A sea of fans packed Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach on Saturday night as Colombian superstar Shakira took the stage for a free concert that city officials said drew 2 million people, the latest in a series of blockbuster seaside shows aimed at boosting the city’s post-Carnival economy. The set kicked off after 11 p.m., more than an hour late, with skywriting drones overhead spelling out “I love you Brazil” in Portuguese.
“I arrived here when I was 18 years old, dreaming about singing for you,” Shakira told the crowd, recounting her first visit to Brazil three decades ago. “And now look at this. Life is magical.”
She played hits including “Hips Don’t Lie,” “La Tortura” and “La Bicicleta,” closing with the BZRP Music Sessions track that followed her separation from Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué. “Us women, every time we fall we get up a little wiser,” she said during the performance.
Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere, who posted the attendance figure on X, called the event a historic moment for Rio. “For us, parties are serious business. Because parties generate jobs, income, development, and identity for the city,” Cavaliere said earlier in the week. “Our investment in this show will give us a financial return 40 times greater.”
A study by City Hall and Riotur, the municipality’s tourism company, projected that Shakira’s concert could generate around 777 million reais (roughly $155 million) through tourism spending on accommodations, meals, and retail. Tourism data show that in May 2024, when Madonna performed, arrivals rose 34.2% on May 1 compared to the previous year; the same date in 2025, ahead of Lady Gaga’s show, saw a 90.5% increase compared to 2023. Airbnb reported a surge in bookings from across Brazil, Latin America, and European cities such as Paris and London.
Fans began gathering on the beach Saturday morning to secure good spots. Street vendors sold sweet corn, snacks, water, caipirinhas — and even bags of sand to help concertgoers see over the crowd. Simone Paula da Cunha, a vendor who arrived Friday evening, said she hoped to make about $100 selling beer and water. “I remember her from when she still had black hair,” da Cunha said. “I’m a huge fan of hers.”
Wanderson Andrade, a 30-year-old architect from Goiana in central Brazil, flew in just for the show and planned to return the next day. His first tattoo is a wolf honoring Shakira. “I tried to get tickets to see her in Brazil last year but I didn’t succeed,” he said. “Today is a dream come true.”
For many, the concert carried a broader cultural meaning. Ethnomusicologist Felipe Maia of Paris Nanterre University said Shakira’s success in Brazil “has a lot to do with the fact that she comes from Colombia, a country whose culture has many similarities with Brazil,” and called Saturday’s performance the “crowning” of a decades-long bond. Fan Erica Monteiro, a 38-year-old accountant, said, “For me she represents the strength of our Latino community. We’re treated as if we were inferior but in fact we have much more strength.”
After the show, Hellem Souza da Silva said the concert, like Bad Bunny’s February shows in São Paulo, helped solidify Brazil’s Latin American identity. These artists, she said, “are making it clear that Brazil, Puerto Rico, Colombia and other countries are part of Latin America. And that America is not the United States.”