What was the largest sold out concert ever?

The Largest Sold-Out Concert Ever: Rod Stewart is another famous music artist who has performed at Copacabana Beach.

In the year 1994, on December 31st, Rod Stewart did a sensational New Year’s Eve concert on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As it was mentioned, it is still acknowledged as the largest free rock concert in history, with an attendance of about 3,5 million people, according to the data given by the Guinness World Records.

The Planning and Logistics

It was not an easy task to organize such an event of this magnitude. Stewart got this notion in his mind two years back when he was in Rio and was able to see the vastness of Copacabana Beach. He believed that it would be perfect for a concert and fun for an open-air party if planned for New Year’s Eve.

But when it came to organizing a concert that would be attended by over 3 million people in the end, the logistics were incredibly complicated. Where else but the beach could you use eighteen 18-foot speaker towers, all connected and powered by over half a million watts so that everybody on the beach could hear audio? Constructing the main stage took 10 days and the 1200 workers that contributed their efforts involved over 600 tons of equipment.

It was not easy to cater to the needs of a huge number of people who would flock to the area in terms of the facilities they were to use. Approximately more than 25,000 portable toilets were rented to allow for additional conveniences to the normal capacity of the beach. To help the mob, twenty water stations were placed around the city where people could get free water, which was provided by sponsors. Army posts were created and by this time, three field hospitals with emergency wards were set up for any medical complications.

This also presented security challenges during the event, given that there were a lot of people in attendance. 4500 policemen were thrown into the operations, 500 of whom were from the National Force. The coast guard, helicopters, and lifeguards were ready to assist. Over a year, several hundred individuals were involved in the preparation of disaster and emergency response plans.

The Epic Concert

By mid-afternoon on December 31, Copacabana Beach was overcrowded with people, as one can imagine. The natural environment was ideal, with Sugarloaf Mountain and the Atlantic Ocean in the backdrop and the stage being a natural amphitheater. They were dressed up for the New Year’s Eve feast and for the rock concert that was to take place later.

Rod Stewart managed to seize the enormous circular platform punctually at 8:20 pm to commence his monumental performance. Supported by his 150-member entourage of a band and three choruses at certain moments, he performed his hit songs and some Christmas songs as well as covers. Starting from ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy’ to ‘Forever Young,’ Stewert was heard singing with his remarkable raspy voice that seemed to resonate across the water and get the huge crowd going.

Some of these are the samba dancers in Brazilian costumes complete with drums that accompanied an instrumental version of ‘All You Need Is Love’ by The Beatles, and Stewart’s several costume changes to top it all. From time to time, the stage was filled with tremendous fireworks that shot up high above the stage during the show. He sang the countdown to 11 p.m.; the entire beach was electrified and by the time he sang the countdown to the new year, everybody was excited.

After that, the show came to an end at around 12:30 in the night. After performing for more than four hours, Stewart could not help but cry at the emotional climax as he bowed down in thanksgiving. He would later refer to it as probably the high point of his astounding career, which spanned several decades in music. It was the most monumental concert that was ever aspired to be done in history.

Legacy

That moment with Rod Stewart at Copacabana Beach remains one of the unattainable goals in live concert shows. By offering an interesting performance that was noticed by 3.5 million people on the Brazilian beach, people there welcomed 1995. The Exposition broke records that have still not been beaten in terms of public turnout and organization.

The broadcast touched 1.5 billion viewers across 150 countries, thus making the concert-televised event one of the most watched ever. Rod Stewart became a legend, and the people of Brazil had an unprecedented experience for the start of the new year. To this day, 25 years after that day, the New Year’s concert held in Copacabana is considered the largest sold-out concert in history. What it was was a perfect lesson in how events should be pulled off and how challenging musical entertainment can be when one is set against all the odds.

Buy cheap concert tickets at Tixbag. Search all concert events and get last-minute tickets with a 150% money-back guarantee.