World's biggest concert by female musician saw a bomb threat, 2.5 million fans; 25X Taylor Swift, Rihanna's biggest gigs

The Copacabana Beach in Brazil is not what one thinks of when they say music concerts. Yet, for over three decades, the sprawling beach has hosted the world's largest musical gigs. From The Rolling Stones playing to 1.5 million screaming fans in 2006 to Madonna cramming in 1.6 million there during her 2024 Celebrations Tour, the beach has been home to the world's most-attended concerts. This weekend, it was at Copacabana that the record for most attended concert with a female performer broke.

The most-attended concert by a female performer

On Saturday, May 3, Lady Gaga performed at the Copacabana Beach. Part of the singer's ongoing tour to promote her album, Mayhem, the concert was titled Mayhem at the Beach. To top it all, it was a free concert with no passes and tickets. Naturally, fans flocked to the iconic beach to catch a glimpse of the singer. Billboard reported that an estimated 2.5 million fans attended the concert, which not only broke the record for the biggest concert by a woman performer, but also set a new record for the most-attended free concert ever.

There have only been three bigger concerts. Rod Stewart drew 3.5 million fans at Copacabana on New Year's Eve 1994, while Jorge Ben had played to 3 million a year before at the same venue. In 1997, Jean-Michel Jarre performed to 3.5 million fans in Moscow State University as part of the city's 850th anniversary. All these concerts were ticketed to some extent.

How massive was Lady Gaga's Mayhem at the Beach

2.5 million fans in front of one stage is a phenomenal number. Lady Gaga's concert dwarfs even the biggest musical superstars of the generation. The attendance here is 25 times the highest attendance of any gig performed by Taylor Swift or Rihanna. For comparison, Rihanna's two-night concert stand at Twickenham Stadium in London during her European leg of the Diamonds World Tour in 2013 was her biggest, with 95,971 attendees. Similarly, Taylor Swift's biggest concert, in terms of crowd size, was her performance at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) during her Eras Tour in Australia in 2024, where she played to an estimated 96,000 fans.

The bomb threat at Lady Gaga's gig

Brazilian police said Sunday that they intercepted a plot to set off explosives at a free Lady Gaga concert that drew more than 2 million people to Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach this weekend.

Police said they arrested two people in connection with the alleged scheme, which included detonating homemade explosives and Molotov cocktails with the aim of “gaining notoriety on social media,” according to a news release from Rio de Janeiro’s state police.

The alleged leader of the group — which promoted violent online content and hate speech against the LGBTQ community — was arrested on illegal weapons possession charges in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, and a teenager was booked on child pornography charges in Rio, authorities said.

The singer, however, stayed oblivious to this drama, reports added. “Tonight, we’re making history,” Gaga, the “Mother Monster,” told the tightly packed crowd. “Thank you for making history with me,” she told fans from the stage.

(With Bloomberg inputs)