Website crashes over Kraftwerk ticket rush

Eager Kraftwerk fans have crashed an art gallery's website after an overwhelming rush to buy tickets for the band's retrospective gigs in London.

The Model hitmakers are set to perform their eight albums on consecutive nights as part of an innovative 3D series, entitled 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, at London's Tate Modern in February next year.

But just over an hour after the tickets went on sale on Wednesday, the demand had jammed phone lines and crashed the venue's website, forcing officials to post desperate messages on the gallery's official Twitter.com page urging fans to be patient.

Lovers of the German electronic pioneers were left raging about their five-hour struggle to buy the coveted tickets, and Tate director Nicholas Serota compared the demand to the rush for Olympic Games passes over the summer.

He tells the BBC, "This isn't the first website to crash through over-demand. The Olympic site did something similar."