Following the Glastonbury mudfest last weekend, fans in Oxford yesterday braved a fierce thunderstorm to secure their free tickets to Sir Bob Geldof's Live Eight concert in Hyde Park.

Fans queue in the rain yesterdayAlmost 24 hours after torrential downpours hit southern England and spread their way north across the Midlands, bringing violent electric storms and widespread local flooding to the region, around 400 people suffered the same fate, just as the doors of the New Theatre in Oxford were about to open to offer two tickets apiece on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Only a fraction of those queuing around the George Street theatre and around Gloucester Green were offered any protection from fixed canopies or umbrellas -- the rest had to grin and bear it as torrential rain beat down on them as they waited for the prized tickets.

Before the storm hit, the atmosphere was sticky but jovial in George Street as the crowds built up.

A handful of police were on hand to cajole and advise the queuing crowds, but all reported a good natured response, a well-behaved atmosphere and no trouble to deal with.

The first person to emerge from the theatre clutching his pair of tickets was Darren MacIags, a 31-year-old cable-layer from East Oxford, who said he was about to give his girlfriend Anne a "big surprise".

He added: "I hope this is happening the same nationally. It's a pretty good cause. You just have to support it."

A group of students from Chipping Norton Sixth Form College, Hannah Campbell, Natasha Weibel, Sonia Parker and Robyn Holah, all aged 17, were delighted to get their tickets.

As she and her friends celebrated, Hannah said: "We're all so excited, especially as we're going to see Coldplay!"

But one female punter, angry that she had no time to queue, said: "I'm gutted. It's the working people who pay the taxes. People with responsibilities don't have the time to sit around. It's all the unemployed and students that have the time, it's not fair."

Tom Curry, 16, of Thame, entertained the queue with his guitar, he said: "It's going to be the gig of the generation -- bigger than Glastonbury, bigger than Reading."

All the tickets were snapped up within 90 minutes of the doors opening at 3pm.

Three keen fans even set up camp outside the New Theatre on Wednesday at 10pm and stayed overnight to be the first in the queue.

Joel Barnett, spokesman for the New Theatre, said: "The atmosphere of the event was very well natured.

"By the time the doors opened the waiting time had grown to over an hour, with the queue looping around the theatre and stretching as far back as Friars Entry."

More than 55,000 free Live 8 tickets were picked up around the country yesterday.