In partnership with Rock In Rio Lisbon
Words: Gary Ryan and Jordan Bassett
“Isn’t music amazing, everybody?” Charlie Puth asked on the main stage (AKA the World Stage) as Rock in Rio Lisbon 2026 got underway. There wasn’t a single word of dissent from the thousands of fans who’d flocked to Parque Tejo Lisboa for a first-day line-up that included sonic innovator Audrey Nuna and pop royalty Bebe Rexha, with bona fide megastar Katy Perry set to headline in typically maximalist style.
If anyone doesn’t think music is amazing and decided to keep quiet about it, there was plenty for them to do anyway. Fancy zip-wiring past the main stage? Bizarrely and brilliantly, Rock In Rio Lisbon can cater for that. There was also an aircraft show, as planes darted around in formation over the site – and there aren’t many festivals you can say that about.
As it celebrates its 11th edition, the shindig is still flying high. Here’s what went down on day one. JB
Katy Perry roared
Topping the bill on Rock In Rio Lisbon’s Friday night, Katy Perry put on a pure pop spectacle that made you realise why pop’s new guard such as Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo cite her as an influence.
Resplendent in a star-spangled tie and a white shirt-style dress emblazoned with the words “I AM NOT A ROBOT”, she took aim at her recent shaky reviews with wit. “GROBAN” flashed on the giant novelty phone screen, a nod to her relationship with Josh Groban in 2009, causing her to furiously pantomime hitting ‘DECLINE’ to knowing laughs from the KatyCats. On another prop phone, the contact ‘RB’ called, as she kicked the “BLOCKED” button (Perry was married to Russell Brand from 2010 until their divorce in 2012).
Midway through the performance, she touched on her flight aboard Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin New Shepard rocket. “The most interesting headline I saw – which I resonated with a lot – was that most people say that they’d go to space, but most people lack the courage,” she noted, tongue in cheek. Perry brandished a Portuguese flag and commanded, “Make some noise for the first gays in space” – to applause from the sizeable LGBTQ+ contingent in the crowd. ‘I Kissed A Girl’ predictably went down a storm, as Perry sang while rolling over the crowd, Flaming Lips-style, in a translucent water bottle.
During ‘E.T.’, she was joined by a breakdancing extraterrestrial in a beanie hat, whom she declared “the gayest alien”. Even the tracks from ‘143’ seemed better live, with the EDM anthemics translating well to a festival setting. She played her forthcoming single, the Kelly Clarkson-style rocker ‘Watch It Burn’, and before an emotional acoustic version of ‘Roar’, admitted that last year “I lost my roar”. Yet the reaction from the crowd tonight proved it was cacophonously, defiantly back. GR
Charlie Puth paid tribute to Oliver Tree
Appearing on the main stage before Katy Perry, pop’s boy-next-door Charlie Puth (almost literally in her case – they’re neighbours) rolled out one feel-good, funk-infused banger after another as the dusk descended.
Charlie had dressed up for the occasion, rocking a lime green collared shirt, a red tie and red baseball cap. Puth’s onstage banter was a little less kooky than Perry’s – relatability is his strong point, after all – but he did acknowledge the unlikeliness of the ensemble when he shouted: “I look like a substitute teacher! Or Garfield’s dad!” As a side note, it was also the ideal outfit for when you need to go straight to work from your CBeebies audition.
In any case, Puth’s sentimental pop-R&B was undercut by winning sense of humour throughout. Case in point: the show began with a gospel choir, who did crowd work in their devotional style, jokily warbling: “Rock in Rio, let me hear you scream – no, no, no: that wasn’t loud enough…”
Yet he also leaned into his earnest side, prompting a sea of phone torches with the schmaltzy ‘Marvin Gaye’. Before the yearning ‘See You Again’, he announced: “If anyone’s lost anyone, they’re here with us. All 100,000 of us. They’re here in the trees; they’re on the Ferris Wheel.” Puth touchingly dedicated the track to his “label-mate” Oliver Tree, who died in a helicopter crash in Brazil earlier this month, as well as the late producer Tay Keith.
By the end of the show, Charlie had flipped his cap backwards, looking very much like a groovy substitute teacher who was about to teach the class about the fall of the Roman Empire via the medium of rap. “Y’all feel the vibe?” he asked at one point. We do, Charlie. Now get a move on – you’ve got Year 10 Maths in the morning. JB
The best of the rest
“Do you guys fucking love me?” enquired Bebe Rexha, topping the line-up on the Palco Super Bock stage. Judging by the crowd’s reaction – they jumped up and down like Boggle dice and held up their phones with the message “I LOVE YOU BEBE” flashing on screen – she didn’t exactly need to take a poll. Making her debut in Portugal, she looked genuinely overwhelmed by the love for her. Opening with ‘Çike Çike’, her unpretentious pop hurled easily recognisable samples like Donkey Kong barrels – perfect for a festival vibe.
“I can’t believe you were singing all the words to ‘New Religion’,” she said at one point, referring to the track that filches Faithless‘ ‘Insomnia’ and boasts a drop like an open manhole. ‘Hands up!” she commanded during her David Guetta collab ‘I’m Good (Blue)’, which cuts and pastes the hooks from Eiffel 65’s ‘Blue (Da Ba Dee) like a sonic ransom note. Delirium ensued. GR
Brazilian DJ Pedro Sampaio got an enormous crowd moving in the early evening sun, rolling out thumping dance-pop from the World Stage, inciting a huge Mexican wave and deeply enjoyable coordinated dance moves. When they’re firing flares from the main stage four hours before the headliner, you know you’re onto a winner. The word “CHAOS” flashed up on the video screens, which pretty much said it all.
That would also be a good word to describe the genre-smashing stylings of Audrey Nuna, who annihilated the Music Valley Stage with a wrecking crew of backing dancers. Nuna really turned on the charm, profusely thanking the appreciative crowd and addressing them in Portuguese, though her music was a pitiless blend of pop, R&B, rap and eviscerating nu-metal. Yes, she did the one from KPop Demon Hunters (for which she provided a character’s singing voice). All in all, Audrey showed us ‘How It’s Done’. JB