Live Earth Rio happened, after all, and gathered the biggest crowd in the Live Earth series.

Herald Tribune:

More than 400,000 people packed Copacabana Beach on Saturday for South America's Live Earth concert, waving Brazilian flags and dancing at the global music festival's only free concert to raise awareness about climate change.

"By being here today, you have begun a nonviolent revolution to make the world a better place," singer Macy Gray said to cheers from the crowd, before thanking them in English and Portuguese.

There were no immediate reports of violence after a prosecutor tried twice this week to shut down the event, saying authorities would be unable to provide adequate security for an expected crowd of 700,000, police Col. Ricardo Pacheco said.

Lenny Kravitz closed the night with a rocking set that opened with "Are You Gonna Go My Way" and finished with "Where Are We Runnin'," but had to be cut by half because of time limitations. Kravitz did find time to run into the middle of the crowd and even speak a few basic words of Portuguese.

The list of artists who performed at Live Earth Rio included Brazilian pop singer Guilherme Arantes, TV star and singer Xuxa, rock group Jota Quest, Pharrell Williams and Samba rock legend Jorge Ben Jor.

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