Singer Sets Undersea Concert Record

The Georgian-Irish artist and her band performed two, hour-long concerts Monday at the bottom of a hollow concrete leg that helps support the Troll A offshore platform, the Norwegian oil company Statoil ASA said.

"This was definitely the most surreal gig I've ever done," said Melua, 22, whose albums have sold more than five million copies worldwide.

Craig Glenday, editor of The Guinness Book of Records, confirmed the record for "the world's deepest underwater concert performed in front of an audience."

The concerts, watched by offshore oil crews, helped celebrate the 10th anniversary of natural gas production starting at the Troll A platform, about 55 miles off the coast of the western Norwegian city of Bergen.

The 1,548-foot tall Troll A platform was towed to the offshore field in 1995, making it the largest structure humanity had ever moved.

Statoil's platform, whose mostly-underwater structure is taller than the Eiffel tower, is supported by four vast concrete legs, or shafts, on the ocean floor. To hold the concert, Melua flew to the platform by helicopter, and then descended to the bottom of the shaft, Statoil said.

The artist sang and played the guitar, accompanied on the keyboards for one song by Troll A platform manager Jan Hauge, who had the idea for the concert.

Melua's Internet site said there was extensive training for the concert, "including escaping through the window of a submerged helicopter."

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