Shakira to follow Madonna and Lady Gaga in giving a huge free concert on Copacabana Beach

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Colombian superstar Shakira will give a free concert on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday night in an event that Rio officials say will draw approximately 2 million people to one of the world’s most iconic waterfronts.

The performance follows similar shows by Madonna in 2024 and Lady Gaga last year, also attended by huge crowds that danced on the sprawling sands. It is part of Shakira’s “ Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran ” ("Women No Longer Cry") world tour, named after her 2024 album.

The Latina pop star said in an interview with Brazil’s TV Globo that she expects the Copacabana concert to be the biggest of her career.

“For me it’s a dream. I always dreamed of singing on this beach, because I think it’s a magical place,” she said in Portuguese, adding that she learned the language before English.

Brazil was one of the first countries where Shakira became successful back in the 1990s, thanks to her charisma and the connection she created with the Brazilian public, according to Felipe Maia, an ethnomusicologist who is pursuing a doctoral degree on popular music and digital technologies at Paris Nanterre University.

Her historical success in Brazil “has a lot to do with the fact that she comes from Colombia, a country whose culture has many similarities with Brazil,” Maia said, adding that Saturday’s performance “crowns the relationship she has had with Brazil for a very long time.”

By Saturday morning, crowds had started piling onto the beach to nab a good spot for the performance. Street vendors were selling food and drinks, but also toilet paper, deodorant and even bags of sand on which to stand to get a better view of the stage set up opposite Copacabana Palace.

DJs will start performing on the beach in the late afternoon. Shakira’s set is scheduled for 9:45 p.m. local time and is expected to last around two hours. After the performance, another DJ will take to the stage — a new addition to keep the crowds entertained and help with an orderly exit, according to Rio officials.

The free concerts are part of an effort led by Rio’s City Hall to boost economic activity after Carnival and New Years’ Eve festivities and the upcoming monthlong Saint John’s Day celebrations in June.

“For us, parties are serious business. Because parties generate jobs, income, development, and identity for the city,” Rio Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere said on Wednesday as he presented the city’s operational plan for the event. “Our investment in this show will give us a financial return 40 times greater,” he said.

Shakira’s performance could generate around 777 million reais (around $155 million), according to a study by Rio’s City Hall and Riotur, the municipality’s tourism company, thanks to the influx of tourists and cash spent in restaurants, hotels and shops.

More tourists headed to Rio in the month of May in the years with shows — 2024 and 2025 — compared to 2023, according to City Hall data. In 2024, the growth was 34.2% on May 1, just ahead of the concerts, compared to the previous year. In 2025, the increase was 90.5% compared to 2023.

Ahead of Shakira’s performance, Airbnb said in an April 22 statement that it was seeing an increase in guests expected to travel from different parts of Brazil, Latin America and even European capitals such as Paris and London.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Colombian singer Shakira rehearses a day ahead of her free concert on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Colombian singer Shakira waves to fans during a rehearsal a day ahead of her free concert on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Colombian singer Shakira and Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso, second left, take part in a rehearsal a day ahead of Shakira's free concert, on Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Colombian singer Shakira and Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso take part in a rehearsal a day ahead of Shakira's free concert, on Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Colombian singer Shakira and Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso take part in a rehearsal a day ahead of Shakira's free concert, on Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

KÜHBACH, Germany (AP) — As the brass band played Bavarian tunes and the villagers drank their beer, watched and cheered, the young men of Kühbach in southern Germany pushed up their new maypole with long wooden rods until it stood perfectly straight against the sky.

In addition to the locals, people from all over Bavaria and beyond flocked to the small village of about 4,500 residents on Friday to watch the Maypole being erected — a custom that has been observed for centuries and is deeply rooted in Bavarian folklore.

“The Maypole is a symbol of togetherness,” said Mayor Karl-Heinz Kerscher, pointing at the youngsters pushing up the pole. “All these young guys, when they give it their all, when they show their strength, that’s just proof that we’re powerful, that Bavaria means something, and that here in Kühbach it’s twice as beautiful.”

May 1 is a public holiday observed all over Germany, but putting up maypoles in the center of the village is a beloved tradition celebrated primarily in Bavaria, Austria, and other parts of southern Germany as a symbol of not only community but also the beginning of spring and fertility.

In Kühbach, a lot of care and time is devoted to this custom every three years, when a new pole is raised.

Last winter, the Kühbacher Burschen, a village club with 240 members, chose a stately spruce in a nearby forest, cut it down, cut off all branches and the bark, let it dry, and painted it three times over in white and blue — the state colors of Bavaria.

On the sides of the tree, they attached metal signs with the guild emblems of the village, and — most important — they then guarded their precious maypole, which had been put up for storage in a former sawmill for weeks around the clock so that nobody would steal it.

Stealing each other's new maypoles is another beloved tradition in Bavaria. And if the theft is successful, the village that was robbed needs to buy back its maypole, and that gets very expensive: up to 200 liters (422 pints) of beer and a whole barbecued pig with potato dumplings and brown gravy — something that can easily fetch up to 3,000 euros ($3,325).

By Friday, however, no maypole had been stolen from Kühbach, and early in the morning the mostly young men and women, all dressed in their best lederhosen and light-blue dirndl dresses, came to the sawmill to triumphantly take it to the center of their village.

“Our motto is, ‘preserve traditions, shape the future’ — that really sums it up pretty well,” said Florian Oberhauser, 26, the head of the Kühbacher Burschen, or Kühbach Boys.

The 28-meter (92-foot) tall maypole was lifted horizontally on wooden carts and pulled into the village by two sturdy horses from the local beer brewery.

Once the procession — with children sitting on top of the pole in a long row — arrived at the market square, the Catholic priest, who had just finished his May Day Mass, blessed the tree and the young men with holy water. Everyone drew closer together to pray and the actual work began.

Equipped with long wooden poles, the youngsters paired up on both sides of the pole and cheered each other with shouts of “Hau-Ruck,” as they slowly put up the Maybaum, as it is called in German.

When the maypole stood straight against the blue sky, the marching band played an extra fanfare, people poured into the huge festival tent, sat down on the benches, had pork roast and sausages for lunch — and some more beer.

Simone Nodlbichler, 41, who played the clarinet all morning as her band accompanied the Maypole procession through the village, past the church and to the market square of Kühbach, beamed as she put away her instrument.

“This tradition is being passed down from generation to generation,” she said as her two teenage daughters looked on. “As you can see, both young and old are involved.”

“I think there’s a wonderful sense of community here, and it’s still very much alive,” she added.

Young men guard a maypole in Kuehbach, Germany, Thursday, April 30, 2026, one night before they erected the pole. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Young men wear leather trousers as they erect a traditional May pole in Kuehbach, Germany, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

A young man drinks beer as he erects a traditional May pole in Kuehbach, Germany, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Young children sit on a May pole before it is erected in Kuehbach, Germany, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Young men wear leather trousers as they erect a traditional May pole in Kuehbach, Germany, Friday, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)