First shots of Croke Park stage emerge as anticipation brims for landmark Oasis shows

Irish Independent

15 hours ago

After almost exactly a year of waiting, the time is almost upon us when the iconic rock band take to the stage in the 82,000-seater national stadium's famed cauldron of noise for their first concert in Ireland in 16 years.
The group have so far performed 15 nights around England, Wales and Scotland and are currently in Ireland enjoying a four-day gap between their last show of a three-night stopover in Edinburgh and Saturday's Croke Park gig.
Little is known by way of official Oasis social media of what exactly brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher are up to in Ireland ahead of the gigs, though they are joined here by members Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Joey Waronker for the reunion tour.
But with 160,000 diehard fans expected to make their way through the turnstiles over Saturday and Sunday, many have been hoping to catch a glimpse of how the event is going to go down.
This evening, images of pre-concert preparations at Croke Park have been published which show substantial progress on construction of the stage.
Situated in front of Hill 16, high-viz workers can be seen high up on a cherry picker connecting vertical chains to the metallic stage structure above while an industrial-sized truck sits outside the entrance between the Hill and the Hogan Stand.
Stewards can also be seen standing by temporary gates outside the entrance to the stadium.
Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs, guitarist and co-founder of Oasis, posted a series of photos to his Instagram yesterday and today which tickled the group's Irish fan base pink.
Captioning the first one 'Bring on the noise' accompanied by four tricolour flag emojis, Mr Arthurs' photo showcases a misty-eyed view of Dublin Bay including some of Howth, Sutton and the entire Bull Island, the view seen by all plane passengers landing at Dublin Airport.
He posted further pictures to his page today – one of him standing alongside fellow guitarist Andy Bell on stony beach as well as the pair in the water together with the caption 'When in Rome and all that'.
The Gallagher brothers have strong connections to Ireland given that their parents, Peggy and Thomas, hailed from Charlestown, Co Mayo and Duleek, Co Meath respectively before emigrating to England and meeting in their youth in Manchester.
Noel is the only one of the pair that has already performed at Croke Park as a GAA player representing the club Oisín's from Manchester for whom both brothers played in their younger years.
Extra rail services to Dublin are planned for the upcoming weekend as crowds are set to descend on Croke Park for the gigs.
Croke Park can be reached by taking the following routes on Dublin Bus: 1, 6, 7(a), 11, 13, 15, 16, 27(a/b), 33, 40(b/d/e), 41(b/c/d), 42, 43, 44, 53a, 122, 123, 130, H1, H2, H3.