Everything you need to know about Rock in Rio

Las Vegas’ first Rock in Rio — often billed as one of the world’s largest music festivals — kicks off Friday at Sahara Avenue and the Las Vegas Strip.

The massive, four-day event will feature Metallica, No Doubt, Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars, among nearly 100 other acts.

WHAT IT IS

Rock in Rio is a 30-year-old event which began in Brazil with a who’s who of rock — Queen, AC/DC, Yes and Iron Maiden headlined the inaugural event.

The second one, in 1991, broke a record for largest paying audience ever: 198,000 fans attended to see A Ha’s classic, “Take On Me.” The next one cemented its status as a national event, hosting REM, Oasis, Sting and Neil Young in 2001. In Lisbon in 2004, Rock in Rio was kicked off by Paul McCartney.

This year’s event will be split between “rock weekend” on Friday and Saturday, and “pop weekend” on the 15th and 16th.

The event is expected to host 40,000 to 50,000 people per day.

CASHLESS EVENT

The entire music festival is a cashless event, meaning exactly what you think that means. They truly embraced 21st century tech for the event, taking advantage of the RFID wristbands each attendee is issued.

It’s simple, actually — after receiving your tag, you go to Rock in Rio’s website, where it is registered and you make an account. After that, you purchase “rock cash” (where $1 USD is the same as 1 rock cash), and pay with your wrist for the entire night.

That way, your wristband is your ticket and your wallet, should be safer than carrying around your wallet with cards and money.

PARKING AND TRAFFIC

Be prepared: Traffic will most likely be a mess this weekend and next weekend.

If you’re so inclined, you can rent a spot at the Stratosphere for $30 per day. But keep in mind, it’s first-come, first-served.

The festival has a shuttle system in place, but most likely attendees are going to walk forever to get to Rock in Rio, as it’s not offering any on-site parking. For full shuttle, pedestrian route and monorail plans and schedules, you can check they on MGMResorts.com.

For those of you not attending, according to Metro, from 1 p.m. until 3 a.m. for all days of the festival, Las Vegas Boulevard will be restricted to one lane near the event, extending from St. Louis Avenue to Convention Center Drive.

The lane will only be open to residents and hotel guests of the SLS, Westgate and Sky properties. Industrial Road will have one lane closed and Circus Circus Drive will be closed to all traffic in the surrounding areas.

WHO’S PLAYING

Rock weekend’s major stages will host No Doubt, Metallica, Mana, Linkin Park, The Pretty Wreckless, Rise Against, Foster the People, Deftones and Coheed & Cambria.

Bleachers, a spin-off of the band fun., were scheduled to play but canceled Wednesday.

Pop weekend’s major stages will host Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, John Legend, Joss Stone and Charli XCX.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Sam Smith, one of the major acts for pop weekend, canceled on Thursday due to a hemmorage in his vocal chords.

Brazilian artists Bossacucanova and Pepeu Gomes are among those playing the Rock Street Brazil stage to showcase the festival’s origins. You can check out the rest here at rockinrio.com.

Contact Kristen DeSilva at 702-477-3895 or kdesilva@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @kristendesilva