Paulinho da Viola in Rio, 16 January 2027

BRAZIL · LIVE MUSIC

Paulinho da Viola, the veteran samba singer and composer, plays Vivo Rio in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday 16 January 2027, with doors at 7 p.m. and the show at 9 p.m. local time. Tickets are on sale through the seller Ticket360, which lists prices from R$99 (about US$18) to R$313.50 (about US$58) at the central bank’s rate of 29 October 2026.

Vivo Rio is a concert hall in Flamengo Park, on the Guanabara Bay waterfront, and the show carries an age rating of 18. At 9 p.m. in Rio it is 7 p.m. in New York in January, because Rio keeps the same time all year while US clocks are on standard time.

US citizens need a Brazilian visit visa for the trip, and the Brazilian government says no visa can be issued at an airport or a border crossing. The sections below give the ticket prices in US dollars, the rules at the door, the route from central Rio and the entry steps for a visit to Brazil.

About the Singer

The venue’s biography calls Paulinho da Viola one of the great icons of samba and Brazilian popular music, with almost 60 years of career. It says he was born in Botafogo, a neighborhood in Rio’s South Zone, where his father, the acoustic guitarist Cesar Faria, hosted musicians such as Pixinguinha and Jacob do Bandolim at home.

Songs the biography names include Foi um Rio que Passou em Minha Vida, Coração Leviano, Pecado Capital, Timoneiro and Dança da Solidão. It links his work to choro, an instrumental Brazilian genre, to samba, to the samba schools that parade at Carnival and to the avant-garde of the 1960s.

The biography lists a Golfinho de Ouro (Golden Dolphin) award in 1968, Latin Grammy awards in 2008 and 2021 and the Order of Cultural Merit in 2001. It also says he sang the national anthem at the opening of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and played the main stage at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2012.

The biography calls Quando o Samba Chama (When Samba Calls), launched in 2024, his most recent tour. Neither the venue nor the seller says whether the January show belongs to that tour.

Tickets and Prices

Ticket360 is the seller linked from the venue’s event page, and it sells through its website and its app. Its listing data show the offer valid from noon on Wednesday 28 October 2026, while the venue’s page labels the show as pre-sale.

The venue’s page says tickets start at R$60 (US$11.16) for a half-price ticket and R$120 (US$22.33) for a full-price ticket. Ticket360’s listing, which counts 11 price options, shows a range from R$99 (US$18.42) to R$313.50 (US$58.33).

The two ranges do not match, and neither page explains the gap, so this guide uses the seller’s range for budgeting because the seller takes the payment. All dollar figures use the Brazilian central bank’s PTAX reference rate for 29 October 2026, which was R$5.3744 per US$1, rounded to the cent.

Ticket360 says its service fee can run from 10% to 20% of the ticket price, and card payments can add a processing fee that varies by card brand. It says payment by Pix, Brazil’s instant bank-transfer system, carries no processing fee, and it accepts national and international credit cards.

After a card purchase the seller releases the ticket’s QR code only once the buyer enters a four-character purchase code, which appears on the card statement after Tkt360 and an asterisk. The seller’s help page says the issuing bank shows that code in its app, its text message or its statement, and tickets are delivered as QR codes in the Ticket360 app, with no printed version.

Half-price tickets are limited to 40% of the capacity, a cap the seller says does not apply to people aged 60 and over, and the seller lists students, people under 21, people with disabilities, low-income young people aged 15 to 29, Rio city public-school teachers and seniors as eligible. Buyers who cannot prove eligibility at the door must pay the difference to the full price.

Under article 49 of Brazil’s consumer code, an online buyer can cancel within seven calendar days of the purchase, subject to the minimum notice before the show that the law sets, according to the seller’s help page. If the organizer postpones or cancels the show, the seller says the refund follows the organizer’s rules and the law.

The seller also runs a virtual box office in its app, which waives the fee when the buyer is near the hall. The event page sets that radius at 500 meters (about 1,640 feet), while the seller’s help page says 100 to 300 meters, so a buyer should stand close to the entrance.

Getting to Vivo Rio

Vivo Rio is at Avenida Infante Dom Henrique 85, which the venue places in Parque do Flamengo and the seller in the neighborhood of Glória, with the postal code 20021-140 on both pages. The hall opened in 2006 beside the Museum of Modern Art, known as MAM, and the venue advises arriving early to avoid lines.

The venue says light-rail (VLT) lines 1 and 3 toward Santos Dumont Airport, Rio’s downtown airport, stop at the Antonio Carlos/MAM station, from which a footbridge called the Passarela Paulo Bittencourt leads to the hall. The nearest subway station is Cinelândia, a 10-minute walk along Avenida Beira Mar toward the airport and across the same footbridge.

Visitors coming by ferry from Niterói, Governador Island or Paquetá reach Praça XV square and can take light-rail line 2 or 4 to Colombo station, then change at Sete de Setembro station for line 1 or 3, according to the venue. For ride-hailing apps the venue says to enter Vivo Rio as the destination, with drop-off in front of its box office.

Rio is two hours ahead of New York, three ahead of Chicago and five ahead of Los Angeles in January, because Rio keeps the same time all year. Doors at 7 p.m. are 5 p.m. in New York, and the 9 p.m. start is 7 p.m. in New York, 6 p.m. in Chicago and 4 p.m. in Los Angeles.

Rules and Seating at the Venue

Ticket360 lists two sectors for the show, tables (mesas in Portuguese) and a standing floor (pista), and the event page shows no price per sector. The venue bans semi-professional and professional cameras, camcorders, selfie sticks, umbrellas, alcoholic drinks, glass containers, objects that could cause injury, firearms and bladed weapons, fireworks, rolls of paper, flags and banners, and motorcycle helmets.

Lost items can be reported through a form on the venue’s site, and found objects are kept for up to 180 days after the event. Found personal documents are kept for up to 15 days before they are passed to the police.

Visa and Safety for US Visitors

Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, known as Itamaraty, lists the United States among the countries whose citizens need a visit visa, in its table of entry visas updated on 7 October 2026. Its information page says a visit visa covers stays of up to 90 days for tourism, business, transit and similar visits.

The same page says Brazilian visas are never issued inside the country, so none can be obtained at an airport, port or border crossing. It adds that the Federal Police, which controls Brazil’s borders, cannot admit a foreign citizen without the correct visa.

The government’s visa service page describes a form, a consular fee and documents presented at a Brazilian consular post, and it gives no processing time because that depends on the post. A Rio Times guide to the Brazil e-visa for US citizens covers the online route, and a traveler for a 16 January show should start the application well before the flight.

The US Embassy in Brazil carries the State Department’s Level 2 advisory on 30 October 2026, which reads “Exercise increased caution in Brazil due to crime and kidnapping” and adds that some areas have increased risk. Travelers should check the embassy’s page again before departure, because advisory text can change.

What It Means for You

A US visitor planning around the concert should secure the visa first, then buy only through Ticket360 and budget from about US$18 to about US$58 per ticket. The total on the checkout screen is the figure that counts, because the seller’s service fee runs from 10% to 20%.

Ticket360 prices are in reais, so the dollar amount on a US card statement depends on the card issuer’s rate and any foreign transaction fee. A traveler should download the Ticket360 app before the flight, keep the purchase code from the bank’s notification and arrive well before the 9 p.m. start.

Related Rio Times coverage includes the guide to Gilsons and Gilberto Gil at Vivo Rio on 13 November, the Brazil events calendar for 2026 and 2027 and the guide to the time difference between Brazil and the US. The Rio de Janeiro section lists the paper’s other stories on the city.

What Is Not Known

The venue’s page labels the sale as pre-sale and gives no date for general sales, while the seller’s listing data show the offer valid from 28 October 2026. Neither page says how many tickets remain or whether a sector is sold out.

The venue’s starting prices of R$60 (US$11.16) half-price and R$120 (US$22.33) full-price differ from the seller’s range of R$99 (US$18.42) to R$313.50 (US$58.33), and the seller does not say whether its range includes the service fee. The price of each sector, tables or standing floor, does not appear in the text of either page.

Neither the venue nor the seller publishes a setlist, guest musicians or the length of the show. The venue’s home page carousel labels the date as Friday (sexta), but its event page and the seller’s listing say Saturday, which matches the calendar for 16 January 2027.

The seller’s help page does not say whether a buyer without a Brazilian taxpayer number, called a CPF, can register an account, or whether US banks show the purchase code. A buyer who cannot complete the purchase can use the chat in the Ticket360 app, which the help page lists as a support channel.

Frequently Asked Questions

When and where is the Paulinho da Viola concert in Rio?

Paulinho da Viola plays Vivo Rio on Saturday 16 January 2027, with doors at 7 p.m. and the show at 9 p.m. local time. The hall is at Avenida Infante Dom Henrique 85 in Flamengo Park, Rio de Janeiro.

How much are Paulinho da Viola tickets in US dollars?

Ticket360 lists tickets from R$99 (about US$18) to R$313.50 (about US$58), at the central bank’s rate of 29 October 2026. The seller’s service fee runs from 10% to 20%.

Do US citizens need a visa to see the concert?

Yes, Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs lists the United States among the countries whose citizens need a visit visa. Visas are not issued at airports, so apply before you fly.

Sources: Vivo Rio, Paulinho da Viola event page, read 30 October 2026; Vivo Rio, show-day information and prohibited items; Vivo Rio, history of the hall; Ticket360, Paulinho da Viola listing; Ticket360, help centre; Brazil Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Entry Visas to Brazil, updated 7 October 2026; Brazil Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visa information for foreigners; Brazil government, visa service page; US Embassy in Brazil, travel advisory notice, 30 October 2026; Central Bank of Brazil, PTAX rate of 29 October 2026.

Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief · Editorial standards · Report an error

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