ORGANISERS are billing it as the biggest rock concert in history, with a crowd of up to two million people expected to cram the legendary Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro tomorrow to see a free show by the Rolling Stones.


Stones fever has gripped the city, as a huge stage goes up opposite the Copacabana Palace Hotel, the playboy’s home-from-home in Rio, where the band have booked 60 of the 225 rooms, including all six presidential suites. The gig, to be filmed for release as a DVD, will mark the halfway point of the band’s A Bigger Bang tour, already the biggest-grossing in history and expected to total £115 million.

Brazilian celebrities have been involved in an unseemly scramble to secure the coveted 3,500 VIP tickets in a 60-metre (200ft) enclosure between the stage and the main crowd. Gossip columnists have been running regular updates on who has been admitted to the inner sanctum and who is on the promoters’ black list. The captains of São Paulo industry are reportedly offering huge sums to rent private beachfront apartments along Copacabana as the elite wonder how to get the best view of the band without having to mingle with the throng.

Some local residents have protested against the disruption that the show is likely to cause. The city has tried to allay their fears, forcing the promoters to increase the number of chemical toilets from 200 to 870. The Rio police would have preferred the grand prix racetrack at Jacarepaguá, although the Stones might have been wary about such a venue. Four people died during their free gig at the Altamont racetrack in California in 1969. Police have promised a vast security operation, with almost 3,000 officers assigned to patrol the concert area, alongside 900 private security guards.

Brazil has already featured in Mick Jagger’s career. It was here in 1968 that he and Keith Richards wrote the hit Honky Tonk Woman, but the country also served as the location of Sir Mick’s much derided 1987 film Running out of Luck.

Attending the show will be Sir Mick’s Brazilian son, seven-year-old Lucas, born after a fling with the Brazilian model and television presenter Luciana Gimenez.

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