Shakira brings free concert to Mexico City in March

Colombian pop star Shakira will perform in Mexico City's Zocalo square in a free concert on the night of March 1, the best-selling musician announced together with the city government on Friday.

"Beautiful Mexico! Do you remember in 2007 when I sang for you in the Zocalo? Well, I want to tell you that this is going to happen again," she said in a video message on social media.

The musician sold out more than 12 concerts in Mexico City's Estadio GNP during her "Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran" (Women Don't Cry Anymore) world tour, breaking records for that venue. Some 780,000 tickets were sold, with 65,000 people attending each night in September.

She is due back to the stadium at the end of February, days before the free concert in the city's iconic central plaza.

"You have given me so much and I hope I can return to you some of the love you have shown me," Shakira said in the post.

The Zocalo is the size of about eight football pitches. It is frequently used to host free concerts by major artists, including Justin Bieber, Rosalia and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, the last of which brought in an estimated 300,000 fans.

Shakira had been rumored to host such a concert last August, but the city government said at the time this had not been organized.

Earlier this month, she was chosen as this year's headliner for what has become a traditional public concert in Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach, following Lady Gaga in 2025 and Madonna in 2024.

Her last album, "Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran", reached Billboard's No. 1 Latin album and won her a Grammy Award at the start of last year. The singer gets close to 80 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

In May, Estadio GNP will also host K-pop boy band BTS. Demand for tickets was so high that President Claudia Sheinbaum asked her South Korean counterpart to help arrange more concerts.

-Reporting by Sarah Morland and Diego Ore; Editing by Aurora Ellis/Reuters