Monobloco takes over the world

Just got back from a stunning Monobloco show last night, and am trying to prepare mentally for what is bound to be a boiling hot, can-I-survive-till-the-end, ultra-marathon type of life experience at the Monobloco parade tomorrow on the Rio Branco. The Rio Branco parades are getting completely out of control - the bloco Bola Preta's last three parades there drew half a million people, a million people, and (last week) a million and a half people. So how many will Monobloco draw?

Well, this happens to be is Monobloco's 10th anniversary, and they've put together a marvelous display of photos and memorabilia at the Fundicao, including some handy data on all their 9 parades so far since 2001:

2001 - 10,000 people attend the first Monobloco parade in Gávea.
2002 - 20,000 people attend. Parade moves to the Jardim Botanico.
2003 - 50,000 people. (Back to Gávea)
2004 - 50,000 (moves to Ipanema beach)
2005 - 80,000
2006 - 80,000
2007 - 100,000 (outgrows Ipanema, moves to Copacabana beach. This was my first parade with them)
2008 - 100,000
2009 - 400,000 (outgrows Copacabana, moves to the Rio Branco)

Here's the newspaper pic of the 2009 parade. Can you find the band?



Extending this trend into the future, we can confidently predict that Monobloco's parade in the year 2039 will be attended by the entire population of Earth. Well, we'll see what happens tomorrow!