Overview
- The Colombian star’s free show on Copacabana beach Saturday drew roughly 2 million people, according to Rio’s city hall.
- Organizers and some outlets cited far higher tallies of 3 to 3.5 million, highlighting how headcounts at open, free beach events are hard to verify.
- Authorities mounted one of Copacabana’s largest security operations with about 8,000 agents, drones, facial-recognition cameras and metal-detector checkpoints.
- The show started more than an hour late, which Globo attributed to a “personal problem”, and featured a drone display plus guest turns from Anitta, Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethânia and Ivete Sangalo.
- Coverage raised questions about public funding for the free event, and local reports said a worker died during stage assembly, an incident still being clarified by officials.