Paul McCartney’s opening concert of his European tour in Gijon (North of Spain) on Wednesday night was not as successful as organisers originally hoped. In the end 25,000 spectators attended the concert, but thousands of these went after winning free tickets from big companies (mobile telephone operators, local companies..) in last-minute simple competitions, something which has angered fans who paid for their ticket. The organisers of the concert had expected 40,000.

Yesterday the mayoress of Gijon, Paz Fernandez Felgueroso, said that in the future she would consider cancelling concerts if not enough tickets were sold in advance.

Apparantly the concert itself was quite successful once it started, and McCartney sang five encores. He was on stage for two and a half hours and sang many old Beatles favourites, dedicating them to the two deceased members of the 1960s band, John Lennon and George Harrison.