Madonna is in Rio de Janeiro, resting at the Copacabana Palace Hotel before taking the stage on the beach for the free show this Saturday (04). Meanwhile, fans are on duty at the hotel door to try to see the queen of pop at least through the window.
On Friday afternoon (03), the day before the show, the sidewalk was packed.
The stretch in Copacabana became even more crowded with people when Madonna's second rehearsal began, around 6:30 pm. The queen took the stage, again masked, at around 7pm.
Fans, however, don't just sit around waiting for the queen of pop.
While Madonna doesn't perform the show or appear at the window to say goodbye, the diva's followers get to know each other, sing together and even do battle of vogue .
The dance style became famous during the dances of the LGBTQIA+ community in the United States in the 80s. It was exactly that “ballroom culture ” (dance culture, in free translation) that inspired Madonna to launch “Vogue “.
With the music loud, the drag queen Maya and the fan Effir Ribeiro (wearing a blonde wig) began to perform a lip sync and dance battle to the sound of “Vogue”, by Madonna, for a production team from the queen of pop's tour.
Other fans formed a circle around the two to applaud, encourage or play the famous “shade ” – which we can translate to “gongar” –, saying things like: “You already lost, but that’s okay, the important thing is to participate!”.
In addition to that moment, a car passed in both directions on Avenida Atlântica playing loudly “La Isla Bonita “. Maya and Effir climbed on the hood of the car and lip synced while dancing, incorporating the queen of pop's mannerisms.
Maya is actually called Victor Oliveira. The 25-year-old artist traveled almost 2 thousand km to go from Pelotas to Rio de Janeiro just to see Madonna.
With the current situation in Rio Grande do Sul, Victor also wanted to highlight the issue. “I want to draw people’s attention to this, too. The whole way was terrifying because we passed through several cities that were buried,” he says.
Victor arrived at the door of the Copacabana Palace disassembled, but he felt like riding his drag queen to wait for Madonna.
When asked about the drag inspiration, Maya responds: “I think you can tell, right?”, showing the look with the pointy bra.
What motivated and made Victor give way to Maya was “Blond Ambition Tour”. “We can see the magnitude of the show and I fell in love with the way she put on a show and that was what gave me the start that led me to create Maya”, he explains.
Effir Ribeiro, 33 years old, is just a big fan. “Madonna is exactly that: for me, she is a religion,” he said. “In addition to being art, innovative, she is a woman who is ahead of her time.”
The song “Like a Prayer” marked him so much – especially during the diva’s 2012 show in Brazil – that he decided to immortalize it on his skin.
“I want to carry Madonna with me tattooed 24 hours a day. I never regret getting the tattoo, every time I look at it… this tattoo feeds me so much, this tattoo reminds me that I'm alive”, he says.
Madonna performs on Copacabana beach in a free show this Saturday (04), starting at 9pm. Before her, it's DJ Diplo's turn to open the show.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m Robert Neff, a professional writer and editor. I specialize in the entertainment section, providing up-to-date coverage on the latest developments in film, television and music. My work has been featured on World Stock Market and other prominent publications.
