Brazil — Few festivals carry their city’s name around the world; fewer still turn it into a brand. Created by Roberto Medina in 1985, Rock in Rio has since travelled to Lisbon, Madrid and Las Vegas. In September 2026 it returned home, to the Cidade do Rock in Barra da Tijuca’s Parque Olímpico.
Held over two weekends, from 4 to 7 and from 11 to 13 September, the 2026 edition drew more than 700,000 people from 89 countries, according to the organisers. Foo Fighters, Elton John, Calvin Harris, Maroon 5, Avenged Sevenfold, Twenty One Pilots and Stray Kids – the first K-pop act ever to headline the festival – topped a bill of some 190 shows spread across eight stages.
For more than fifteen years, Outline has been part of the sound of Rock in Rio through São Paulo-based Gabisom Audio Equipment – one of the world’s largest and most respected audio hire companies. In 2026 that footprint doubled: six of the festival’s eight stages ran on Outline systems supplied by Gabisom, up from three in 2024.
Among them was the New Dance Order, the festival’s electronic music stage, where on the night of 12 September Brazilian DJ and producer Alok drew the largest crowd in the stage’s history.
Across the six stages, Gabisom deployed several hundred Outline loudspeaker elements: GTO, GTO C-12, Superfly, Mantas 28 and DBS 18-2. Each stage had its own Outline Newton processors – the company’s patented FPGA-based platform – with amplification from GTA Series units.
Rock in Rio 2026 will also be remembered for its weather: rainfall in the city over the first ten days of September exceeded the average for the whole month. “The rain was one of our artists this year,” said Roberta Medina, vice-president of festival organiser Rock World, as the festival closed. The six Outline stages played on through both weekends, under the same skies.
Rock in Rio returns to the Cidade do Rock in September 2028.
