Playing stadiums with 70,000-person capacity is an impressive feat for a musician. Only the biggest names in the business can sell out such venues. The most legendary musicians can take that even further, playing to millions of people in a single show.
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Check out four of the biggest shows ever played from The Rolling Stones to Rod Stewart below.
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4. The Rolling Stones at Copacabana Beach (2006) (1.5 Million)
The Rolling Stones stopped at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on their A Big Bang Tour. The ’06 trek is their biggest tour to date, certainly aided by the fact they played to 1.5 million people in one sitting. The show in Brazil saw the beach crowded with avid Stones fans. The crowd in the video below is almost too vast to fathom.
3. Love Parade in Germany (2008) (1.6 Million)
In 2008, Germany’s Love Parade had a record number of attendees. The free EDM event attracted 1.6 million people that year with a host of genre heavyweights, including household name David Guetta. Unfortunately, just two years later, the festival would go defunct due to 21 attendees dying of suffocation.
2. Metallica, AC/DC, and The Black Crowes in Moscow (1991) (1.6 Million)
A host of rock giants agreed to play a show in Moscow shortly after a Soviet coup attempt. Among the lineup were Metallica, AC/DC, and The Black Crowes. The total of the raging crowd isn’t known, however, it is thought to be around 1.6 million people. The legendary acts helped to ease the tension in Russia for a moment, offering catharsis by way of head-banging, raucous rock.
[RELATED: Remember When: Metallica Played to a Crowd of 1.6 Million in Moscow]
1. Rod Stewart at Copacabana Beach (1994) (3.5 Million)
While The Rolling Stones’ showing at Copacabana Beach was impressive, Rod Stewart‘s was even more so. Stewart played at the Brazilian venue in 1994, packing it with 3.5 million people. That figure is almost unbelievable, but seeing is believing. Check out a clip of the performance below.
(Photo: Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal)
