I’ve just seen a ad on TV for a programme about the Kumbh Mela a Hindu festival in India where they’re expecting 20 MILLION people.
The largest ever gathering of people I’ve ever been to is ~1million in the Phoenix Park in 1979(I was 8 and remember it very well) when the Pope came to Ireland and said mass there. This was over a 1/4 of the population of the country at the time.
What’s yours ?
I’ve been to Times Square for new years before, and thats usually in the hundreds of thousands, but the most I’ve been in the middle of was about 70,000 at a concert last summer. I now realize what is meant my a sea of humanity. It was actaully kinda scarey to be surrounded by that many people.
I think it was probably Lollapalooza a few years back. It was miserable. (I don’t get out much!)
From what I know about Lollapalooza it seems very cool, with people like Homer catching cannon balls with his stomach and all 
The 2nd biggest for me was a Queen Concert in Slane Castle in '86. About 80k there. I hate big concerts and have sworn never to attend another [sub]unless Kylie Minogue does a naked tour and even then I’ll be wearing ear plugs[/sub]
The time that I was at Lollapalooza sucked. I hate crowds and besides that, during the two days I was there, I was spit on, sweated on, bled on, pissed on, shit on and vomited on. I don’t think I’ll do that again.
Wow it sounds just like the Pope’s gig. 
There were more funny hats at Lollapalooza!
Washington DC 4th of July Mall celebration in 1985. The Beach Boys were playing and there was an estimated 750,000 people there. Of course I couldn’t even see the band…
Last New Years Eve at the Phish festival in the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation in the Florida Everglades. At least 85,000 people.
Long Beach Grand Prix, 1979 or '80. Came down from Tacoma where I was stationed with a buddy who lived in the LA area. Lots of people, couldn’t put a number to them but they were thick all around the course. Have avoided multi-tens-of-thousands events since then.
-mdf
Just remember what William Poundstone said about crowd estimates: you can trust 'em about as far as you can throw 'em.
Paul Simon, Central Park, 1992(1?)
Crowd estimate:6.48 X 10[sup]12[/sup]
Reconciliation walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, last year. Most estimates were about 500,000 people walked as a peaceful demonstration in support of a reconciliation (to say ‘sorry’ if you will ('cos the PM John Howard won’t)) with the Aboriginal peoples of Australia.
By far the largest event I ever attended was the 50th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. If I remember correctly, there were something like 800,000 people there - more than the population of San Francisco itself.
The crowd entirely filled up the bridge from one side to another. There was simply no room to move at all. I remember in the beginning someone said something like “lean to the left” - and the entire bridge leaned to the left. Pretty scary.
There were pictures afterwards of how the bridge actually flattened out - I wonder if there are any of those pics on the web?
Stones concert a few years back, there were about 60,000 or so there.
Especially for gatherings with a political agenda. So I couldn’t tell you how many people were on the Mall supporting abortion rights, but hundreds of thousands wouldn’t surprise me. National Park Service vs. NOW figures ranged from 250,000-500,000.
ParkPop 1992, a large pop festival in The Hague.
That year, the crowd was estimated at a record 500,000. That’s 1/30th of the population of the Netherlands, at the time.
Then again, with a country as large as a top 5 US city, I could also claim I’m continuously attending an event with 16 million visitors
Also, I can’t believe that’s NINE years ago already.
The Breeders played Cannonball, and I fell in love with the song immediately.
I’m getting old, eh?
I was in Ottawa for the Canada Day fireworks about 15 years ago. There was well over 150,000 people there. The lawn of the parliament buildings and all the empty space in down town Ottawa was covered in people. We didn’t even bother bringing a car, we just walked back the 10 kms to the place we were staying at.
Keith
Watkins Glen rock conert in July 1973.
Held in upstate New York, almost four years after Woodstock, it attracted all those, who like me, missed the big one but weren’t gonna miss out again. The crowd was estimated at 600,000 to 750,000.
The absolute pits. One portable toilet per 50,000 or so. Lousy sound system. Not the Band, or the Allman brothers, or even the Dead could save that day. In the vernacular of the day, ‘a bummer’. And today, an unpleasant memory.
