Guns N’ Roses is about to make history in Iceland with their July 24 show in Reykjavik which is being billed as the largest concert to ever take place in the island nation.
Of course, there have been many concerts in music history that have taken place before absolutely massive crowds. Here are seven of note.
U2 – 9/20/1997 – Reggio Emilia, Italy
This stop on U2’s PopMart tour attracted 150,000 ticketholders.
Oasis – 8/10/1996 & 8/11/1996 – Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England
Over the course of two night at Knebworth Park, Oasis played before 250,000 fans.
Paul McCartney – 4/21/1990 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Sir Paul’s 1990 world tour played before a capacity crowd of 184,000 at Maracana Stadium.
Simon & Garfunkel – 9/19/1981 – New York City, NY
The Concert in Central Park, which saw the reunion of Simon & Garfunkel, is one of the most memorable shows to take place in New York City. The free concert reportedly attracted 500,000 people.
Diana Ross – 7/21/1983 – New York City, NY
Diana Ross also gave a career-defining performance in Central Park battling the strong winds and heavy rains. She attracted 450,000 ticketholders. The show had to be cut short due to lightning, but Ms. Ross gave people their money’s worth and returned to Central Park the next day to perform the entire concert in full.
The Rolling Stones – 7/12/2012 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Stones held a free concert in honor of their 50th anniversary on Copacabana Beach. The reported attendance? 1.5 million!
Rod Stewart – 12/31/1993 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
If you want to break records, go to Rio! Rod Stewart played a free concert on Copacabana Beach on New Year’s Eve and reportedly attracted 4.2 million people per Guinness World Records! Take that with a grain of salt, however, because even Guinness notes the figure also included people who showed up on the beach to watch the fireworks display that signaled the New Year. (Still, there was a ton of people there!)
Erica Banas is a rock/classic rock blogger that loves the smell of old vinyl in the morning.