SHANGHAI, China (AP) – China to Britney: Come perform but leave the revealing outfits at home.

Britney Spears’ first China tour has received Culture Ministry approval, but officials want to know what she’s wearing before she hits the stage, the official China News Service reported Tuesday.

Spears, who’s on a world tour to promote her latest album, “In The Zone,” will perform five concerts in Shanghai and Beijing sometime next year, CNS said.

Wang Enqiang, an agent for Spears’ Chinese promoter, Beijing Poly Culture and Art Co. Ltd., said the pop star planned to come to the mainland in 2004, but he had no information about ministry concerns.

However, the 22-year-old’s sexy image has caused concern. Culture officials have asked the concert’s Chinese organizers to guarantee she doesn’t show too much skin on stage, CNS said.

“Relevant departments will carry out strict reviews of Britney Spears’ performance clothing,” the report said.

It wasn’t clear what standards inspectors will use or how they would be enforced. A spokesman for Spears could not be immediately reached.

The head of the Culture Ministry’s performance division, Pan Yan, said she hadn’t received a performance application and couldn’t comment on the report.

CNS quoted a spokesman for the concert’s Chinese organizers as saying the ministry’s wishes would be respected, but he said Spears’ outfits and stage show are the same at each tour stop and it would be “impossible to make up clothes specially for the China performances.”

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McCartney delights Madrid

MADRID, Spain (AP) – Paul McCartney returned to Madrid for the first time in 15 years and wowed fans with 33 songs, all but 10 of them Beatles’ tunes.

McCartney and his band played until well pass midnight Sunday for an audience of 30,000. Scores of music lovers who were unable to get into the Peineta Stadium crowded a nearby slope to catch a glimpse of the rock star and his spectacular stage show featuring huge television screens and fireworks.

The 61-year-old delighted fans by addressing them in Spanish. “I was taught Spanish for a year 50 years ago, when I was 11 at school in Liverpool,” he said.

He dedicated songs to his late bandmates, John Lennon and George Harrison, and drew a huge ovation when he said, “Let’s hear it for John.”

The show ended with hard-rocking versions of the Beatles numbers “Helter Skelter” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”

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