AFTER a pop career spanning a quarter of a century Madonna will stage her debut concert in Moscow tonight amid controversy over ticket sales and security fears.

The world’s biggest-selling female artist was scheduled to perform in a park close to Moscow State University. More than 35,000 tickets were sold within days of becoming available, but police demanded a change of venue two weeks ago amid fears that as many as 200,000 could gatecrash the event. Organisers switched the concert to the Luzhniki Stadium, the largest in the Russian capital, and announced that an extra 20,000 tickets would be available, ranging in price from 1,500 roubles (£30) to 25,000. The average monthly salary in Russia is just under 10,000 roubles.

Fans with tickets for the original event, scheduled to be held yesterday, were infuriated when they were told that they would have to exchange them for new ones.

They were given five days to change the tickets and told that they would be denied entry to the concert unless they did.

Anton Antrashkin, spokesman for the organisers, told The Times that he did not know how many fans were still holding old tickets.

“They can change their tickets even on the day of the concert but we are encouraging them to do it earlier because many people will come from abroad and other cities in Russia and they will need to do it too,” he said.

Organisers have imposed tight security for the visit, refusing even to say at which airport Madonna would arrive. Units of Omon special police will be on duty at the venue alongside Russia’s largest private security firm. There are concerns that the concert could become a target for terrorists.

General Vyacheslav Kozlov, the chief of Moscow’s public security police, told Interfax news service: “About 3,500 policemen, including 400 Omon fighters, as well as police with dogs, bomb technicians and soldiers from the Dzerzhinsky special task division, will be ensuring security.”

Mr Antrashkin said that police cordons would be placed around the stadium to prevent those without tickets from attempting to get into the concert.

But such concerns appeared over-stated. Visitors to the stadium found that tickets in all price ranges were still available. The longest queue appeared to be made up of people seeking refunds after learning that tickets they had bought for the dancing zone in front of the stage were being exchanged for ones high up in the stands.

One disappointed fan said that tellers had told him there were too many people with tickets for the standing area.

Valerie and Natalie Zimoglyat had no such problems after travelling by overnight train from Kiev in Ukraine to change their tickets. The sisters said that they had paid 5,000 roubles each for tickets costing 1,500 roubles through ticket agents in Ukraine. Madonna’s Confessions tour began in May and is expected to be the most financially lucrative in history by a female artist, with gross revenues of $200 million.

Her show has roused the ire of religious authorities in Moscow for a song in which she undergoes a mock crucifixion wearing a fake crown of thorns. The Russian Orthodox Church called on its faithful to boycott the concert, accusing the singer of exploiting religious symbols.

More than 200 members of a radical Orthodox group tore up posters of the singer at a demonstration in the city last week and threatened to do everything possible to prevent the concert from taking place.