Six incarnations of the festival were held in Rio de Janeiro, in 1985, 1991, 2001, 2011, 2013 and 2015, seven in Lisbon, in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016, three in Madrid in 2008, 2010 and 2012, and one in Las Vegas, in 2015. The seventh Brazilian edition will happen from September 15 to 24, 2017. 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 1.5 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.
Gary clark jr rock in rio usa 2015 hd full concert
Rock in Rio
The first edition of the festival was held from January 11–20, 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 1.4 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 liters 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:
Both Queen shows were filmed (on January 11 and January 18) and broadcast throughout Brazil by Globo. Each show was watched by nearly 200 million people in over 60 countries and in front of 350,000–500,000 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".
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 350,000 people too.
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 January 20 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. They were replaced by Whitesnake. 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.
Rock in Rio 2
The second edition was held from January 18–27, 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 got top billing, for one night each.
Full list of artists who performed at Rock in Rio 2:
Guns N' Roses's January 20 concert was their first ever with then new drummer Matt Sorum and keyboard player Dizzy Reed. George Michael's second concert, on January 27, the festival's closing day, featured his ex-Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley, who joined Michael for a few songs at the encore. Again a misplaced Brazilian act suffered from bad reception, with Lobão being pelted with beer cans and being forced to cut his performance short.
Rock in Rio 3
The third Rock in Rio festival took place in 2001 and 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.
Iron Maiden recorded their set and released it as the live album Rock in Rio. The profits from the sale of the album were donated to the Clive Burr fund, which would help the former drummer pay mounting medical bills for treatment of his multiple sclerosis.
Another notable appearance at Rock in Rio 3 was that of American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with a new line-up featuring guitarist Buckethead, original member and lead singer Axl Rose (vocals), and longtime member Dizzy Reed (keyboards). Carlinhos Brown, the opening act on the day Guns N' Roses performed, was attacked by water bottles throughout his whole performance. Bassist Nick Oliveri of Queens of the Stone Age performed in the 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:
Rock in Rio 4
The fourth edition of Rock in Rio, back to its origins, was held on September 23, 24, 25, 29 and 30, and October 1 and 2, 2011, at an area (pt) to be built next to the old City of Rock – which is currently the site of the future Olympic Village of 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:
Eletrônica: Life is a Loop, Diego Miranda + Rodrigo Shà, Ely Yabu, Amanda Chang
Rock in Rio Lisboa
After the huge success of Rock in Rio 3 in Brazil, Roberta Medina decided to organize a festival of the same stature in Lisbon. The decision to maintain the name Rock in Rio was controversial, and detractors of the idea in Brazil started calling it Rock in Rio Tejo, after the Tagus river (rio Tejo, in Portuguese) which runs through the Portuguese capital.
The first edition of Rock in Rio Lisboa, as the festival was officially called, took place in 2004. Although the festival had a slight change of name, it kept the same structure as the Brazilian editions. An entire City of Rock, with an area of over 260,000 audience was erected at the Bela Vista park, with a large centre stage and several tents where different artists would perform, simultaneously.
Full list of artists who performed at Rock in Rio Lisboa:
Rock in Rio Lisboa 2
The second edition of Rock in Rio Lisboa was held in 2006, on 26/27 May and 2/3/4 June.
The third edition of Rock in Rio took place in Lisbon, Portugal, on May 30, 31 and June 1 and 5–6. The dates for Arganda del Rey, Madrid, were June 27, 28 and July 4–6.
Palco Mundo: Metallica, Evanescence, Mastodon, Sepultura, Tambours Du Bronx
Palco Sunset: Kreator + Andreas Kisser, Mão Morta + Pedro Laginha, Ramp + Teratron
Eletrónica Heineken: Chase and Status, DJ Set & Rage, Dr Lectroluv, Life is a Loop, Leo Janeiro, Tha lovely Bastards (Mad Mac and Nuno Lopes), Bis Boys Please, MC Johnny Def
Palco Sunset: Boss Ac & Zé Ricardo + Paula Lima, Orelha Negra + Hyldon + Kassin, Black Mamba & Tiago Betencourt
Eletrónica Heineken: Jamie Jones, Maceo Plex, Dyed Soundorom, Kings of Swingers (Renato Rathier + Mau Mau), Magazino, José Belo + Zé Salvador, MC Johnny Def
Rock Street:
6/2 Saturday
Palco Mundo: Stevie Wonder, Bryan Adams, Joss Stone, The Gift
Palco Sunset: Luis Represas & Joao Gil & Jorge Palma, Amor Electro & Moska, Ana Free + The Monomes
Eletrónica Heineken: Masters at Work (Louie Vega + Kenny Dope Gonzales), The Martinez Brothers, JohnWaynes Live DJ, Miguel Rendeiro, DJ Poppy, MC Johnny Def
Rock Street:
6/3 Sunday
Palco Mundo: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Xutos & Pontapés, James, Kaiser Chiefs
"Rock in Rio USA" was the first North American edition of the festival, being held in Las Vegas on May 8, 9, 15 and 16, 2015. The festival took place on two weekends, oriented towards rock and pop music. Rock Weekend took place on May 8 and 9, and Pop Weekend took place on May 15 and 16. It took place in the City of Rock (Las Vegas), located north of the Las Vegas Strip.