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What are the largest concerts in history?


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Ok my friend just told me that Shakira just played a show in Mexico that had 210,000 people.... and that got me thinking....

 

What are the largest concerts in history (for attendance)??

 

I suppose breaking 100,000 people is kind of a magic number but I bet that happens pretty frequently....

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I truly have no clue on this, but I would guess that South American venues would be the largest, followed by the far east and then Europe. In the US there are very few places that can hold over 100k, and very few promoters willing to take the risk of having that many people in one place.

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I think some of the big festivals have hosted several hundred thousands. I can't remember the "official" tally at Woodstock -- but it was... I dunno... a lot.

 

Ditto for the Newport '69 three day festival in Northridge, CA... it was certainly in 6 figures, IIRC. [One source says 150K.]

 

The Wikipedia article on Cal Jam (April 6, 1974) says it drew 500,000 or more. (There were a lot of bum-rushers, there, too.)

 

 

Looking at the Cal Jam line up I'm amazed you could have got a half million people out to the dust to see a line up whose biggest acts were ELP, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Black Oak Arknsas. While the Eagles and Earth, Wind, and Fire were also there, they wouldn't become huge acts 'til later.

 

Compare that to the lineups at Woodstock or Newport '69 (where you could define who was there much more easily by listing the few major acts who WEREN'T there).

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I went to this when I was 14...

 

Wiki - California Jam was a rock music festival concert held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California on April 6, 1974. It attracted 500,000 fans and more unaccounted for that "broke in", and was one of the last of the original wave of rock festivals, as well as one of the most well-executed and financially successful, and presaged the era of media consolidation and the corporatization of the rock music industry.

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yea i suppose festivals are going to be the biggest, and often those are over several days.... what about a single act on one night?

 

 

That is what I was thinking. Woodstock, Newport, Cal Jam et al were multiple day festivals. While a lot were probably in attendence throughout the festival, at least physically, how was attendence counted. Were the days summed to achieve the number? Billy Joel at MSG over a 7 day stretch can break the 100k attendence mark, but I would not consider that either. It should be single day event.

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Looking at the Cal Jam line up I'm amazed you could have got a half million people out to the dust to see a line up whose biggest acts were ELP, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Black Oak Arknsas. While the Eagles and Earth, Wind, and Fire were also there, they wouldn't become huge acts 'til later.


 

 

Well... in '74 Deep Purple, ELP, and Black Sabbath were happening. No Jimi and Carlos granted, but band hard rock was big. And... Emerson played upside down and on fire!!! So there. :)

 

Cal Jam was 2 days. So divide the gate in half and that's still 250k legit. Then there's the gate crashers. It was huge...

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"Almost two million people are expected at a free Rolling Stones gig in Rio de Janeiro, a city official has said.

"This is the biggest live show that has ever occurred in the world," said the city's health secretary, Flavio Tanure.

 

But Saturday's crowd may not be as big as that at Rod Stewart's 1994 concert, also at Copacabana beach, which drew a crowd of 3.5 million"

 

BBC NEWS QUOTE

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Great question. Every time I watch AC/DC at the european Monsters Of Rock, I wonder how many are there. It was a huge f*cking crowd.

 

 

 

Ok my friend just told me that Shakira just played a show in Mexico that had 210,000 people.... and that got me thinking....


What are the largest concerts in history (for attendance)??


I suppose breaking 100,000 people is kind of a magic number but I bet that happens pretty frequently....

 

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"Almost two million people are expected at a free Rolling Stones gig in Rio de Janeiro, a city official has said.

"This is the biggest live show that has ever occurred in the world," said the city's health secretary, Flavio Tanure.


But Saturday's crowd may not be as big as that at Rod Stewart's 1994 concert, also at Copacabana beach, which drew a crowd of 3.5 million"


BBC NEWS QUOTE

 

 

3.5 million !?!? i've never even seen that many people in one place before...

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i've never even seen that many people in one place before...

 

 

I am pretty sure that is not accurate.

I have been in Rio and people did not mention tha many persons... but they were pretty much impressed on that million gathered by the Stones.

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wow!!!

 

okay assuming 1 person occupies an area of 1.5ft x 1.5ft,

or 2.25 sq. ft.

 

for 3.5million people that's 788,750,000 sq ft.

 

or 1,807.851239669 acres

 

or 731.61144 hectares

 

assuming again that copacabana beach is 100 meters wide

then the length would be 73,611 meters or 7.36 kilometers!!

that's a lot of binoculars cuz I couldn't watch a concert from

a kilometer away!!

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I saw a big-screen video of that Stones show in Rio. Unreal. I definitely had no trouble believing it was a million people. It all looked incredibly peaceful too, everyone seemed to be having a great time. Of course not everyone could see the stage very well if it all... but they had video screens around and apparently the sound was very good for everybody.

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Jean Michel Jarre

 

 

Are you kidding me ???

Although I was thinking of him just a few minutes ago ..you blow me away.

Cool storey... ask me later.

 

A friend and I had this discussion a couple months ago, but we were pretty drunk at the time ... Ha!! Ha!! He told me of some show in Europe Maybe U2 was involved ??? which had like a million people. I'm not sure what the record is, but it's at least a million.

 

Surely Pink Floyd was involved ???

 

Genesis has a free concert in Rome this Summer ... maybe that'll make a mark ???

 

 

Russ

Nashville

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A friend that plays with James Brown said he played an outdoor gig in Russia that was supposed to have had over half a million people there - said there was people as far as you could see.....

 

/ oops, actually, make that "played"... ack....r.i.p. Mr. Brown...

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Actually, hasn't Bonaroo had a few million for a couple of years?

 

 

/ I have no interest in going, if you don't get there early I hear you can't even get close enough to *hear* the p.a., much less actually see a speck that is supposed to be "the stage"...

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Well... in '74 Deep Purple, ELP, and Black Sabbath were happening. No Jimi and Carlos granted, but band hard rock was big. And... Emerson played upside down and on fire!!! So there.
:)

Cal Jam was 2 days. So divide the gate in half and that's still 250k legit. Then there's the gate crashers. It was huge...

Emerson was upside down, Blackmore was on fire. :D

 

The original California Jam in '74 was a one day event. If I remember correctly, they were calling it closer to 250k at the time. Things tend to grow as time goes on.

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Looking at the Cal Jam line up I'm amazed you could have got a half million people out to the dust to see a line up whose biggest acts were ELP, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Black Oak Arknsas. While the Eagles and Earth, Wind, and Fire were also there, they wouldn't become huge acts 'til later.

 

I believe Billboard Magazine proclaimed Deep Purple to be the biggest selling act in America in 1974....I remember seeing the ad.

 

My avatar says it all. :thu:

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