On New Year’s Eve 1994, Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach hosted the world’s largest concert, which saw a whopping 35 lakh fans in attendance.
On Saturday, Diljit Dosanjh returned to India after months to perform in Delhi as part of his Dil-Luminati Tour. As per reports, 35,000 screaming fans attended his concert at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. That makes it a big concert by Indian standards. However, if one looks at the largest concerts the world has seen, Diljit’s gig is dwarfed in comparison. The largest of them all had 100 times as many people. (Also read: Diljit Dosanjh shares unseen pics from Dil-Luminati Tour Delhi concert, shows off massive crowd at JLN Stadium)
In Short
- Tickets for Diljit Dosanjh’s Delhi concerts are selling in black market
- Normal ticket price up to Rs 9,000, selling for as much as Rs 84,000
- Two shows of Diljit’s ‘Dil-Luminati World Tour’ on October 26 and 27
35 lakh fans crammed into Copacabana Beach, Rio, on New Year’s Eve 1994
The world’s largest concert
In December 1994, Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach hosted a grand New Year’s Eve party. In the past, the city hosted grand events in which big international artists performed. These concerts always see large crowds, as entry is free, and there are no restrictions on food and alcohol. The carnival-like atmosphere sees lakhs of people attend these events. On December 31, 1994, Rod Stewart performed at Copacabana and broke records with an attendance of 35 lakh at the beach, more than the population of several neighbouring cities.
Three years later, French musician Jean-Michel Jarre equalled this record with his performance at the Oxygene in Moscow, another free concert. The 35-lakh attendance of these two gigs makes them a hundred times bigger than Diljit‘s mega Delhi concert.
The largest ticketed concerts in the world
But the million-odd attendance at a concert only happens when the entry is free. Ticketed concerts usually have much lower attendance, but even those numbers are still impressive. The biggest ticketed concert ever was by Italian performer Vasco Rossi, who had 2.25 lakh fans in attendance at his Modena Park event in 2017. In India, the largest-ticketed concert was by Justin Bieber in Mumbai in 2021 and by Diljit Dosanjh in 2023, both attended by 50,000 people.
Scheduled for October 26 and 27 at the capital’s Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, the concert is sold out officially. But in the black market, ticket sales are zooming.
India Today’s Special Investigation Team has uncovered how black marketeers are making big bucks by scalping Diljit’s tickets.
Our team got in touch with Arun (name changed) through a chain of contacts, and he fixed a meeting in Noida’s Sector 74.
After we met him, Arun straightaway got down to business. “You need six tickets, right. Which ones do you want—gold or silver? I can arrange both, no problem. Both are available”, he offered. We told him we were interested in the Gold category tickets.
He then showed us photos of the different wristbands (used as ID for entry into the stadium) on his mobile phone. We asked him if the tickets would be genuine. “The tickets are genuine, and the person selling them is also genuine” he quipped.
We wanted to be sure that the tickets on offer were for the October 26 show in Delhi, and not some other venue like Chandigarh or Jaipur. Arun assured us that the tickets would be for the Delhi Show only.
Clearly, the “Dil-Luminati” tickets are available, but at a huge cost. For instance, the Gold category tickets officially priced between Rs 4,000 and Rs 9,000 are going for as much as Rs 20,000 in the black market.
The India Today Special Investigation Team was assured that the tickets were genuine. But there was no way we could tell. After all, a lot of scams in the name of Diljit and Coldplay concert tickets were being reported daily.
It was just an assurance from some young men out to make a quick buck. We asked Arun what the wristbands looked like. He showed us the photos on his mobile, and also added that he understood our apprehensions.
The India Today SIT also got in touch with RK (name changed), a cab operator in Delhi, who was also moonlighting as a black marketeer for Diljit Dosanjh concert tickets.
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