Chundreds of thousands of fans had camped on the sand of Copacabana from the early hours of the morning to get a seat in front of the largest stage ever built for a beach event, a 1,500 square meter structure overlooking the ocean. When Shakira appeared on the notes of La Fuertewith over an hour’s delay and a fleet of drones that had already drawn his face and the words “Te Amo Rio” in the sky, the two million people present they responded with a roar that went through the entire city. Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere confirmed the figures: record-breaking event, second only to Lady Gaga’s 2025 concert on the same beach.
Shakira, a free concert worth 155 million dollars
Shakira’s is the third free mega-concert that Rio de Janeiro organizes on its most famous beach, after Madonna in 2024 and Lady Gaga in 2025, and the logic is always the same: minimum investment, multiplied economic return. The Municipality estimated that the event generated approximately 777 million reais, the equivalent of 155 million dollarsdistributed across hotels, restaurants, transport and local commerce. Airbnb has seen a surge in bookings not only from Brazil and Latin America, but also from European cities such as Paris and London. Copacabana armored by 8,000 police officers, neighborhood closed to traffic four hours before the show.
Shakira during the free concert on the beach in Rio de Janeiro. (EPA/ANDRE COELHO)
Caetano Veloso, Anitta, Ivete Sangalo: Shakira’s Brazilian guests
Between Hips Don’t Lie, Torture and the BZRP Music Sessions born after the separation from Gerard Piqué, the concert reserved the most intense moments for the Brazilian guests. Sharing the stage with Caetano Velosofather of Brazilian Popular Music, was the most intimate passage of the evening, a tribute that united two generations and two cultures in front of the ocean.
Then it arrived Ivete SangaloThen Anittaand each entry reignited a crowd that already seemed on edge. «We women, every time we fall we get back up a little wiser»Shakira said from the stage, the leitmotif of a tour that bears the name of her 2024 album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran.
The huge crowd at Shakira’s concert on Copacabana beach. (EPA/ANTONIO LACERDA)
The first Latin artist to make the history of Copacabana
Rio prefecture ended the night with an official statement: «La Loba made history in Rio». Shakira enters the books as the first Latin artist to have offered a free concert of this proportion on one of the most famous beaches in the world, in a city that has now transformed this format into one of the most effective economic and image weapons in the panorama of global events.
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