Madonna, the greatest before millions; ends his The Celebration Tour

The Queen of pop Yesterday, Madonna asked her fans who gather on the legendary Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro if they were “ready” for her monumental free concert, a few hours before going on stage.

“Are you ready?” wrote the 65-year-old artist on Instagram along with three photos, two with the Brazilian flag and one of her torso with the yellow-green shirt of the soccer team with the number 10 and the inscription Ciccone, her last name. .

Yesterday Madonna closed her The Celebration Tour with a performance before more than 1.5 million souls coming from all over Brazil and abroad.

Alba and Roxy Rueda, two Argentine sisters aged 48 and 46, bought the tickets as soon as rumors of their show in Rio began months ago.

When I turned nine, my older sister, who passed away last year, gave me my first walkman with the cassette of Like a Virgin. Since then we haven’t stopped listening to it. That’s why for us, coming has to do with the bond between sisters,” says Alba from her hotel room in Copacabana while they put on their Madonna outfits.

D-Day came after weeks of intense preparations in which thousands of people worked and which generated an unusual stir for these dates in the iconic Brazilian city.

Yesterday, Copacabana was bustling with excitement, but also with police on almost every corner, in an attempt to minimize the usual mass robberies.

I’ve been listening to Madonna all week. It is as if she had a great energy rush,” says Iná Odara, a 29-year-old sociologist. “Madonna helped me leave the Catholic Church, to think about many things, to change my relationship with my family,” adds this trans woman near the stage raised on the sand, which is double the size of the previous shows on the tour. with more than 800 m2.

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As night fell, Madonna walked an elevated walkway from the Copacabana Palace hotel, where she is staying, to the stage.

Before, thousands were already crowding the first rows of “the largest dance floor in the world” in swimsuits while moving to the rhythm of Hung Upwhich played through the speakers.

After 80 shows in Europe and North America, the concert in Rio was the finishing touch to a tour that became especially significant, after a serious bacterial infection in June raised fears for the singer’s life.

Since 1984 the success Like a Virgin catapulted her onto the international scene, Madonna released an album every two or three years and today is considered one of the greatest pop artists of all time.

Their performances have set the standard for their spectacular productions, but also because they gave the world of entertainment iconic moments. Her irreverence generated a tumultuous relationship with the Catholic Church, to the point of being excommunicated by Pope John Paul II for her video of Like a Prayerconsidered blasphemous.

After four decades, it continues to amaze the industry and the public with its ability to innovate.

And yesterday, the chameleonic Madonna was all the Madonnas: the material girl, the girlfriend, the naughty Catholic, the virgin, the cowgirl…

Also the one who claims her eroticism and simultaneously motherhood: four of her six children will share the stage with her. She will also be joined by the Brazilians Pabllo Vittar and Anitta, who in 2020 did Makes it delicious in collaboration with Madonna.

“HI RIO!”

The concert was an economic bet by Rio de Janeiro, which injected 20 million reais (4 million dollars) of the 12 million dollars that the production costs. Authorities estimate that the show will contribute $57 million to the local economy.

Since he arrived on Monday, hundreds of his fans swarmed in front of the Copacabana Palace.

But the excitement rose several decibels on Thursday night, when he unexpectedly appeared in the middle of a sound check, and sang with his face completely covered by a yellow balaclava.

The scene was repeated on Friday. “Oi Rio!” she launched in Portuguese to those who had come to the stage hoping to see her.

“Oi rainha Madonna!”, Rio will say tonight.

THE BIGGEST

The Queen of Pop, on the biggest dance floor in the world.

Last night, Madonna would have gathered more than two million people in a free concert on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, according to Brazilian portals (The Rolling Stones gathered two million in 2006), as the perfect closing of her The Celebration Tour.

The show began 15 minutes before 11 pm (local time) with Nothing Really Matters, as it did throughout the entire 80-date tour of Europe and North America that culminated in CDMX more than a week ago.

Photos: AFP

Unlike the other concerts, on this occasion, the American did not fly over a structure in songs like Live to Tell or Ray of Light, but she offered the same passion and courage.

Another change that occurred was during Vogue. She came out with a blue jacket—and not black—and when she took off it she was wearing a yellow-green corset; During the ballroom she invited the Brazilian Anitta.

People cried, screamed and sang with each song that came throughout the night. Even on the sea, there were dozens of yachts and boats witnessing the spectacle, the largest for Madonna, whose record she had held since 1987 before 130,000 people in Parc des Sceaux, in Paris.

And instead of performing Don’t Cry for me Argentina, he opted for Music — which was not part of the tour — combined with samba and for which he invited Brazilian drag star Pabllo Vittar to come on.

-Rodolfo Monroy M.

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