Tickets for Deep Purple's Friday night concert in Shanghai are selling better than expected, but promoters won't say whether or not they expect the show to make a profit.

To date, more than 7,000 tickets have been sold for the show at the Shanghai Grand Stage, accounting for about 70 percent of available tickets, according to Wu Juqin of the Shanghai Cultural Information and Booking Center, which is handling ticket sales for the concert.

Most buyers are paying for top seats, which cost 500 yuan (US$60) to 1,580 yuan each, Wu said, noting that buyers are mostly in their 30s or older.

The British rockers will kick off a three-concert tour of the mainland tonight in Beijing before playing in Shanghai on Friday and Sunday in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.

Promoters say ticket sales have been slightly better in Shanghai than Beijing or Guangzhou so far.

"The market performance of the China tour is much better than we expected, though the sales are still a bit slow compared with concerts in Japan and South Korea," said Zhang Yixu of RGB Entertainment, which is promoting the band's Asia tour.

Zhang said he would like to see 80 percent of tickets for the three shows sold as that would be enough to consider bringing more high-profile Western bands to the mainland.

While the band is well known in the West, few have heard of them in China, and one could search the city for days before finding any of their albums.

According to China Radio International, Britney Spears has agreed to perform five shows on the mainland this fall.

The 22-year-old will make her mainland debut in Guangzhou on September 24, said tour organizers. She has also agreed to play in Shanghai, Beijing and Changsha, Hunan Province, and might also perform in Shenyang, Liaoning Province.

Concert organizers haven't announced a date or venue for the Shanghai concert.

(Shanghai Daily March 31, 2004)