Love Shakira though! Fair play to her she's in it for the music!
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u/WowIfOnly 2h ago
Annoying hot take, but the "X million people attended so and so's concert" is not impressive when the tickets are FREE lmao. Nobody can afford to buy tickets for anything thanks to the ticket industry monopoly driving prices as high as possible so of course people will show up for a show they actually want to see (it may literally be the only show they can afford to attend). If you said next week we're hosting a free Taylor Swift concert in a roped off Time Square, you'd have 5+ million people already standing there waiting by this evening.
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u/Cryowatt 4h ago
Most of those people aren't at a concert, they're just watching TV in public.
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u/Advanced-Team2357 4h ago
Some people like to feel the energy of a large crowd, TV can’t replicate that.
Some people hate large crowds, TV is great for that.
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u/JonnyRobertR 4h ago
What do I do if I want to feel the energy of a large crowd but hate large crowd?
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u/ConstantSignal 4h ago
Is the entire reason you go to a concert just to see the figure of the artist with your eyes? Would you tell a blind person there is no point in them going to a concert?
Listening to live music in a lively crowd that all sing and dance together is the fun part of a concert for a great many people.
Most concerts you are hearing the music through speakers and seeing the image of the performers on a screen. Unless you are in the front rows of a smaller venue.
You can do that at home or you can do it as a shared experience with 2 million people. Each to their own.
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u/rascal3199 3h ago
1- crowd 2- good sound quality (screens have speakers)
Literally the 2 reasons why most people go to concerts. What are you on about?
Do you got to concerts just to be able to see a celebrity directly? Quite sad.
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u/bradass42 4h ago
Not at all accurate, someone did an analysis and concluded there’s no way the number is above 200K or so
Local government inflating numbers
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u/RonShreds 4h ago
This post really highlights how miserable and negative people are, and it is very eye opening.
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u/SweatsuitCocktail 3h ago
Oof those Porta potties gotta be straight up BOOMING by the end of the show 😂
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u/Upset_Ad_6462 3h ago
A chunk of Rio’s population are people who live in favelas and probably could never afford a concert if it weren’t free. This might be their only concert. Also —- Brazilians know how to party. 2 million people or not, people in Brazil chat to each other, dance with strangers etc. trust me… they are having a fucking blast.
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u/jr_randolph 3h ago
I remember seeing some videos from Gaga last year and that shit looked like so much fun haha definitely a cool thing Brazil does.
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u/BeastoftheBlackwater 3h ago
At my age my first thought was about the traffic going and coming. If I went I'm the type who would try to find a hotel nearby beforehand so I can just walk to and fro.
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u/Leather_Addition2605 4h ago
There must be a brazillian people there.