One million turn out for Stones as Rio warms up for carnival

You can't always get what you want, but the Rolling Stones left a million fans satisfied on Saturday at a free show on Copacabana Beach.

Boats, including a huge ocean liner, crowded the shoreline, and helicopters and blimps circled overhead during the show that shut down the Copacabana Beach district but fell far short of the record 3.5 million that packed the beach on New Year's Eve 1994 to watch Rod Stewart. Police estimated the gathering at about one million.

The band opened with "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and played a set of mostly older hits, with a few songs from their newest album, A Bigger Bang. During the show, Mick Jagger - who has a six-year-old Brazilian son, Lucas, ad-libbed comments in Portuguese, delighting the crowd.

Eight video screens and 16 sound towers allowed those far from the action a glimpse of the sexagenarian rockers.

This is the Stones' third visit to the country but the first time they have played for free in Brazil, where few can afford tickets to see top international acts.

Wilson Teixeira, 26, from Sao Paulo, waited eight hours pressed against a barrier to see the band from what was effectively the front row. "I saw them in 1995 and they were better this time, more energy."AP