Billy Joel, Bryan Adams perform free concert outside Rome’s Colosseum

ROME (AP) - Rocker Bryan Adams and New York songwriter Billy Joel took to the stage just outside the Colosseum and performed classic hits to the delight of hundreds of thousands of fans.

Organizers put the number of people who turned up for the free concert Monday night at half a million.

Adams, opening the concert with the Colosseum lit up with purple and yellow lights, performed classics such as Run to You.

Joel sang old favourites like New York State of Mind, Honesty and Just the Way You Are.

While introducing one song he joked in shaky Italian, "This song is as old as the Colosseum."

Giant screens were set up along Via dei Fori Imperiali, the large boulevard that leads to the Colosseum and is lined with ancient Roman relics, for the throngs of people who could not see the stage.

The concert in front of the Colosseum has become a fixture of recent years in Rome. Previous performers include Paul McCartney and Simon & Garfunkel.