Poor ticket sales greet Eminem

Eminem: Has been criticised for his stage show

Eminem plays the first date of his Australian shows on Thursday - but ticket sales have been disappointing for a tour that has attracted so much attention.

Only two thirds of tickets for his show in Melbourne had been sold just three hours before the controversial American rapper was due to take the stage.

You can watch TV or a movie and see somebody kill 80 people, yet they still want to point the finger at music

Proof
D12 rapper

The attendance will be hailed as a victory for family groups who, having failed to win a ban on him entering the country, said they would appeal to music fans to avoid the artist.

They had complained that his songs contained violent and homophobic lyrics.

Some fans gathered outside the star's city hotel during the day, hoping to catch a glimpse of him.

Eminem did appear briefly, but has otherwise kept out of the public eye since flying into the city from Los Angeles on Tuesday, according to reports.

The Arena also hosts the Australian Open tennis

Members of his hip-hop group D12 have appeared in public, though, arguing that their explicit and violent lyrics should not be censored.

"There's only one thing that speaks louder than words and that's action," said Proof, one band member who has been rapping with Eminem since they were teenagers in Detroit.

"You can watch TV or a movie and see somebody kill 80 people, yet they still want to point the finger at music. It's so stupid," he told The Australian newspaper.

Eminem and D12 will take the stage at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena on Thursday before playing at Sydney's Superdrome the following night.

'Maniac'

The 15,000-capacity Rod Laver Arena is the same place that hosts the Australian Open tennis tournament.

The arena billed Eminem's show as: "The man...the myth... the maniac is coming to Australia."

The Sydney venue has also sold about two thirds of its tickets, reports say.

Australian PM Howard: Spoke of his Concern

The Grammy-winning star has faced a barrage of criticism for producing a chainsaw and pretending to take drugs on stage, using lyrics that depict violence, killings and anti-gay sentiment, and for being arrested on gun charges.

One Australian MP described the rapper's music as "sickening", while Prime Minister John Howard has spoken of his concern about the negative impact the star could have on young fans.

But the government decided to grant him a visa to enter the country a week before the first show.

Free speech

Australian Family Association national secretary Bill Meuhlenberg said adter the decision: "Given the nature of the content and lyrics we are trying to keep the young people out of these concerts."

Victorian state premier Steve Bracks defended the rapper's right to free speech, but asked him not to incite hatred while in the city.

"I won't be going to see him and no-one I know will be going to see him," he told an Australian news agency.

"But it's a democracy and parents have the right to choose and young people have the right to choose."