Brazil Wonders

Cassia Eller - Rock in Rio 2001

Titãs - Rock in Rio 1991

Rita Lee, Rock in Rio 1985.

Queen in Rock in Rio 1985.

The full list of artists who performed at Rock in Rio 1985.

The third Rock in Rio festival took place in 2001 and its seven nights were headlined, respectively, by Sting, R.E.M., Guns N’ Roses, ‘N Sync, Iron Maiden, Neil Young and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Iron Maiden recorded their set and released it as the live album Rock in Rio. The profits from the sale of the album were donated to the Clive Burr fund, which would help the former drummer pay mounting medical bills for treatment of his multiple sclerosis.

Another notable appearance at Rock in Rio 3 was that of American hard-rock band Guns N’ Roses, with a new line-up featuring guitarist Buckethead, original member Axl Rose (vocals), and longtime member Dizzy Reed (keyboards). Nick Oliveri, the bass player for Queens of the Stone Age performed in the nude for part of their set and was arrested for indecent exposure after the concert. Oliveri was released soon after.

The second edition of Rock in Rio was held from January 18–27, 1991 at the Maracanã stadium. Headliners were Guns N’ Roses, Prince and George Michael, each being top billed for two of the event’s nine nights. INXS, New Kids on the Block and A-ha also got top billing, for one night each. A-ha later made a video for Early Morning from this concert.

Guns N’ Roses’s January 20 concert was their first ever with then new drummer Matt Sorum and keyboard player Dizzy Reed. George Michael’s second concert, on January 27, the festival’s closing day, featured his ex-Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley, who joined Michael for a few songs at the encore. A-ha shocked the international entertainment press by drawing an audience of 198,000 at Maracanã stadium for their top-billed evening concert—a Guinness World Record for paying audiences.

Rock in Rio

The first edition of the festival was held from January 11–20, 1985. Queen, George Benson, Rod Stewart, AC/DC and Yes were the headliners, each occupying top spot for two nights (Benson, however, ceded it to James Taylor for their second night in the same bill, due to the huge delay Taylor’s extended performance had caused to his concert two days before). About 1.4 million people attended the 10-day-long festival.

Rock in Rio in numbers:

The “City of Rock”, the place where the event was held (which was built for the festival) covered an area of 250,000 m² (around 2.7 million square feet)
1,600,000 liters of beverages were served, using 4 million plastic cups.
900,000 hamburgers.
500,000 pizza slices.
McDonalds sold 58,000 hamburgers in a single day, which was a Guinness World Record.