Jean-Michel Jarre – Moscow, August 1997

Jean-Michel Jarre, a pioneer of electronic music, broke another concert record when he performed in front of 3.5 million people in Moscow. This event, part of the city's 850th anniversary celebrations in August, combined powerful soundscapes with lights, lasers, and pyrotechnics, making it one of the most visually and sonically ambitious concerts of all time.

The crowd in Moscow made it clear: Jarre was not just a performer; he was a master of mega-format musical events. This performance remains an absolute highlight in the artist's touring history and cemented his status as an enduring concert legend.

Jean-Michel Jarre – Paris La Défense, July 1990

In July 1990, Jean-Michel Jarre played to 2.5 million people in Paris. This free concert at La Défense was a multimedia masterpiece. The venue, surrounded by skyscrapers, became a canvas for projections, fireworks, and futuristic light shows, blending technology and music in a way only Jarre can.

With this concert, Jean-Michel Jarre once again proved why he is at the top of the list of artists for large-scale live performances. The sheer number of attendees, the innovation, and the spectacle made this event one of the most talked-about concerts in music history.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_Jarre

 

Just checked in G earth, from the picture in above posts I estimated in the most generous case 300 000 sqm (but it's less, probably 230k!), and because even in the most dense concert you have 3-4 ppl/sqm, you just can't go over 1000 000 ppl. I would stay more around 800-700k as you wrote.
This is something anyone can verify, but of course not paid press sent there.

 

Last edited: May 5, 2026 at 11:27 AM

This was also wild. Don't know how many people, but clearly above two thousand or so...

 

i thought we all know that we're still living in a lying era... still in the matrix...

 

Trump approves

 

Yesterday I did an open mic (my song was "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate" by The Flaming Lips). There were 25 million people. I fucked nearly half of them. I fucked them so good they each gave me a hundred thousand billion dollars.

 

For a moment there I thought you were gonna say "a hundred thousand billion babies"

 

When the concert finishes, you just run 12 kilometres to the end of the line and you can enjoy it all over again.

 

None of these figures are accurate. Wikipedia cites the Guinness Book of World Records, which cites Russian state media (not always the most reliable barometer of facts and truth), but does not verify the statements. The Book of World Records says specifically "claimed" - as opposed to verified or certified.

As for JM Jarre playing to 2.5M people in Paris, let the record show your honor that in 1990, the entire population of Paris was 2,150,147. Anyone who's ever taken the subway in Paris can attest it's impossible to transport the entire population of Paris, plus another 350,000 to a concert.

But never mind those discrepancies, or France's own state bureau of statistics (link in blue above), how about total active military personnel for comparison?

As one can see below, the entire active military of China is (officially) about 2M people. India's is about 1.5M. The entire military of the two most populous countries in the world - spread all over the territories of said countries. That's what 1M (half of China's), or 3M (twice India's) numbers are in reality.

Hopefully, we can all stop believing press releases, written by people whose job is to tell stories so disconnected from reality that you forget about said reality - for the benefit of their client(s).

No statement should be taken at face value without running through the critical thinking part of your mind. It's okay to believe your parents when you're a baby, toddler, even a tender age child - our brain is not fully developed then (not until 25, incidentally), and we have the utmost trust and faith in the words and actions of our caretakers... to a fault.

Being an adult means you get to think for yourself, and thinking for yourself means you don't let others fabricate thoughts for you.

Food for thought.

 

The population of a city is calculated by the people who are residents (registered). It does not say anything about the people who commute to work or tourists...(Amsterdam!!!)

The city of Rio has circa 6 million people. Rio great area has 16 million. 3 million fans is a lot of people...

The infrastructure for these kind of events does not take place overnight. It is a logistical nightmare. It takes planning and time (days) to put them in place. People don't come 2 hs before the concert starts, nor leave in 2hs after its finished.

They come from all over places to see their idol. From other cities and countries too, not only Paris or Rio. People come one or two days before the concert. Some are in place overnight just to get a better place... some walk or take a bus, some don't even see the concert, but come just for the party itself.

Have you added these to your calculations?

https://www.spikevm.com/calculators/percentage/crowd-size-estimator-metric.php

Ok, so why should I believe you? Do you have a better or a more reliable source? Or it is just your opinion?

Have you ever been to Paris... and took the subway...or the bus?

 

Last edited: May 6, 2026 at 4:16 AM

I asked to AI how many ppl are per sqm in a dense concert, and the crowd size calculator you posted confirmed that, about 4 (7 seems pretty packed ppl).

With Google earth I traced a polygon in a considerably bigger area (about 300 000 sqm) of the Copacabana beach than seen in pictures, including the shoreline (that actually is largely avoided) and the result is about 1M ppl.
Now resize all to a more realistic view and it becomes 700k, maybe even less.

Now I don't get how such big bs can be boasted by media knowing that can be easily refuted.

 

I asked the same thing after reading your post and got this result from GPT, so I'm not sure where you have shown it is "easily refuted". Where is Sean Spicer when he is needed....

Spoiler

Here’s the quick way people actually estimate it, so you can see where the disagreement comes from.

Copacabana Beach usable event area is roughly:

• ~3.5 to 4 km long
• ~70 to 150 m deep (varies depending on tide, stage setup, and blocked zones)

That gives a rough footprint of:

• ~300,000 to 600,000 m² of usable crowd space (very approximate, but realistic for event planning)

Now crowd density is the real variable:

• Comfortable crowd: ~1–2 people/m²
• Dense concert crowd: ~3–4 people/m²
• Extreme packed crowd (rare, but seen at free mega shows): ~5–6 people/m²

So the math looks like this:

At 3 people/m²:

• 300k m² → ~900,000 people
• 500k m² → ~1.5 million people

At 4 people/m² (what Rio events often approach in peak zones):

• 300k m² → ~1.2 million
• 500k m² → ~2 million

Then add:

• Avenida Atlântica (road behind beach)
• Side street overflow
• Hotel frontage viewing areas

That’s where you get the upper-end “~2 million+” figures for events like Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Shakira.

So what’s the reality?

• 700K = only the tightly packed “front beach block” estimate
• 1–1.5M = conservative full beachfront estimate
• 1.5–2.2M = realistic peak mega-event range used by Rio officials and organizers

The key takeaway: Copacabana isn’t limited by seating or gates — it scales horizontally with how far back the crowd spreads.

 

I specifically left the information about babies out, I don't wanna brag about infanticide on a forum where so many babies post daily

 

Where does one take a leak...or a dump in a crowd so dense?

 

It's all about clicks; the higher the clicks, the higher the advertising revenue.
So the headline has to be so sensational that readers click on it.

 

In my blue Adidas bag.
Well, I didn't know that until i got home.