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RIO DE JANEIRO : "Hello Brazil!" Mick Jagger yelled out to more than a million fans as legendary rockers the Rolling Stones erupted into one of the world's largest ever free rock concerts on Rio's fabled Copacabana beach.
Opening with their signature song "It's Only Rock and Roll", the Stones drew an estimated 1.2 million fans from around Brazil and neighbouring countries, according to fire department estimates.
Thousands of fans sang along from windows and balconies of hotels and buildings near the beach and from especially arranged boats massed just offshore for the event, the opening show in South America on the group's "A Bigger Bang" world tour.
The four decades-old, self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band" lined up some 20 songs, including blockbuster hits such as "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Brown Sugar", "Satisfaction", "Honky Tonk Women" and "Sympathy for the Devil", and four new songs from their latest CD "A Bigger Bang".
In an interview published in an Argentine newspaper on Saturday, lead singer Mick Jagger had said that anything under a million people at the show, which cost an estimated US$4.6 million, would be a failure.
People began pouring into the Copacabana concert site on Saturday morning, greeted by a scorching sun after several days of rain.
Fans in from Argentina chanted "Let's go Stones" as the sands of Copacabana filled up endlessly with everyone from children to the elderly, European and North American tourists and motorcycle clubs.
Some 4,000 guests were expected to fill the VIP areas alone, and the crowd even included "fans" who had never heard the 43-year-old band.
"Today there's only one language: rock," said Luiz, a student.
An 83-metre catwalk from the Hotel Copacabana Palace, where the Stones and their entourage are staying, spanned to a massive stage, 24 metres high and 60 metres long. Organisers set up 100 tonnes of sound and light equipment for the spectacle.
Local groups were to open for the Stones, including AfroReggae - which does social projects in a favela, or poor neighbourhood - and veteran rockers Titas.
Hundreds of hawkers peddled drinks, binoculars, T-shirts and Stones posters and memorabilia.
"Buy some and you won't regret it. It's the only and final chance there will be a show like this," said t-shirt vendor Valdir, who arrived on the scene at dawn.
Ricardo, a 37-year-old businessman, arrived from Bahia early for the event, sleeping in the rough. "I've been here two days," he said.
"I've never heard their music but I had to come. It's going to be boiling and we won't be able to get very close. But if they love our country, that's already good," 51-year-old Luania, a caretaker for the elderly, told AFP.
Earlier the Copacabana Palace Hotel was surrounded by a photo-snapping crowd, hoping to catch a glimpse of Jagger and the other Stones who had arrived on Friday under tight security.
Guitarist Ron Wood appeared on a balcony and threw a private party on Friday night, while Jagger went out to dinner and stayed with friends in his room.
Rio police planned their biggest operation in history for the Stones' show, deploying more than 15,000 officers throughout the state of Rio de Janeiro and 2,050 on Copacabana beach. The Civil Police dispatched some 700 officers and 480 firefighters.
On a world tour, the Stones had just performed in Puerto Rico and will follow Brazil with two shows in Buenos Aires and two in Mexico.
The Copacabana concert will be filmed to be shown in 200 cinemas in the United States, and made into a DVD.
With 1.2 million people in attendance, the Rio concert will count as one of the largest rock concerts in history.
The Guinness World Records website said the largest ever free rock performance was a 1994 New Years Eve show by the Stones' fellow British rocker Rod Stewart, also on the Copacabana.
That show reportedly drew 3.5 million people, Guinness said. - AFP/de
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