Dili, East Timor - Rock music blasted across the burned-out buildings of this East Timorese city on Tuesday afternoon as Australian musicians performed a free concert for international troops and local residents.
Hundreds of East Timorese climbed trees, perched atop army trucks on the road or sat on the rusted corrugated metal roofs of nearby buildings to catch a glimpse of the three-hour show inside Dili Stadium.
Thousands of others stood on the muddy soccer field and mingled with troops in front of a giant stage flanked by two large video screens and draped in camouflage netting.
Billed as the Tour of Duty, the concert was headlined by veteran Australian pop musician John Farnham and pop star Kylie Minogue, who wore a tight-fitting yellow dress.
"I don't know her," said Leonel Santos, 14, perched on a tree stump outside the stadium. Santos was selling clove-scented Indonesian cigarettes to passersby.
Between sales, he said he was enjoying the music.
Benedito Pires, also 14, peered through a crack in a side gate trying unsuccessfully to catch a glimpse of the show.
"I want to go in," he said, before walking to another entrance to try again.
Local residents were supposed to have received a free pass to enter the show but one Australian soldier on security duty said those who didn't have the passes crowded one gate.
"We just ended up letting them in," the soldier said, cradling his light machine gun after leaving his post to get a closer look at Farnham's performance.
"I'm loving it," he said. "I just zapped in for a few minutes to have a look."
Music continued despite a heavy downpour at one point late in the show.
The concert was to be televised to most of the more than 9 000 troops in the International Force East Timor who remained on duty and could not attend the show.
Corporations covered the one-million Australian dollar cost of the concert. -Sapa-AFP