Rio de Janeiro – Madonna performed a free concert on Copacabana beach Saturday night, transforming Rio de Janeiro’s long stretch of sand into a gigantic dance floor packed with her followers.

It was the final performance of The Celebration Tour, her first retrospective, which began in October in London.

The “Queen of Pop” opened the event with her 1998 song, “Nothing Matters.” Huge cheers erupted from the humming, dense crowd against the barriers. Others had house parties in brightly lit flats and hotels overlooking the ocean. Helicopters and drones hovered overhead as motorboats and sailboats anchored off the beach crowded the bay.

Madonna’s Biggest-Ever Concert Transforms Rio’s Copacabana Beach Into A Massive Dance Floor

“Here we are in the most beautiful place in the world,” Madonna, 65, addressed the audience. She pointed out the ocean view, the mountains, and the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the city, “This place is magic.”

Madonna performed her iconic classics, such as “Like A Virgin” and “Hung Up.” For the opening to “Like A Prayer,” her head was entirely covered in a black cape, and she held a rosary in her hands.

The diva paid an emotional homage to “all the bright lights” lost to AIDS while singing “Live to Tell,” with black and white photographs of those who perished from the illness flashing behind her.

Later, she was joined on stage by Brazilian musicians Anitta and Pabllo Vittar.

Rio spent the last few days preparing for the performance.

According to G1, an estimated 1.6 million people attended the show, which Rio City Hall’s tourism department organized. This is more than ten times Madonna’s record attendance of 130,000 at Paris’ Parc des Sceaux in 1987. Madonna’s official website promoted the event as the largest of her four-decade career.

In recent days, the excitement was evident. Fans gathered outside the grand, beachside Copacabana Palace hotel, where Madonna is staying, hoping to glimpse the music icon. During the sound check on the stage set up in front of the hotel, they danced on the beach.

By lunchtime Saturday, people had gathered in front of the hotel. A white-bearded man carried a banner that read, “Welcome Madonna, you are the best. I love you.”

Flags with “Madonna” printed over a background of Copacabana’s famous black and white waved sidewalk pattern were strung from balconies. The area was packed with street vendors and concertgoers dressed in themed T-shirts, sweating beneath the hot heat.

“Since Madonna arrived here, I’ve been coming every day with this outfit to welcome my idol, my diva, my pop queen,” said Rosemary de Oliveira Bohrer, 69, wearing a gold-colored cone bra and a black cap.

Madonna’s Biggest-Ever Concert Transforms Rio’s Copacabana Beach Into A Massive Dance Floor

“It’s going to be an unforgettable show here in Copacabana,” said Oliveira Bohrer, a retired civil servant who lives nearby.

Eighteen sound towers were positioned around the beach to ensure all attendees could hear the music. Her two-hour presentation began at 10:37 p.m. local time, about 50 minutes behind schedule.

City Hall issued a report in April indicating that the event would contribute 293 million reals ($57 million) to the local economy. The Hotel Association of Rio predicted that hotel capacity in Copacabana will reach 98%. According to the platform, fans across Brazil, Argentina, and France booked Airbnb for the weekend. According to a City Hall statement, Rio’s international airport expected 170 flights from 27 locations between May 1 and May 6.

“It’s a unique opportunity to see Madonna, who knows if she’ll ever come back,” said Alessandro Augusto, 53, who flew in from Brazil’s Ceara state, almost 2,500 kilometers (1,555 miles) from Rio.

“Welcome Queen!” ran Heineken advertisements all across the city, the words above an image of an upturned bottle cap simulating a crown.

Heineken was one of many firms hoping to profit from the frenzy. Bars and restaurants made “Like a Virgin” cocktails. A downtown boutique famous for selling Carnival garb has entirely remade itself, loading its shelves with Madonna-themed costumes, fans, fanny packs, and lingerie.

According to local authorities, the mega-event was organized similarly to New Year’s Eve, when millions of people congregate on Copacabana for a fireworks display. That yearly festival is notorious for numerous thefts and muggings, and there were concerns that Madonna’s appearance would be no exception.

Rio’s security strategy comprised 3,200 military men and 1,500 civilian police officers on standby. In the run-up to the event, Brazil’s navy inspected yachts that wanted to position themselves offshore to see the performance.

Madonna’s Biggest-Ever Concert Transforms Rio’s Copacabana Beach Into A Massive Dance Floor

Several massive concerts have previously taken place on Copacabana beach, including Rod Stewart’s 1994 New Year’s Eve show, which drew more than 4 million people and was the largest free rock concert in history, according to Guinness World Records. Many of those spectators also came to witness Rio’s fireworks spectacular, so a more fitting comparison could be to the Rolling Stones in 2006, when 1.2 million people flocked to the sand, according to Rio’s military police, the daily Folha de Sao Paulo said at the time.

Ana Beatriz Soares, a fan who attended Copacabana on Saturday, said Madonna had left an indelible mark over the years.

“Madonna had to sprint so that modern pop musicians could walk. That’s why she’s significant, since she acts as an influence to today’s pop divas,” Soares explained.

“And that was forty years ago, not in 40 days, but in 40 months. “It’s been 40 years,” she said.

SOURCE – (AP)