Murrayfield Stadium, the home of Scottish Rugby, has been transformed to welcome back iconic rock band Oasis to Edinburgh on Wednesday (17 June).

Some sixty riggers have worked for two full days to erect the massive stage at the north end of the stadium and more than 50,000 fans are expected to savour the first appearance in nine years of Oasis, Manchester’s finest, led by the Gallagher brothers, Noel and Liam (pictured), while there will also be support acts – Kasabian; The Enemy; and Reverend & The Makers.

Some 31,000 concert-goers will have free-flow access between the pitch and lower seating decks, while the remainder will be on the upper-decks of the East, South and West stands.

Stadium manager Mark Laidlaw said: “A pretty big construction project has been ongoing over the last few days. In addition to building the stage it took the site crew approximately two full days to prepare the stadium including laying plastic tile safety flooring over the pitch.

“We had already re-seeded the pitch and there will be a degree of germination under the tiles.  It will take the site crew around 20 hours to dismantle the flooring and then we’ll re-level the pitch as required. We fully expect the pitch to be in first-class condition well before the start of the new season.”

Laidlaw also explained that Scottish Rugby, working in conjunction with the City of Edinburgh Council, the concert promoter Regular Music, and Lothian and Borders Police, aimed to ensure the concert was not overly disruptive to local residents.

“We have invited the local residents’ association to a behind the scenes tour at the stadium tomorrow to give an insight into the plans we’ve put in place,” he added.

The concert is expected to add to the multi-million pounds boost to the local economy through events held at Murrayfield Stadium.  The Oasis concert follows on from a successful showcasing of the stadium in May when Murrayfield played host to the Rugby Football League Magic Weekend; the Scottish Hydro Electric Cup Finals Day; The Heineken Cup Final; and the Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s Festival.

Following Wednesday’s concert, the next major events at Murrayfield Stadium will take place in the autumn.  The stadium will again host Edinburgh Rugby’s matches in the Magners League and Heineken Cup (log on to www.edinburghrugby.org for fixture details), then on 14, 21 and 28 November, Scotland’s Bank of Scotland Corporate Autumn Tests against Fiji, Australia and Argentina respectively will be held at Murrayfield.  Log on to www.scottishrugby.org for more details including the opportunity to buy tickets.

For the concert on Wednesday refreshment areas serving food, soft drinks and alcohol will be open on Murrayfield’s back pitches from 2pm (access via Roseburn Street or Riversdale Bridge).

Roseburn Crescent and Roseburn Street turnstiles for ticket-holders only (to access east, south and west stands) will open at 4pm. Please note the north stand turnstiles will NOT be open.

Bars in the stadium will open from 4pm and will close at 10pm.  The first support act will appear around 5pm with the concert ending around 10.30pm.  Sound checks will take place from 12 noon on Wednesday.

Unlike regulations for rugby matches at Murrayfield, no bottles or cans can be brought into the stadium.

There is no public car parking at the stadium.  Coach/minibus parking will be under the direction of police officers on the A8 Corstorphine Road.  All drivers should approach via the A8 Corstorphine Road and follow the instructions of police officers.  Coaches/minibuses should not arrive before 2.30pm.