Madonna Webcast Claims 9 million Fans

LONDON (AP) â€” About nine million fans tuned in over the Internet on Tuesday night to see pop diva Madonna's first concert in Britain in seven years, the producer said. <br><br>The peak audience figure

Wednesday, November 29th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LONDON (AP) â€” About nine million fans tuned in over the Internet on Tuesday night to see pop diva Madonna's first concert in Britain in seven years, the producer said.

The peak audience figure for the six-song, 29-minute performance at London's Brixton Academy set a record for such events, according to Microsoft's MSN Website.

Only about 2,800 people were able to see the concert in person. The fans crammed inside the theater for Madonna's performance featuring her latest album, ``Music.'' The 42-year-old singer told a London radio station earlier Tuesday that she was warming up for a summer world tour.

``It's really more of a thank-you show to my fans and I want it to be more intimate. So I purposefully tried to find a venue that held about 3,000 people,'' she said.

During the show Madonna wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the name of her 3-month-old son, Rocco Ritchie, on the front. The back read ``Lola,'' a nickname for her 3-year-old daughter Lourdes.

Microsoft's MSN Website said the audience was three times larger than an MSN Webcast of a Paul McCartney concert a year ago. NetAid had also claimed the biggest-ever Internet audience of 2.49 million during a trio of charity concerts in October 1999 featuring the Eurythmics, U2's Bono and Jewel.