Rio Preps for Music Fest
R I O D E J A N E I R O, Jan. 9, 2001 -- Sixteen years after Brazil burstonto the global rock scene with its own version of Woodstock,promoters are rolling out a third edition of Rock in Rio andaiming to make it the world’s biggest music fest ever.
“Rock in Rio for a Better World,” as the show is beingbilled, will kick off on Friday in the tourist meccaof Rio de Janeiro with seven days of shows and such diverse actsas Red Hot Chile Peppers, R.E.M. and Britney Spears.
Promoters have booked 159 bands including 38 major nationaland international acts in a bid to lure some 1.5 million fansfrom Brazil and abroad.
“We want it to be an international party, a place wherepeople can listen to music but also get sensitized to the factthat we can improve the world,” said Roberto Medina, abusinessman and founder of the festival.
Critics say the mish-mash of musical styles could turn fansoff but promoters argue that acts are organized so each day willhave a different theme, ensuring that metal heads do not have tosit through hits like “Oops! I did it again!” by Spears.
The first Rock in Rio in January 1985, set the world recordas the biggest paying music festival in history with 1.38million people. About 450,000 fans flocked to Woodstock, N.Y., in 1969, and most of them got in for free.
Now, for $18, concertgoers can get into one day of shows atthe specially built “City of Rock” in a distant suburb of Rio —or they can spend $126 to attend all seven days. The shows willrun from Jan. 12-14 and Jan. 18-21.
“Rock in Rio has the most impressive lineup of talentanywhere in the world this year,” said Gary Bongiovanni, editorin chief of Pollstar, a concert industry trade publication inCalifornia.
Rio Rocks, Really
Better known on international stages for its bossa nova andsamba, Brazil is also a hotbed of rock — and Rock in Rio is thewhere it all got started.
The 1985 show came as the country shook off two decades ofdictatorship — a time when Brazil did not exist for foreigntouring bands. The festival highlighted the undiscovered salespotential in Brazil, the world’s fifth largest country, andhelped a slew of international bands launch their careers.
“It was our first contact with rock on a massive scale,”Medina said. “The country was returning to democracy; we wereliving a reality similar to that that led up to Woodstock.”
Brazilians who attended the show said it was hardly apolitical event, but rock music, drugs and an abundance of mudfollowing heavy showers ensured that Rock in Rio lived up to itsbilling as “Brazil’s Woodstock.”
“It was a pioneer event for Brazilian rock,” said MarceloCamera, a jazz musician who was 19 years old at the time. “Itwas also a lot of marketing, but in the end, with all of themud, it really turned into a kind of Woodstock.”
Queen, Rod Stewart, James Taylor and Iron Maiden were thestar foreign attractions, and the last two will be back for thethird edition. The second, held in the giant Maracana soccerstadium rather than an open field, lured a much smaller 700,000fans over seven days at an event headlined by Prince, Santanaand Guns N’ Roses.
Rock in Rio 3 will span a much bigger range of musicalgenres from rock, heavy metal and pop to electronica andBrazilian country. Ironically, the most popular acts are nottraditional rock bands at all but teen sensations Britney Spearsand ‘N Sync.
The bands will play on the original Rock in Rio site in agrassy field far from Rio’s picture postcard beaches, but some39 special bus lines will shuttle people in from the trendyCopacabana and Ipanema hotels.
Promoters are betting the wide variety of offerings willhelp draw up to 1.5 million fans, although, as of the beginningof the week, only about 500,000 tickets had been sold.
Medina expects about half the concertgoers to be from Rio,40 percent from other cities in Brazil and 10 percent from otherSouth American countries such as Argentina and Uruguay.
Woodstock ’99: Lesson in Mistakes
Promoters said they have gone to great lengths to ensurethat Rock in Rio 3 is not a repeat of Woodstock III — the 30thanniversary show in 1999 that ended in riots and looting.
“We were there to study their mistakes,” said NelsonFiedler, who designed the City of Rock. Some $36 million wasspent on marketing and on the City of Rock, which features a15-floor-high main stage that is going into the Guinness Book ofWorld Records as the biggest concert tent ever.
In a bid to head off some of the problems that may haveaggravated Woodstock fans, Rock in Rio offers lower ticket andbeverage prices and shorter distances between events as well asa 750-person strong security team that will have the backup of3,000 Rio police officers.
Since Rock in Rio will be held at the height of the city’ssummer, promoters say keeping tempers cool is a priority. Theyalso hope Rock in Rio’s emphasis on “making the world a betterplace” will inspire fans. Five percent of the profits will bedonated to Viva Rio, an anti-violence organization in Rio, andto United Nations-backed projects.
Still, the event has not been free of friction. Six ofBrazil’s hottest rock bands dropped out in protest of what theysaid was unequal treatment.
Promoters are paying local bands $10,300, well under theunspecified sums going to foreign bands, and many localmusicians complained that they would have to play duringdaylight hours as warm-up bands even though they sell morerecords in Brazil than the foreign acts.
Brazil is one of the few countries where recordings ofdomestic groups outsell U.S. recordings.
“But they aren’t recognizing that this is an internationalshow with 1 billion television viewers,” Medina countered.
Dozens of other Brazilian bands will perform in Rock in Rio,which will also feature Sting, Beck, Oasis, Neil Young and a newGuns N’ Roses lineup in their second appearance afterdisappearing from stages for seven years.