Lady Gaga rocked Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach on Saturday with a free mega-concert that the Brazilian city said drew about two million fans.
“Brazil, I missed you so much,” screamed the American pop star—in her first Brazil gig since 2012—before launching into “Poker Face” on a monumental chessboard, one of many grandiose backdrops in the two-hour extravaganza.
The 39-year-old singer kicked off the concert perched more than two meters (6.5 feet) above the stage, sporting a massive scarlet hoop gown that opened to reveal a vertical cage from which her dancers exited to a rendition of her 2011 song “Bloody Mary.”
She then moved on to “Abracadabra,” one of the highlights of her latest album, “Mayhem,” released in March.
In the middle of the song, Gaga removed the red dress, revealing another she was wearing underneath in the colors of Brazil’s national flag: green, blue, and yellow.
“Lady Gaga means everything to me, I’ve been a fan of hers since 2008,” said Walter Segundo, a 23-year-old student who traveled almost 3,000 kilometers (2,000 miles) from Sao Luis in Brazil’s northeast.
All week, Gaga fans—known affectionately as “Little” Monsters”—flocked to Rio, a city famous for its annual Carnival that attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world.
Rio officials had expected a turnout for the Gaga show of around 1.6 million people, which they estimated could bring $100 million into the local economy, but City Hall said later that 2.1 million had attended.
The Gaga crowd was about half a million people more than was estimated to have attended a Madonna concert at the same venue last year.
Rio officials want to continue holding free mega-concerts in May in an effort to boost tourism during what is considered the low season.
