Saara, a busy shopping area located in the heart of Rio, became a must-see for Cariocas, Brazilian and foreign tourists looking for the ideal outfit and accessories to accompany the diva in her presentation.
In the shops of the popular market there are plenty of T-shirts with the colors of the Brazilian flag and the image of a wolf captured on the front accompanied by the text LobaCabanain reference to the artist and the show she will offer on the iconic beach.
You can also see tops with glitter and sequins, others in pink and also silver tones – like those used by the Colombian on her last tour – many accessories and items with references to the diva.
Caps, dark glasses with messages from her songs and even real bills with her face are part of the commercial shakiromania seen in the corners of the popular market, where well-known songs by the artist such as The bicycle They set the mood for shopping.
And regardless of the 34 degrees that the thermometers show in the middle of autumn in Rio, the streets of this store are packed with young people and teenagers who examine outfits and a multitude of objects with a magnifying glass until they get what they are looking for.
Among them, Lenon Bezerra, who has been a Shakira fan since he was seven years old and traveled to Rio de Janeiro from Manaus, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, to see his diva, since his expectation is that “it is going to be a memorable show,” he told EFE.
The young man found in Saara the famous fan that the singer popularized on the networks after her team acquired it in the popular market.
According to the creative director of the Lix store, Silvana Bezerra, Shakira’s concert is expected to generate revenue this month up to four times more than in a normal period, due to the demand for products associated with the show.
“If we had two shows like this a year, we wouldn’t even need to open the store the rest of the time,” he told EFE.
The merchant stated that the Colombian phenomenon surpasses that of Madonna and Lady Gaga’s concerts, and attributed part of that success to Shakira’s own promotion of a fan inspired by Copacabana.
A long-awaited concert
The authorities of Rio de Janeiro and the organizers of the event estimate that at least two million people will attend the Colombian’s free concert.
The forecast was disclosed in a press conference given by the organizers of the event, which in 2024 brought together 1.6 million people for Madonna’s concert and in 2025 2.1 million for Lady Gaga’s presentation, according to their calculations.
“We could not have chosen anyone better for this year’s concert in Rio because Shakira represents what is best in world culture and in Latin culture. A culture that is capable of mobilizing millions. She will surely fill the beach,” said the municipal secretary of Culture, Lucas Padilha.
The regional secretary of Culture of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Danielle Barros, said that the police mobilization and organizational structure for the Shakira concert will be the same as last year.
Padilha recalled that Shakira began her current world tour in Rio, which is the largest tour by a Latin American artist in the world.
