Lady Gaga drew in over two million attendees to her free concert on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach on Saturday, making it the largest concert by a female artist in history. A press release from Gaga’s publicity team puts the attendance at 2.5 million, while CNN quotes organizers who said 2.1 million. Either number handily beats out Madonna‘s 2024 show on the same beach for 1.6 million, the previous record holder for the largest concert by a female artist.
The day after the concert, police in Brazil announced they foiled a plot to attack the concert with explosives. Authorities arrested two suspects with connections to an anti-LGBTQ+ group that they say was recruiting teenagers to use improvised explosives, including Molotovs, at the show. Lady Gaga has been a longtime advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, and even danced with a pride flag at Saturday’s show. The concert went on without interruption, and a spokesperson for Gaga stated that the singer and her team learned of the plans through media coverage after the show.
“Prior to and during the show, there were no known safety concerns, nor any communication from the police or authorities to Lady Gaga regarding any potential risks,” the spokesperson said. “Her team worked closely with law enforcement throughout the planning and execution of the concert and all parties were confident in the safety measures in place.”
The Copacabana Beach has served as the location for some of history’s biggest free concerts, including Rod Stewart‘s 1994 New Year’s Eve show which currently holds the record with over 3.5 million people. Brazilian singer/guitarist Jorge Ben played to 3 million people on the Copacabana Beach exactly one year before that, while Madonna performed to 1.6 million people in 2024 and The Rolling Stones to 1.5 million in 2006.
Lady Gaga’s Brazil show followed a headlining set at Coachella and sold-out stadium shows in Mexico City. These concerts kicked off her Mayhem Ball world tour, set to run through December and visit the U.S. in July. Find tickets and tour dates here and check out photos from the historic Rio de Janeiro concert below courtesy of Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation.
