Madonna Breaks Record With Webcast

November 29 -- One pop megastar, six songs, 3,500 fans … and 9 million more fans online. Madonna's "intimate" performance Tuesday night in London drew more people to their computer screens than any other show in history, beating out Paul McCartney's historic 1999 performance at the Cavern in Liverpool.

The 42-year-old singer, in her latest incarnation as a discoed-up rhinestone cowboy, performed her first concert in Britain in seven years. But no tickets were sold directly and they were prized commodities — an auction for two tickets netted 2,204 pounds. Only celebrities — such as Mick Jagger, Kylie Minogue, and Sting — competition winners, and other invitees got in to see Madonna in the flesh.

The brevity of her appearance disappointed some in the crowd.

"All that hype for half an hour," said one. Another fan noted, "She looked good, but it was too short, and the sound wasn't brilliant either."

It was Madonna's first live webcast — three months after she gave birth to her son Rocco — and underlined the growing awareness among stars of the power of the Internet, even if viewer numbers are still tiny compared to live TV.

Madonna, who is surrounded by rumors of plans to marry Rocco's father Guy Ritchie, a British film director, said the concert may be a warm-up to a world tour next summer.

The mother of two confessed to nerves after seven years off the stage but broke the ice with a low-key, half-hour set earlier this month at New York's Roseland Ballroom.

She repeated the formula in London, her new adopted home, by opening the night sprawled over a pickup truck with boy-toys dancing around her.

Heavy security surrounded the concert. Brixton, a multicultural, inner-London suburb, last saw such tight security four years ago when then-South African President Nelson Mandela passed through on a walkabout.

The venue was decked out by fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana in the Western style that is the theme of Madonna's latest album, Music.