Madonna’s historic concert at Rio’s Copacabana Beach on May 4 will be produced by her long-time promoter Arthur Fogel and legendary Brazilian producer and promoter Luiz Oscar Niemeyer, Live Nation officials have confirmed to Billboard.
Fogel is one of the most accomplished concert and tour producers in the world and serves as the chairman of global touring at Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promotion company. Fogel works with some of the world’s biggest touring acts — a list that also includes Lady Gaga, U2, Beyoncé and Drake.
Niemeyer, chief executive of Bonus Tracks Entretenimento, is one of Brazil’s best-known promoters, having staged Paul McCartney’s 1990 concert at the Maracanã Stadiun and The Rolling Stones’ 2006 free concert at Copacabana Beach in 2006, which was attended by more than 1.5 million people. Niemeyer was also the creative force behind the Hollywood Rock festival, which ran from 1988 to 1996 in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Niemeyer’s latest project, the Music Is The Answer festival, launched in 2022 and last year featured headliners Lana Del Rey and Florence + The Machine.
Fogel will produce the concert on behalf of Madonna, while Niemeyer will work on behalf of the City of Rio and the various sponsors, including presenting sponsor Itau bank.
The free Rio concert, which Visit Rio officials said is forecast to attract 2 million fans, will conclude the Queen of Pop’s Celebration tour and cap off a career run that’s netted around $1.5 billion in ticket sales over a dozen global tours, making her one of the highest grossing touring artists of time.
While the city-managed Copacabana Beach is known for hosting large concerts each New Year’s Eve, headliner concerts are far more rare. The last large-scale free concert on the beach outside of New Year’s was when The Rolling Stones played there more than 18 years ago as part of the group’s A Bigger Bang tour.
