Madonna wraps up Celebration tour, performing to history-making 1.6 million fans at Rio’s Copacabana beach

Despite starting 50 minutes late, Madonna packed more than 20 songs from 15 albums into her show and was joined on stage by Latin star Anitta to perform Vogue.

The 65-year-old began the tour in London last October and has been performing an eclectic mix of her catalogue on dates around the world.

The Copacabana show dwarfed her previous record crowd of 130,000 at Paris’s Parc des Sceaux in 1987.

“Here we are in the most beautiful place in the world,” Madonna told the crowd.

Pointing out the ocean view, the mountains and the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the city, she added: “This place is magic.”

Rio spent the last few days readying itself for the performance. Madonna’s official website hyped the show as the biggest in her four-decade career.

In recent days, the buzz was palpable. Fans milled outside the stately, beachfront Copacabana Palace hotel, where Madonna is staying, hoping to catch a glimpse of the pop star.

By midday on Saturday, fans crowded in front of the hotel. A white-bearded man carried a sign saying: “Welcome, Madonna. You are the best. I love you.”

Flags with “Madonna” printed against a background of Copacabana’s iconic black-and-white waved sidewalk pattern hung from balconies.

The area teemed with street vendors, and concert attendees kitted out in themed T-shirts, sweating under a baking sun. Eighteen sound towers were spread along the beach to ensure all attendees could hear the hits. Her two-hour show started at 10.37pm local time, nearly 50 minutes behind schedule.

City Hall produced a report in April estimating that the concert would inject 293 million reals (€56m) into the local economy.

Hotel capacity was expected to reach 98pc in Copacabana, according to Rio’s hotel association. Rio’s international airport had forecast an extra 170 flights for the first week of May from 27 destinations. (© Evening Standard)