Brazilian police thwart bomb attack at Lady Gaga Copacabana Beach show

Brazilian police have said they thwarted an attempted bomb attack on Lady Gaga’s huge Copacabana Beach show in Rio De Janeiro.

• READ MORE: Lady Gaga – ‘Mayhem’ review: queen of pop bombast dials everything up to eleven

The singer played the biggest show of her career, dubbed ‘Mayhem On The Beach’, at the venue on Saturday night (May 3). A crowd of over two million people gathered on the beach near the Belmond Copacabana Palace Hotel for Gaga’s first Brazilian show since 2012.

In a statement on Sunday, the Civil Police of Rio De Janeiro State, in co-ordination with the Justice Ministry, said that they had arrested two people after the suspects had allegedly “recruited individuals, including minors, to carry out co-ordinated attacks using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails” (via Reuters).

One suspect was arrested in the state of Rio Grande Do Sul for illegal possession of a firearm, while more than a dozen search and seizure warrants have been carried out across the states of Rio De Janeiro, Mato Grosso, Rio Grande Do Sul and São Paulo.

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A post shared by Secretaria de Polícia Civil RJ (@policiacivil_rj)

The police operation, dubbed Operation Fake Monster, was based on a tip from Rio De Janeiro’s state police intelligence, which had identified an online group that were encouraging violent behaviour among teenagers with the use of coded language and extremist symbolism. The Justice Ministry said the recruiters identified themselves as ‘Little Monsters’, the term for Gaga’s fanbase.

The ‘Abracadabra‘ singer performed in front of a record-breaking crowd on a custom stage built to bring her creative vision to life, with her career-spanning set estimated to have bought in $100m (£75m) to the local economy, per BBC News.

Gaga has posted a response to the show on Instagram, although she did not explicitly reference the foiled plot. “Nothing could prepare me for the feeling I had during last night’s show – the absolute pride and joy I felt singing for the people of Brazil,” she wrote. “The sight of the crowd during my opening songs took my breath away. Your heart shines so bright, your culture is so vibrant and special, I hope you know how grateful I am to have shared this historical moment with you.”

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“An estimated 2.5 million people came to see me sing, the biggest crowd for any woman in history. I wish I could share this feeling with the whole world – I know I can’t, but I can say this – if you lose your way, you can find your way back if you believe in yourself and work hard. You can give yourself dignity by rehearsing your passion and your craft, pushing yourself to new heights – you can lift yourself up even if it takes some time.”

“Thank you Rio for waiting for me to come back. Thank you little monsters all over the world. I love you. I will never forget this moment. Paws up little monsters. Obrigada. Love, Mother Monster.”

Incase you’ve ever wondered what 2 million Little Monsters singing Paparazzi in unison sounds like #Gagacabana
pic.twitter.com/9pwQsT9g1O

— Gaga Daily (@gagadaily) May 4, 2025

Last year, Madonna took over the same venue in Brazil and performed a free show which marked the largest of her career to 1.6million people, and Gaga has now broken Madonna’s record for biggest standalone crowd in music history with an estimated 2.5m attendees.

Gaga released her new album ‘Mayhem’ in March and in a four-star review, NME wrote: “There’s a nonchalant confidence in the way Gaga sticks to her maximalist vision without pandering to contemporary pop trends. Most ‘Mayhem’ tracks run close to or over four minutes, making them mini-epics in the TikTok era.

“Ultimately, ‘Mayhem’ feels like a great Gaga album because it’s just so much fun. At times, it’s a bit like reconnecting with an old friend who makes sense even when they seem to be chatting nonsense. Seventeen years after she broke through with ‘Just Dance’, Lady Gaga remains pop’s foremost agent of impeccably crafted chaos.”

Meanwhile, news of Lady Gaga’s upcoming US tour was first shared last month, and included dates across the UK and Europe, as well as North America. This was later followed by details of an Australian tour.

Dubbed ‘The MAYHEM Ball’, the latest dates follow the singer sharing her new album ‘Mayhem’, and gearing up to play her first live shows in Singapore in over a decade, her first Mexico shows in 13 years and a monumental free show to over a million fans at Copacabana Beach in Rio.

Visit here for UK and European tickets.

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