Colombian pop star Shakira graced 85,000 people during the Rock in Rio Madris music festival. This is said to be one of the biggest concerts of her career.

Shakira gave a crowd-pleasing performance on Sunday at the specially built "Rock City" at Arganda del Rey, about 20 kilometres outside of Madrid. She was 50 minutes behind schedule and received cheers and applause from the audience.

"Spain thank you for making me feel at home. Thank you for real. You have no idea how much I love you," the Grammy winning singer-songwriter said after her performance of Ojos, Te Dejo Madrid and La Tortura, three of her well-loved Spanish songs.

Following Shakira on the 98-metre wide and 28-metre high stage were Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna and Puerto Rican reggaetin duo Calle 13.

Other artists expected to perform at the festival are teen star Miley Cyrus and heavy metal band Metallica.

Rock in Rio was first held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in January 1985.

The succeeding editions of the music festival were held in Lisbon and Madrid and were arranged by Roberto Medina, its Brazilian founder.

This is the second Rock in Rio Madrid. The first was attended by 290,000 music fans back in 2008. Some 320,000 people are expected to come in this year's festival.