Moscow concert troubles mount for Madonna

Aug 28, 2006, 11:28 GMT

Moscow - Amid religious protests, kidnapping fears and ticket shenanigans, Madonna's first performance in Russia have run into further problems after authorities ordered a venue change for the September 11 concert in Moscow, media reports said Monday.

Fans were now expected to pack into the city's Luzhniki football stadium instead of Sparrow Hills in front of Moscow State University as planned.

'We will be able to guarantee the safety of concert-goers there,' deputy mayor Lyudmila Shvetsova said after days of wrangling over the site.

As well as crowd control measures for as many as 100,000 people, extra security has been arranged for Madonna after British media claimed that the Russian mafia wanted to abduct the singer, her son Rocco and daughter Lourdes.

The concert has been dogged by controversy because of religious symbolism in the stage show and the decision to hold the one-off performance on the fifth anniversary of the aviation terrorist attacks in the United States.

The Russian Orthodox Church has protested against what it deems blasphemous elements and called upon believers to boycott the event, which Jewish church leaders also branded immoral.

Criticism primarily stems from the song 'Live to Tell,' in which Madonna is elevated on a cross wearing a crown of thorns.

Promoters said 35,000 tickets were sold for the event. But citing the anticipated figure of 100,000 spectators, Moscow police chief Vladimir Pronin said Monday that the stadium was also too small.

The concert should be moved to an aerodrome in the suburbs or an additional performance should be given, according to Pronin.

'Madonna will have to sing and dance for two days to keep everyone happy,' he said.

The cheapest tickets were still trading at several times their face value of 1,500-rouble (56 US dollars), while VIP seats were reportedly being sold for as much as 3,600 dollars.

Meanwhile, a rumoured meeting of Madonna with President Vladimir Putin and his family would not take place, the Kremlin said. The Russian leader in 2003 honoured Sir Paul McCartney and his now estranged wife Heather Mills with a private audience before his concert on Red Square.

Madonna had originally wanted to perform on the giant square by the Kremlin wall, which in the past also echoed to the music of The Scorpions. Other artists including Joe Cocker and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd performed on the adjacent Vasily Slope behind the onion-domed St. Basil's Cathedral.

Luzhniki stadium previously hosted concerts by Michael Jackson and The Rolling Stones.