Madonna webcast keeps users waiting

Nine million Madonna fans in 33 countries waited a bottom-numbing two-and-a-half hours in front of their computer screens for the icon to appear in her much publicised live webcast.

The concert, which took place last night at London's Brixton Academy, was billed as the world's biggest webcast and was the star's first live appearance for seven years.

The event opened at 7pm (GMT) but Madonna did not appear until hours later and stayed on stage for only 30 minutes singing songs from her latest album, Music, plus a few of her golden oldies.

MSN secured the exclusive rights to webcast the concert, which was enjoyed in the flesh by 3500, mostly invited celebrities, including Sting, Kylie Minogue, Mel C and Richard E Grant.

The event pulled in more online viewers than the webcast of Paul McCartney's return to The Cavern in Liverpool last year, which was seen by a mere three million fans.

MSN pulled out all the stops to promote the event to its 75 million Hotmail users in 17 languages and 33 countries. The show was offered at various speeds from the audio-only 28.8Kbps to 300Kbps. Fans with extremely fast internet connections were offered download speeds of 700Kbps, which MSN claimed gave near DVD-quality streaming.

An MSN representative said: "This is the stuff of dreams. There isn't a venue in the world that could host the millions of Madonna fans desperate to be part of this historic event."