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World's largest concert had 35 lakh attendees, 100 times as many as Diljit Dosanjh's Delhi gig, the performer was...

On New Year's Eve 1994, Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach hosted the world's largest concert, which saw a whopping 35 lakh fans in attendance.

Published on: Oct 27, 2024, 12:51:33 IST
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On Saturday, Diljit Dosanjh returned to India after months to perform in Delhi as part of his Dil-Luminati Tour. As per reports, 35,000 screaming fans attended his concert at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. That makes it a big concert by Indian standards. However, if one looks at the largest concerts the world has seen, Diljit's gig is dwarfed in comparison. The largest of them all had 100 times as many people. (Also read: Diljit Dosanjh shares unseen pics from Dil-Luminati Tour Delhi concert, shows off massive crowd at JLN Stadium)

35 lakh fans crammed into Copacabana Beach, Rio, on New Year's Eve 1994
35 lakh fans crammed into Copacabana Beach, Rio, on New Year's Eve 1994

The world's largest concert

In December 1994, Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach hosted a grand New Year's Eve party. In the past, the city hosted grand events in which big international artists performed. These concerts always see large crowds, as entry is free, and there are no restrictions on food and alcohol. The carnival-like atmosphere sees lakhs of people attend these events. On December 31, 1994, Rod Stewart performed at Copacabana and broke records with an attendance of 35 lakh at the beach, more than the population of several neighbouring cities.

Three years later, French musician Jean-Michel Jarre equalled this record with his performance at the Oxygene in Moscow, another free concert. The 35-lakh attendance of these two gigs makes them a hundred times bigger than Diljit's mega Delhi concert.

The largest ticketed concerts in the world

But the million-odd attendance at a concert only happens when the entry is free. Ticketed concerts usually have much lower attendance, but even those numbers are still impressive. The biggest ticketed concert ever was by Italian performer Vasco Rossi, who had 2.25 lakh fans in attendance at his Modena Park event in 2017. In India, the largest-ticketed concert was by Justin Bieber in Mumbai in 2021 and by Diljit Dosanjh in 2023, both attended by 50,000 people.

  • Abhimanyu Mathur
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Abhimanyu Mathur

    Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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