Any answer to this question is sure to be controversial. First, it is necessary to adopt a clear criterion: the greatest rock concerts are those that had the most people attending, regardless of whether or not they paid to see the show. Even so, a doubt soon arises: do festivals, which bring together a sequence of concerts over several days, enter this dispute or not? The fairest way to resolve the issue is to take the festivals into account, but as long as it is possible to estimate the audience that was on each of the days of the event, and not just the total audience. Because of this criterion, the concerts of the first Rock in Rio, held in 1985, were excluded from the list, as no reliable information was found about the audience present on each day of the mega-concert in Rio de Janeiro.
The audience of more than 1 million and 300 thousand people in ten days of concerts, however, guarantees Rock in Rio 1 the title of biggest rock festival ever held in Brazil. The lack of precise numbers about the public of the big concerts, by the way, is the main obstacle to close the list, since many times the audience is overestimated or reduced to the taste of the customer – or, in this case, the fans of certain bands. For this reason, any list of the greatest rock concerts will always be subject to contestation. Still, we present below the most reliable list we could assemble. And you, dear reader, do you agree with her or not?
top ten
Brazil hosted four of the shows that drew large crowds
Rod Stewart – 1994
At the New Year’s Eve party between 1994 and 1995, English rocker Rod Stewart performed for more than 3.5 million people on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro. The show is in the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest free rock concert
Isle of Wight Pop Festival – 1970
The 3rd Isle of Wight Pop Festival brought together 250,000 people at East Afton farm in England. Groups such as The Doors and The Who played at the event, which became famous for presenting one of the last concerts of Jimi Hendrix, who died shortly after
Simon and Garfunkel – 1981
Around 500,000 people gathered in Central Park, in New York, to watch the historic show that marked the reunion of this rock/folk duo. The success of the free concert eventually spawned the double album The Concert in Central Park.
Rock in Rio 3 – 2001
One of the nights of the third edition of this festival in Rio de Janeiro attracted an audience of around 250,000 people. On stage, Rob Halford, Queens of the Stone Age, Ira e Ultraje a Rigor, Pavilhão 9 and, as a highlight, veteran English metalheads Iron Maiden
Woodstock – 1969
The most famous festival in history brought together more than 500,000 people on a farm in Bethel, New York. That audience remained more or less stable for three days. Participating in the event were Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and The Who, among other rock stars
Paul McCartney – 1990
The former Beatle took more than 180,000 people to the Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Thanks to this impressive mark, Paul McCartney’s concert appears in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest concert with a paying audience performed by a single rocker
The Wall – 1990
This outdoor mega-concert took place in Berlin, Germany, one year after the fall of the wall that divided the city. It was organized by English musician Roger Waters, formerly of Pink Floyd. More than 300,000 people saw Bryan Adams, Cyndi Lauper, Scorpions…
U2 – 1997
In one year of the acclaimed Popmart megatour, the greatest of the Irish band, U2 performed no less than 100 shows. In the biggest of them all, in the city of Reggio Emilia, in Italy, the group played to a crowd of 150,000 payers.
Rolling Stones – 1969
The Rolling Stones performed in front of 250,000 people in Hyde Park, London. The free show marked the debut of guitarist Mick Taylor, who had just joined the band, replacing Brian Jones, who died a few days before the concert.
Queen – 1980
At the time, Queen were one of the most popular bands in the world. When the English group Freddie Mercury took the stage at Morumbi, in São Paulo, more than 130 thousand people vibrated with songs like “We Will Rock You” and “Love of My Life”