Rock in Rio is a biennial Brazilian multi-day music festival held at City of Rock in Rio de Janeiro. It later branched into other locations such as Lisbon, Madrid and Las Vegas.
Ten incarnations of the festival have been held in Rio de Janeiro, in 1985, 1991, 2001, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2024; nine in Lisbon, in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2022; three in Madrid in 2008, 2010 and 2012; and one in Las Vegas, in 2015. Brazilian entrepreneur and advertiser Roberto Medina was responsible for the inception and organization of the festival, as well as moving the 2004 edition to Lisbon, while controversially keeping the brand "Rock in Rio". In 2011, Rock in Rio returned to its original location, Rio de Janeiro, with a new line-up of singers and groups.
Rock in Rio is one of the largest music festivals in the world, with 1.38 million people attending the first event, 700,000 attending the second and fourth, about 1.2 million attending the third, and about 350,000 people attending each of the three Lisbon events.
In May 2018, Live Nation Entertainment acquired a majority stake in the festival (including from previous stakeholder SFX Entertainment), with Medina continuing to manage the festival's operations. Live Nation stated that it intended to "[integrate] their industry expertise" into their overall business.
In 2022, Lisbon hosted the 9th edition on several dates in June at Bela Vista Park. Rio de Janeiro hosted its edition on several dates in September.
History YearDatesNameCountryCityVenue1985Rock in RioRio de JaneiroCity of Rock1991Rock in Rio IIMaracanã Stadium2001Rock in Rio IIICity of Rock2004Rock in Rio LisboaLisbonBela Vista Park2006Rock in Rio Lisboa II2008Rock in Rio Lisboa IIIRock in Rio MadridMadridLa Ciudad del Rock2010Rock in Rio Lisboa IVLisbonBela Vista ParkRock in Rio Madrid IIMadridLa Ciudad del Rock2011Rock in Rio IVRio de JaneiroCity of Rock2012Rock in Rio Lisboa VLisbonBela Vista ParkRock in Rio Madrid IIIMadridLa Ciudad del Rock2013Rock in Rio VRio de JaneiroCity of Rock2014Rock in Rio Lisboa VILisbonBela Vista Park2015Rock in Rio VI Rio de JaneiroCity of RockRock in Rio USA Las VegasMGM Resorts Festival Grounds2016Rock in Rio Lisboa VIILisbonBela Vista Park2017Rock in Rio VII Rio de JaneiroBarra Olympic Park2018Rock in Rio Lisboa VIIILisbonBela Vista Park2019Rock in Rio VIII Rio de JaneiroBarra Olympic Park2022Rock in Rio Lisboa IX LisbonBela Vista ParkRock in Rio IXRio de JaneiroBarra Olympic Park2024Rock in Rio Lisboa XLisbonParque TejoRock in Rio XRio de JaneiroBarra Olympic Park2026Rock in Rio Lisboa XILisbonParque TejoRock in Rio XIRio de JaneiroBarra Olympic Park
Rio de Janeiro Rock in Rio (1985)
The first edition of the festival was held from 11–20 January 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 1.38 million people attended the 10-day-long festival.
Rock in Rio in numbers The City of Rock, which was built for the festival, covered an area of 250,000 m2 (around 2.7 million square feet) 1,600,000 litres of beverages were served, using 4 million plastic cups. 900,000 hamburgers. 500,000 pizza slices. McDonald's sold 58,000 hamburgers in a single day, which was a Guinness World Record until the fourth edition in 2011, where 79,000 hamburgers were sold by Bob's.
The full list of artists who performed at Rock in Rio:
11/01 Friday Queen Iron Maiden Whitesnake Baby Consuelo e Pepeu Gomes Erasmo Carlos Ney Matogrosso 12/01 Saturday George Benson James Taylor Al Jarreau Gilberto Gil Elba Ramalho Ivan Lins 13/01 Sunday Rod Stewart The Go-Go's Nina Hagen Blitz Lulu Santos Os Paralamas do Sucesso
14/01 Monday James Taylor George Benson Alceu Valença Moraes Moreira 15/01 Tuesday AC/DC Scorpions Barão Vermelho Eduardo Dusek Kid Abelha e os Abóboras Selvagens 16/01 Wednesday Rod Stewart Ozzy Osbourne Rita Lee Moraes Moreira Os Paralamas do Sucesso 17/01 Thursday Yes Al Jarreau Elba Ramalho Alceu Valença
18/01 Friday Queen The Go-Go's The B-52's (with Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth) Lulu Santos Eduardo Dusek Kid Abelha e os Abóboras Selvagens 19/01 Saturday AC/DC Scorpions Ozzy Osbourne Whitesnake Baby Consuelo e Pepeu Gomes
20/01 Sunday Yes The B-52's (with Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth) Nina Hagen Blitz Gilberto Gil Barão Vermelho Erasmo Carlos
Both Queen shows were filmed (early on 12 and 19 January) and broadcast throughout Brazil by Globo. Each show was watched by nearly 200 million people in over 60 countries and in front of 250,000-500,000 people for each night setting a world record for the biggest paying audience ever at the time. It was later broadcast in the United States on MTV as "Queen: Live in Rio".Queen: Rock in Rio Boston Globe. Retrieved 2 June 2011 Iron Maiden was the only non-Brazilian act to play just one concert at the festival (on its opening night, headlined by Queen), due to other bookings, while every other international act performed twice. During the song "Revelations", lead singer Bruce Dickinson hit himself accidentally with a guitar and cut his eyebrow. Dickinson continued to sing in spite of heavy bleeding. They performed in front of a crowd of 500,000 people. The Go-Go's broke up after their two Rock in Rio performances, (headlined by Queen and Rod Stewart) though they would later reunite in the 1990s. The two Rock in Rio shows were the debut and swansong for short-tenured Go-Go's member Paula Jean Brown, who had replaced Jane Wiedlin. (Wiedlin would return to the reunited 1990s lineup.) Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, at the time Talking Heads drummer and bass player, respectively, took part at the B-52's concerts. They joined the band from the third song on and played along with them for the remainder of the performance. The 20 January appearance of the B-52's would turn out to be their last with guitarist Ricky Wilson, who died from AIDS in October of that year as the band was finishing their next album. Initially, Def Leppard was scheduled to play at the festival. However, they dropped out about two months before the event, due to delays on the recording process of the album Hysteria. Eleven days before the date Def Leppard would have played at the festival, drummer Rick Allen suffered an accident that cost him his left arm. They were replaced by Whitesnake, which happened to be the last touring date for the supporting Slide It In album tour.
Rock in Rio 2 (1991) The second edition was held from 18–27 January 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 had top billing, for one night each. The third night, headlined by Guns N' Roses, attracted more than 100.000 people to the stadium, the biggest audience of the nine-day event. That same day had Billy Idol, who performed the previous night, doing another set to replace Robert Plant, who could not attend due to health problems. A-ha broke the record for largest paying attendance at a concert with 198,000 fans in attendance. Full list of artists who performed at Rock in Rio 2:
18/01 Friday Prince Joe Cocker Colin Hay Jimmy Cliff 19/01 Saturday INXS Billy Idol Carlos Santana Engenheiros do Hawaii Supla Vid & Sangue Azul 20/01 Sunday Guns N' Roses Billy Idol Faith No More Titãs Hanoi Hanoi
22/01 Tuesday New Kids on the Block Run-DMC Roupa Nova Inimigos do Rei 23/01 Wednesday Guns N' Roses Judas Priest Queensrÿche Megadeth Lobão Sepultura 24/01 Thursday Prince Carlos Santana Alceu Valença Laura Finocchiaro Serguei
25/01 Friday George Michael Deee-Lite Elba Ramalho Ed Motta 26/01 Saturday A-ha Happy Mondays Paulo Ricardo Debbie Gibson Information Society Capital Inicial Nenhum de Nós 27/01 Sunday George Michael Lisa Stansfield Deee-Lite Moraes Moreira e Pepeu Gomes Léo Jaime
Guns N' Roses's 20 January concert was their first ever with then new drummer Matt Sorum and keyboard player Dizzy Reed. George Michael's second concert, on 27 January, the festival's closing day, featured his ex-Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley, who joined Michael for a few songs at the encore.
Rock in Rio 3 (2001)
The third Rock in Rio festival took place in 2001. 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.
Once O Rappa complained about their assigned time, as the contract predicted a night concert that wound up scheduled for 6:30 PM while the lesser known in the country Deftones remained in the evening, they were expelled, and five other Brazilian bands, Jota Quest, Raimundos, Charlie Brown Jr., Skank and Cidade Negra, withdrew from the festival in protest.
Iron Maiden released their set as Rock in Rio. Profits from the sale of the album were donated to the Clive Burr fund, helping their former drummer pay mounting medical bills for his multiple sclerosis.
A notable appearance at Rock in Rio 3 was that of American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, their first large show since 1993, with a new line-up featuring vocalist Axl Rose, guitarists Buckethead, Robin Finck & Paul Tobias, bassist Tommy Stinson, drummer Brain and keyboardists Dizzy Reed & Chris Pitman.
Carlinhos Brown, the opening act on the day Guns N' Roses performed, was attacked by water bottles throughout his performance. Bassist Nick Oliveri of Queens of the Stone Age performed nude for part of their set and was arrested for indecent exposure after the concert, being released soon after.
Full list of artists who performed at Rock in Rio 3:
12/01 Friday Sting Daniela Mercury James Taylor Milton Nascimento Gilberto Gil Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira 13/01 Saturday R.E.M. Foo Fighters Beck Barão Vermelho Fernanda Abreu Cássia Eller 14/01 Sunday Guns N' Roses Oasis Papa Roach Ira! & Ultraje a Rigor Carlinhos Brown Pato Fu
18/01 Thursday 'N Sync Britney Spears 5ive Sandy & Junior Aaron Carter Moraes Moreira 19/01 Friday Iron Maiden Rob Halford Sepultura Queens of the Stone Age Pavilhão 9 Sheik Tosado
20/01 Saturday Neil Young Sheryl Crow Dave Matthews Band Kid Abelha Elba Ramalho & Zé Ramalho Engenheiros do Hawaii 21/01 Sunday Red Hot Chili Peppers Silverchair Capital Inicial Deftones O Surto Diesel
Rock in Rio 4 (2011)
The fourth edition of Rock in Rio, back to its origins, was held on 23, 24, 25, 29 and 30 September, and 1 and 2 October 2011, at an area (pt) to be built next to the old City of Rock – which was the site of the Olympic Village for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Three different stages were employed, with the headlining concerts at the Palco Mundo (World Stage), the secondary ones in Palco Sunset (Sunset Stage), and DJs playing at a specialized stage for electronic music. The closing acts, Guns N' Roses and System of a Down, entered following a poll on the festival's website. Maroon 5 was a last hour addition, following Jay-Z leaving for personal reasons.
Full list of artists who performed at Rock in Rio 4: 09/23 Friday Palco Mundo: Rihanna, Elton John, Katy Perry, Claudia Leitte, opening concert with Os Paralamas do Sucesso, Titãs, Milton Nascimento, Maria Gadú and the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra Palco Sunset: Móveis Coloniais de Acaju, Orkestra Rumpilezz, Mariana Aydar, Bebel Gilberto, Sandra de Sá, Ed Motta, Rui Veloso, Andreas Kisser, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, The Gift 09/24 Saturday Palco Mundo: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snow Patrol, Capital Inicial, Stone Sour, NX Zero