British pop artist Sting rocked a crowd of some 30,000 people Monday in Poznan, central Poland, in a concert that opened the country's first stadium to be ready for the Euro 2012 football championship, dpa reported.
City officials have said the concert will be their first test of how to manage local traffic and seek improvements in preparation for Euro 2012, which Poland is co-hosting with Ukraine.
The 43,000-seat stadium is the first of four in Poland that will host the games. Poland's other three stadiums are to open by July 2011 in the Baltic seaport of Gdansk, the capital Warsaw and the south-western city of Wroclaw.
The stadium has an elite ranking - the highest given by UEFA - and boasts concert hall-quality speakers and two of Poland's largest video screens.
"On 630 days before the inauguration of the tournament, we have a ready venue, which must be tested and perfected," said Marcin Herra, head of the Pl.2012 company in charge of readying Poland for the games.
Poland and Ukraine have both struggled in preparing to host the event.
A report last month showed Poland was ready with stadiums but was running behind in building roads and local transport needed for crowds of football fans.