With Taylor Swift set to perform at Murrayfield Stadium this weekend in front of thousands of music fans, we’ve taken a look back in our photo archive to find some of the biggest and best ever concerts at the iconic Edinburgh venue.
Looking back in our photo archive of concert photos from Murrayfield is like a who’s who of popular music in the last 50 years. We have classic photos of the likes of Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones, U2, Oasis, David Bowie and Madonna strutting their stuff in the Capital at Scotland’s largest stadium.
Possibly the most memorable day of music at Murrayfield came on July 6, 2005, when the Live 8 event saw a day of music designed to encourage the leaders congregating at the G8 summit in Gleneagles to consider the plight of those in absolute poverty. Among those performing in Edinburgh were The Proclaimers, Jaimie Cullum, Wet Wet Wet, McFly, Annie Lennox, Feeder, Beverly Knight, Texas, Katherine Jenkins, Snow Patrol, Travis and James Brown.
Some of the acts to have performed at Murrayfield Stadium, which we unfortunately don’t have photos of, include American rockers REM at the venue in 1995, Canadian rock god Bryan Adams in 2007, The Eagles played there twice, in 1996 and 2022, while Simple Minds also rocked the rugby stadium in the 1980s.
1. Tina Turner
Tina Turner smiles at the crowd during her concert at Murrayfield in Edinburgh in 1996, where she performed some of her biggest hits, including The Best, GoldenEye, What's Love Got to Do With It?, Private Dancer and Proud Mary, as well as an interesting cover of Massive Attack song Unfinished Sympathy. Photo: Unknown
2. David Bowie
Legendary British singer/actor David Bowie on stage at Murrayfield stadium in Edinburgh, during the 'Serious Moonlight' tour, June 1983, his longest, largest and most successful concert tour to date at the time. Photo: Alan Macdonald
3. Oasis
Mancunian Britpop rockers Oasis swaggered into Murrayfield Stadium twice, bringing their Wonderwall of sound in 2000, and then again in 2009 (pictured) for what was to be their final world tour as the band imploded when the Gallagher brothers came to blows backstage at a gig in Paris that year. Photo by Ian Georgeson. Photo: TSPL
4. Live 8
Edinburgh 50,000 – The Final Push was part of the series of Live 8 concerts held around the world in 2005 designed to encourage the leaders congregating at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, to consider the plight of those in absolute poverty. Pictured at the event, clockwise from top left, are Peter Kay, Bob Geldof and James Brown, The Proclaimers, Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri and Bono and Midge Ure. Photo: JP