From pop icon to Rio’s queen: Madonna wraps Celebration Tour with historic beach bash in Brazil | Life

US pop star Madonna performs onstage during a free concert at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 4 May 2024. (Pablo Porciuncula/AFP)

• Pop idol Madonna gave it all in Rio de Janeiro before throngs of joyful fans jammed onto Brazil’s famed Copacabana Beach.
• The show marked the final stop on her Celebration Tour noting her 40 years atop pop charts, in a free event that drew an estimated 1.6 million people from across Brazil.
• Billed as a “historic” show, it blended music and dance with cabaret.

Pop idol Madonna gave it all in Rio de Janeiro as she looked back on her four-decade career in a historic show before throngs of joyful fans jammed onto Brazil’s famed Copacabana Beach on Saturday night.

The 65-year-old singer walked down an elevated bridge from the Copacabana Palace hotel shortly after 22:30 to a massive stage for one of the most important shows of her career.

Dressed all in black, Madonna broke into her hit Nothing Really Matters at the start of a burst of brute energy.

“Rio, here we are in the most beautiful place in the world,” she said at the start of a performance that brought the giddy Brazilian audience to its feet.

The show marked the final stop on her Celebration Tour, noting her 40 years atop pop charts, in a free event that drew an estimated 1.6 million people from across Brazil, according to the city tourism office.

US pop star Madonna performs onstage during a free concert at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 4 May 2024. Madonna ended her The Celebration Tour with a performance attended by some 1.6 million enthusiastic fans. (Pablo Porciuncula/AFP)

US pop star Madonna performs onstage during a free concert at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 4 May 2024. Madonna ended her The Celebration Tour with a performance attended by enthusiastic fans. (Pablo Porciuncula/AFP)

US pop star Madonna performs…