Who knew Continental Europe even had tumbleweed?

The galloping inflation in concert ticket prices may have run into a problem, reports The Times, as Europeans are simply refusing to pay ridiculous sums to see bands play in enormous venues, and are staying at home instead, leaving bands either cancelling, scaling down their shows, or playing to vast, echoey, half-empty chambers:

Barbra Streisand sang in France on Tuesday for the first and supposedly last time in her half-century career. Yet 3,000 seats were empty in the Paris Bercy stadium. The top Paris prices were €582 euros (£390).

The Stones played to a thinly populated Stade de France in Paris this month, and Sir Elton cancelled a planned Paris mega-show with seats at €750 last February and replaced it with a gig at the Paris Zenith at €150.

An appearance by the Stones in Werchter, Belgium, this month, sold only 33,000 of the 70,000 places. George Michael and The Who abandoned plans to sing at the same venue and opted for a Belgian hall.

Of course, in Britain, people are still happily selling kidneys in order to get to see the back of the head of someone enjoying a restricted view of Barbra Streisand on a big screen. Where's David Stafford and Penny Junor when you need them?