By Anna Fitzpatrick, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Red Hot Chili Peppers were the headliners last night, at perhaps the world’s biggest music festival, Rock in Rio. Over 700,000 tickets were sold to watch acts such as Elton John, Coldplay and Guns N’ Roses over seven different dates between September 23rd and October 2nd.
The series of concerts kicked off on Friday in style with Brazil’s own Claudia Leitte, and then international acts Katy Perry, Elton John and Rihanna, entertaining the crowds. The major hitch was the delay of the start of the concert by a couple of hours due to technical difficulties.
The number of registered robberies on the first day neared the 200 mark, though it is not expected that all incidents are reported. There have been complaints that there are insufficient resources to deal with the problems inside the Cidade do Rock, the custom built venue – the future site of the 2016 Olympics.
Highlights from the first couple of days also included Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding playing with Brazilian legend Milton Nascimento. There was also a wedding yesterday – two Red hot Chili Peppers fans exchanged their vows in the Rock City.
Tonight’s lineup include Motörhead, Slipnot and Metallica.
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