An extra 55,000 free tickets are to be released for Saturday's Live 8 concert in London after city authorities agreed to allocate more audience space at the Hyde Park venue.
Live 8 organisers said today that the concert, headlined by Coldplay, U2 and Pink Floyd, would also be extended an extra 90 minutes to close at 8.30 pm.
The extra tickets will be distributed to first-comers at four ticket offices in London as well as in six locations across Britain from 2pm ON Wednesday. There were more than two million applications by mobile phone text for the initial 150,000 tickets.
"This is going to be the biggest event in Hyde Park's history and the biggest ticketed event ever in the UK," said organiser Bob Geldof. The size of the concert means the entire park, in the heart of the British capital, will be closed to the public.
The London concert is one of eight being held around the world to pressure global leaders meeting in Scotland next month to do more to relieve poverty in Africa.