A nap and a scrap more popular than opera

After a fruitless attempt to buy a ticket for the Three Tenors concert in Beijing, via the promoter's Web site, I discovered that the Fringe Club was selling them, and showed up credit card in hand.

However, staff could not show me a seating plan and had no idea what price of ticket guaranteed me an unobstructed sight line to the stage. I paid up and eventually received my tickets.

At the concert in Beijing, I discovered that a US$380 ticket gave me a view of a giant screen, probably 500m away from the stage, which was lower than the seating, guaranteeing no one but the front row could see. This did not stop most of the audience from standing periodically in the hope that Luciano Pavarotti had got taller in mid-concert. This also did not stop vendors inside the Tiananmen Gate from selling binoculars, which were clearly going to be of no use inside unless one wanted a close view of the giant screen. In the course of a 2.5-hour concert, I saw three fights, heard at least 20 mobile phones ring (and the subsequent conversations) and saw people napping and picking their noses. Clearly thousands of tickets were given to workers by the sponsors as we were surrounded by children under six, and old men in singlets, shorts and sandals, many of whom left at the intermission.

During the break, the sound system and large TV screen blasted commercials for such items as tea and Chinese medicine. No provisions were made for transport, to and from Tiananmen Gate. The air quality resembled a dingy Wan Chai bar at 5am on a Sunday.

The music was fantastic and the Forbidden City an amazing setting, but understanding what a 'world-class' event entails, I was not pleased with the arrangements. If Beijing gets the 2008 Olympics, I'm watching it on television.

MARY ELIZABETH McNAMARA