Rio de Janeiro – After Grammys, Super Bowls and super-stardom over more than four decades, few milestones remain for the aging rockers of the Rolling Stones. But the million people expected to turn out for their free concert Saturday night on Rio’s Copacabana beach could be their biggest show ever.
The veteran band headed by lead singer Mick Jagger will perform on a 22-meter-high (72-feet-high) by 57-meter-wide main stage and a 55-meter-long B stage erected on the world renowned strand. The main stage will feature 16 sound towers and eight video screens, according to the group’s Web site.
Entrance to Copacabana will be closed to private vehicles as of Saturday afternoon to facilitate the arrival of swarms of people by bus and subway and on foot.
Meanwhile, the band consisting of Jagger, lead guitarist Keith Richards, guitarist Ron Wood and drummer Charlie Watts, who arrived in Brazil Friday morning, will have direct access to the main stage via a footbridge that runs from the Copacabana Palace Hotel where they are staying.
Saturday’s concert – billed by the band as the world’s largest – will be the Rolling Stones’ only show in Brazil during their “A Bigger Bang” world tour, which began Aug. 21 in Boston and included 35 concerts last year in U.S. and Canadian cities. The group, which has played on two other occasions in this South American country, is slated to head next to Argentina for concerts Feb. 21 and 23 at Buenos Aires’ River Plate Stadium.
The Rolling Stones are scheduled to give several shows in Latin America, Asia and Europe in 2006.
The British rockers last performed in Brazil in April 1998 as part of their “Bridges to Babylon” tour, playing in front of 20,000 people at Rio’s Sambodrome and for almost 50,000 fans in Sao Paulo.
Although the city government of Rio de Janeiro, home to some 6 million people, estimates that the show will attract one million concert-goers, other organizers are expecting 1.5 million and local media say 2 million is not out of the question.
Whatever the final total, it is expected to be the biggest crowd ever gathered to see the Rolling Stones, at least doubling the 500,000 who saw the group perform at a 1969 concert in London’s Hyde Park.
To guarantee security during the event, Rio authorities said they had launched an operation similar to that put in motion each year for the annual New Year celebrations on Copacabana, a crime-ridden area of the city.
The most recent end-of-year party on the beach attracted some two million people.
In addition to the some 3,000 police officers assigned to ensure order in Copacabana, close to 1,500 municipal officials will offer services ranging from medical attention to portable toilets.
The audience will be able to appreciate the sights and sounds of this mega-show from a variety of locations, thanks to 16 enormous sound towers and eight giant, 12-meter (40-feet) by 13-meter video screens installed on the beach.
The concert will be broadcast live across Brazil and in several other countries by the Globo television network, one of the concert’s sponsors, which will also record a DVD of the group’s performance. In filming the DVD, the Rolling Stones are following in the footsteps of British rockers Iron Maiden and Canada’s Rush, who also recorded concerts in Brazil’s most emblematic city.
Two Brazilian bands, Afro Reggae and Titas, the latter one of country’s most popular and longest-running music groups, will serve as opening acts for the Stones.
Footing the 10 million reais ($4.7 million) bill for the event are two telecommunications companies and the Rio municipality, which is pitching in almost a fifth of the total.
According to Mayor Cesar Maia, the investment is well worth it for the positive impact the concert will have on the city’s image and the tourism revenue it will bring in from Brazilian and foreign visitors.
