A million turn up for Stones as Carnival mood grips Rio
Independent, The (London), Feb 20, 2006 by Michael Astor in Rio de Janeiro

You can't always get what you want, but the Rolling Stones left a million fans satisfied on Saturday at a free show on Copacabana beach.

"It was sensational, marvelous," said Fernando Monteiro, 25, of southern Parana state as the Stones finished their nearly two-hour- long concert.

Boats, including a large ocean liner, crowded the shoreline, and helicopters and blimps circled overhead during the show that shut down the Copacabana beach district but fell far short of the record 3.5 million that packed the beach on New Year's Eve 1994 to watch Rod Stewart. Police estimated the gathering, a week ahead of the Rio Carnival, at about one million.

Throughout the day people flooded onto the beach, staking out places for the show that brought an early carnival spirit. The band opened with "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and played a set of mostly older hits, with a few songs from their newest album, A Bigger Bang. Mick Jagger, who has a six-year-old Brazilian son, Lucas, also ad-libbed comments in Portuguese, delighting the crowd. On Friday, Jagger met with Lucas but disappointed fans who thought he might turn out to see the boy's mother, Luciana Jimenez, a local television talk show hostess, when she appeared as a featured dancer in a rehearsal for a samba group.

The band arrived on stage by crossing a specially erected footbridge that took them directly from their hotel. Eight video screens and 16 sound towers allowed those far from the stage a glimpse of the band.
 

This is the Stones' third visit to the country but the first time they have played for free in Brazil, where few can afford tickets to see top international acts.

Wilson Teixeira, 26, from Sao Paulo, waited eight hours pressed against a barrier to see the band from what was effectively the front row. "I saw them in 1995 and they were better this time, more energy." AP