Shakira<\/a> gave a free concert on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday night (May 2), an event that the city\u2019s mayor said drew 2 million people to one of the world\u2019s most iconic waterfronts.<\/p>\n The performance followed similar shows by Madonna in 2024<\/a> and Lady Gaga last year<\/a>, which also were attended by huge crowds that danced on the sprawling sands. For Shakira, it was part of her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, or Women No Longer Cry, world tour named after her 2024 album.<\/p>\n More from Billboard<\/strong><\/p>\n The Colombian superstar\u2019s set kicked off around 11 p.m., more than an hour after the scheduled slot, to her fans screaming with excitement and frantic applause as skywriting drones flew overhead, spelling out in the sky, \u201cI love you Brazil\u201d in Portuguese.<\/p>\n The megastar spoke fondly about the first time she came to Brazil, some three decades ago.<\/p>\n \u201cI arrived here when I was 18 years old, dreaming about singing for you,\u201d Shakira told the crowd shortly after coming on stage. \u201cAnd now look at this. Life is magical.\u201d<\/p>\n The much-loved pop star sang fan favorites such as \u201cHips Don\u2019t Lie,\u201d \u201cLa Tortura\u201d and \u201cLa Bicicleta.\u201d She ended with \u201cBZRP Music Sessions #53\/66,\u201d which followed her separation from Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqu\u00e9.<\/p>\n She also took the time to celebrate women\u2019s resilience during the show. \u201cUs women, every time we fall we get up a little wiser,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Rio Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere said on X<\/a> that 2 million people attended the performance. \u201cThe She-Wolf made history in Rio,\u201d he posted, referring to Shakira\u2019s 2009 hit.<\/p>\n When Shakira first performed in Brazil in the 1990s, she established an amazing connection with the Brazilian public, according to Felipe Maia, an ethnomusicologist pursuing a doctoral degree in popular music and digital technologies at Paris Nanterre University.<\/p>\n That success in Brazil \u201chas a lot to do with the fact that she comes from Colombia, a country whose culture has many similarities with Brazil,\u201d Maia said, adding that Saturday\u2019s performance \u201ccrowns the relationship she has had with Brazil for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n Erica Monteiro, a 38-year-old accountant, said she has listened to Shakira since childhood.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me she represents the strength of our Latino community,\u201d Monteiro said ahead of the concert. \u201cWe\u2019re treated as if we were inferior but in fact we have much more strength.\u201d<\/p>\n Heading home after Saturday\u2019s show, Hellem Souza da Silva said Shakira\u2019s performance, like Bad Bunny\u2019s concerts in Sao Paulo in February, helped consolidate Brazil\u2019s Latino identity.<\/p>\n These artists \u201care making it clear that Brazil, Puerto Rico, Colombia and other countries are part of Latin America. And that America is not the United States,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Crowds started piling onto the beach Saturday morning to nab a good spot for the show. Street vendors sold sweet corn and other Brazilian snacks, bottled water and caipirinhas, the popular Brazilian cocktail, but also toilet paper, deodorant and even bags of sand for concertgoers to stand on to get a better view of the stage set up opposite Copacabana Palace, a historic luxury hotel.<\/p>\n Street vendor Simone Paula da Cunha arrived on the beach on Friday evening, hoping to sell all the beer and water bottles she had bought ahead of the show and make about $100 in all.<\/p>\n Despite being tired, da Cunha was excited at the prospect of seeing Shakira live. \u201cI remember her from when she still had black hair,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m a huge fan of hers.\u201d<\/p>\n The free concerts are part of City Hall\u2019s attempt to boost economic activity after Carnival and New Year\u2019s Eve festivities and before the monthlong Saint John\u2019s Day celebrations in June.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us, parties are serious business. Because parties generate jobs, income, development, and identity for the city,\u201d Cavaliere, the mayor, said on Wednesday as he presented the city\u2019s operational plan for the event. \u201cOur investment in this show will give us a financial return 40 times greater,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Shakira\u2019s performance could generate around 777 million reais (around $155 million), according to a study by City Hall and Riotur, the municipality\u2019s tourism company, thanks to the influx of tourists and cash spent in restaurants, hotels and shops.<\/p>\n More tourists headed to Rio in the month of May in the years with shows \u2014 2024 and 2025 \u2014 compared to 2023, according to City Hall data. In 2024, the growth was 34.2% on May 1, just ahead of the concerts, compared to the previous year. In 2025, the increase was 90.5% compared to 2023.<\/p>\n Ahead of Shakira\u2019s performance, Airbnb said in an April 22 statement that it was seeing an increase in guests expected to travel from different parts of Brazil, Latin America and even European capitals such as Paris and London.<\/p>\n Wanderson Andrade, a 30-year-old architect, said he flew in especially for the show from the city of Goiana in central Brazil on Saturday and planned to fly back the following day.<\/p>\n \u201cI tried to get tickets to see her in Brazil last year but I didn\u2019t succeed,\u201d said Andrade, whose first tattoo is a wolf in honor of Shakira. \u201cToday is a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Billboard VIP Pass<\/p>\n Best of Billboard<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Billboard’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shakira gave a free concert on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday night (May 2), an event that the city\u2019s mayor said drew 2 million people to one of the world\u2019s most iconic waterfronts. The performance followed similar shows by Madonna in 2024 and Lady Gaga last year, which also were attended by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2021507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[355218,468768,25890,307517],"class_list":["post-2400828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-brazil","tag-copacabana-palace","tag-performance","tag-shakira"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Charli-XCX-and-George-Daniel-marry-for-second-time-in.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2400828"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2400829,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2400828\/revisions\/2400829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2021507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2400828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2400828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2400828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/div>\n