A global star, a dream City, a legendary beach. Madonna is meeting Saturday evening with her admirers in Rio de Janeiro for a monumental and free concert on Copacabana beach.
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Some 1.5 million people are expected for the biggest concert of the “Queen of Pop’s” career.
At 65 years old, the American pop star must thus close “The Celebration Tour” in style, filmed to celebrate her 40-year career, inventions, brilliance and scandals.
“I’m in turmoil, I haven’t slept well, I’ve been listening to Madonna all week. It’s as if I had a great surge of energy,” Ina Odara, a 29-year-old sociologist, told AFP.
“Madonna helped me leave the Catholic Church, to think about many things, to change my relationship with my family,” adds this transgender woman near the stage set up on the beach, a gigantic stage of more than 800 m2.
After a splendid day in summer weather (36 degrees predicted in the middle of autumn), “the largest dance floor in the world” will light up at nightfall with the appearances of several DJs, including Diplo, an American turntable ace .
Then the time will come for the queen to leave her palace, or rather her palace: the legendary Copacabana Palace, a haven of peace and luxury for Hollywood and pop stars for decades, where she has established her family quarters since the beginning of the week.
Shortly before 10 p.m., Madonna will walk along a footbridge installed for the occasion, which will take her directly to the beach and the stage.
Memories and “Material Girl”
After 80 concerts in Europe, North America and Mexico, the Rio show will serve as a finale, but also as a snub to destiny, while a serious bacterial infection had landed the singer in intensive care in June 2023. and panicked admirers around the world.
Opposite the Copacabana Palace and along the beach where souvenir sellers have joined the Madonna era and increased their stocks and prices, the atmosphere is festive and is reminiscent of the lightness of the Rio Carnival, yet completed almost three months ago.
“Like a Virgin” (a hit which in 1984 propelled the singer, Louise Ciccone, to international stardom), “La Isla Bonita”, “Material Girl”… Impossible to escape the queen’s classics pop, covered everywhere.
Two public rehearsals, Thursday evening and Friday evening, made enamored admirers swoon.
Wearing a yellow balaclava on her face reminiscent of Russian feminist group Pussy Riot, Madonna sang “Nothing Really Matters” and “Burning Up.” But also “Live To Tell”, a song in which she pays tribute to victims of AIDS, including the leader of the group Queen Freddie Mercury, and the Brazilian musician Cazuza.
Drag queen Pabllo Vittar, a Brazilian pop star, and a troupe of young people playing percussion to a carioca funk rhythm — the soundtrack of Rio’s favelas — also took part in the rehearsals.
The presence of Brazilian singer Anitta, the one who introduced Rio funk to the rest of the world, is also confirmed. In 2020, the “poderosa” (the powerful) released the song “Faz Gostoso” with Madonna.
Three planes and 270 tons of equipment landed in the “Wonderful City” with the American star, used to high-precision pyrotechnic shows.
“Hello Madonna! Slept well ? Ate well ?” : the message posted Saturday morning on Instagram by the mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes, is as kind as it is interested.
Because the show is a major event for the city. The concert will generate 293 million reais (53 million euros) for the local economy, calculated the town hall, which contributed 20 million reais to a production cost estimated at 60 million.
