sabrina: new Rock in Rio 2011

Rock in Rio
Rock in Rio Lisbon entrance.
Location(s)	Rio de Janeiro
Years active	1985-present.
Founded by	Roberto Medina
Genre	Rock, pop
Website	Official Rock in Rio website

Rock in Rio is a series of music festivals held in Brazilian city of Rio de JaneiroPortugal and Spain. There may be additional festivals in either Mexico, Argentina or Colombia.^[1] and occasionally in

Four incarnations of the festival were in Rio de Janeiro, in 1985, 1991, 2001 and 2011, four in Lisbon, in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010, and two in Madrid in 2008 and 2010. The shows were organized by Brazilian entrepreneur Roberto Medina. In 2011, Rock in Rio is taking place in its original home, Rio de Janeiro.

Rock in Rio has been the largest music festival in the world, with 1.5 million people in the first edition, 700,000 in the second, about 1.2 million in the third, and about 350,000 people in each of the 3 Lisbon editions.

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[edit] History

Year	Name	Place
1985	Rock in Rio	Rio de Janeiro Brazil
1991	Rock in Rio II	Rio de Janeiro Brazil
2001	Rock in Rio III	Rio de Janeiro Brazil
2004	Rock in Rio Lisboa	Lisboa Portugal
2006	Rock in Rio Lisboa II	Lisboa Portugal
2008	Rock in Rio Lisboa III	Lisboa Portugal
2008	Rock in Rio Madrid	Madrid Spain
2010	Rock in Rio Lisboa IV	Lisboa Portugal
2010	Rock in Rio Madrid II	Madrid Spain
2011	Rock in Rio IV	Rio de Janeiro Brazil
2012	Rock in Rio Lisboa V	Lisboa Portugal
2012	Rock in Rio Madrid III	Madrid Spain
2013	Rock in Rio V	Rio de Janeiro Brazil
2013	Rock in Rio Latin America	Mexico City Mexico
2014	Rock in Rio Lisboa VI	Lisboa Portugal
2015	Rock in Rio VI	Rio de Janeiro Brazil

[edit] 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 full list of artists who performed at Rock in Rio:

11/01 Friday

12/01 Saturday

13/01 Sunday

14/01 Monday

15/01 Tuesday

16/01 Wednesday

17/01 Thursday

18/01 Friday

19/01 Saturday

20/01 Sunday

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 325,000 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".^[2]

Iron Maiden's own performance began at exactly two minutes to midnight.^{[citation needed]} This was in celebration and promotion of their latest release, Powerslave, which featured the song 2 Minutes to Midnight. During the song "Revelations", lead singer Bruce Dickinson swung his guitar near his face and was hit on the forehead by its headstock. Dickinson continued to sing despite his bleeding.^[3] The British group was the only non-Brazilian act to play just one concert at the festival (at its opening night, headlined by Queen), due to other bookings. All the other international acts performed twice. They performed in front of 300,000+ fans.

The Go-Go's broke up after their two Rock in Rio performances, 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 concert. 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.

Nina Hagen was paid nothing for her two performances, since she had approached Roberto Medina, the festival's mentor herself, requesting a place in its bill. Queen were the highest-paid act, commanding US$600,000 for its two headlining performances, on January 11 and 18.

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 Def Leppard would have played at the festival, drummer Rick Allen suffered an accident that cost him his left arm.

There's a video on YouTube of Os Paralamas do Sucesso lead singer Herbert Vianna advising the crowd to attend only to the performances of the artists they enjoy. Vianna said that because rocks were thrown on the stage during Kid Abelha's performance on the event a day earlier. Around that time, Kid Abelha's lead singer Paula Toller was reportedly Vianna's love interest. [1]

In 1985, before the beginning of the festival, there a Nostradamus prophecy, that a disaster would happen in a gathering of young people in South America, the prophecy failed to materialize, one who remembers well, the power of the rumor is the actor Kadu Moliterno, master of ceremonies of the Rock in Rio I. "There was this rumor, which was very strong. I remember I was watching Rita Lee's show when some of bulbs began to sprout in the ceiling of the stage, short-circuit. I went into a paranoia that the world was ending. I got out of there running I took my motorcycle and I left home" he said laughing.

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. A-ha later made a video for Early Morning from this concert.

Full list of artists who performed at Rock in Rio 2:

18/01 Friday

19/01 Saturday

20/01 Sunday

22/01 Tuesday

23/01 Wednesday

24/01 Thursday

25/01 Friday

26/01 Saturday

27/01 Sunday

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. A-ha shocked the international entertainment press by drawing an audience of 198,000 at Maracanã stadium for their top-billed evening concert—a Guinness World Record for paying audiences

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 Axl Rose (vocals), and longtime member Dizzy Reed (keyboards). Nick Oliveri, the bass player for Queens of the Stone Age performed in the nude for part of their set and was arrested for indecent exposure after the concert. Oliveri was released soon after.

Full list of artists who performed at Rock in Rio 3: