Fringe may have to live with Murrayfield clashes after Oasis

The Herald Scotland

4 days ago

The two tourists waiting patiently behind me to get into a late night comedy show at the Banshee Labyrinth - where Richard Gadd performed before his Golden Globe, Emmy and Bafta success – are sporting garb that has become increasingly familiar sight around the Fringe in recent days: black t-shirts emblazoned with the logo of the band Oasis.
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It is almost a year since the Britpop icons confirmed their comeback was definitely on and would be heading to Edinburgh at the height of its festival season.
At that time, I was not alone among those involved in Edinburgh's festivals in feeling a sense of despair that much of the next 12 months would be dominated by the three instantly sold-out shows.
The questions began to pile up almost immediately across the post-festival landscape which had barely had chance to draw breath after the 2024 season had drawn to a close. Who agreed to that? How on earth will Edinburgh cope? Where will everyone stay? Who is going to be able to afford to come to the Fringe?
The levels of excitement about Edinburgh landing some of the biggest reunions shows in the history of British rock music were almost drowned out by the groans about their potential impact on the city's annual cultural fixtures, particularly the Fringe.
On the final day of the festivals, the then Fringe Society chief executive Shona McCarthy published a bleak open letter warning that emerging artists, risk and ambition were being 'squeezed out' of the event due to the impact of a 'relentless rise in the cost of everything' and an unhelpful policy environment.
Within days, the Fringe was facing the prospect of three Oasis shows sending accommodation prices soaring, not just on the days of the band's concerts, but across the board in Edinburgh.
In February, it was confirmed that a fourth Murrayfield concert would be clashing with the August festivals, this time involving rock legends AC/DC playing their only UK show in Murrayfield.
By then, Ms McCarthy was in her final weeks in the job, her impending departure, announced in early October, seeming to herald a new, perhaps more uncertain, era for the festival.
If those Murrayfield concerts and the rise in hotel prices have undoubtedly dampened demand from some artists and performers to come to Edinburgh this August, there is little evidence of it in how its programme has taken shape in recent months.
Published in early June, the final printed programme boasted 3352 shows, the fourth biggest in the 78-year-old history of the event, with 49,512 shows across 265 venues.
Remarkably, the festival has grown significantly in the space of the last two months, despite widespread reports over the crippling cost of accommodation in the city.
The Fringe Society tell me their latest figures have grown to 54,921 performances of 3913 shows – the highest tally on record - across 308 venues.
The big question, as ever, is how ticket sales have gone, especially given the single biggest new addition to the festival calendar since the first events were staged in 1947.
As I waited to get the tram home from the city centre on Sunday night, it suddenly struck me that Edinburgh was winding down from what must have been its busiest ever weekend of live events in the city.
As far as I could tell, things could not have gone better at Murrayfield. Just three reports were reported from the two concerts – all on the first night – and the vast operation to get almost 70,000 fans in and out of Murrayfield, and in many cases in and out of the city, seemed to go smoothly.
Just one Fringe venue operator, Assembly founder William Burdett-Coutts, was prepared to discuss the impact of the Murrayfield concerts on their box office performance, suggesting that the Oasis effect was not as bad as some had feared or predicted.
However, tellingly, the Fringe Society has made it clear that it would not be keen on any future Murrayfield concerts clashing with the Fringe in 2026 and beyond, telling The Herald that this year's run has been 'unnecessary pressure on an already busy city.'
DF Concerts, the promoters of the Oasis shows, are acutely aware of the biggest issue, the cost of accommodation, which has clearly impacted on fans of the band, who have of course paid eye-watering prices for their tickets, and many of those who have been working on the gigs.
So what are the prospects of any similar happening in future years? Pretty strong, I reckon.
Senior officials at Scottish Rugby, the game's governing body, was discussing ambitions to host up to 12 concerts a year at Murrayfield in future. There would have been six this year had Billy Joel not cancelled his planned show due to illness.
DF Concerts told me the weekend shows and gone 'incredibly well on all fronts.'
It will be no surprise if they are inundated with more approaches to use the stadium throughout the year and August is prime time for large-scale outdoor shows.
I suspect that everyone involved in the Fringe, the other festivals and the city council will have to live with a new reality of having to grapple with the impact of the Murrayfield concerts, which are nowhere near any other venues hosting events.
This will, of course, do nothing to reverse the trend of Edinburgh becoming an increasingly expensive place to visit, especially during its festivals.
The need to come up with imaginative, viable solutions, as would happen during major sporting events, seems more pressing than ever, especially given their 80th anniversary is looming in 2027.
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