Runrig gigs to bring £7m boost to Stirling
The Stirling area’s economy is on course for a £7.25 million Runrig boost.
The rockers will play to 45,000 fans over two days on August 17 and 18 to bring the curtain down on their 45 years on the road.
Revellers from all over the world will flock to Stirling for Runrig’s ‘The Last Dance’ concerts at the City Park.
Organisers say nine per cent of tickets sold are going out of the UK, with people traveling from Australia, New Zealand, America, Canada, Germany and Scandinavia for the event.
Stirling Council’s planning and regulation panel approved a temporary public entertainment licence for the gigs Tuesday.
Chair Alasdair MacPherson said: “Runrig’s retirement has sparked interest from fans all over the world and this two-day concert is expecting to bring in estimated £7.25 million to the local economy.
“The band’s popularity has been underlined by the fact that a second date had to be added after all 25,000 tickets for the Saturday were sold within just four minutes of going on sale.
“We have been working closely with the concert organisers LCC to ensure that traffic disruption is kept to a minimum and that the clean-up of the site is carried out to the highest standard.
“Attracting a concert of this significance has only been made possible by Stirling Council investing in making City Park a high-quality event site through our city region deal capital programme.
“Runrig have made an outstanding contribution to Scottish music over the past 45 years and it is a tribute to Stirling that the band were so keen to perform here for their final concerts.”
Runrig will celebrate their farewell with a spectacular eightan minute fireworks display on the Saturday evening.
A campsite for 4000 campers will open at 10am on the Friday and close on the Sunday at noon.
Stirling’s licensed premises can apply for an extra hour of opening for both nights of the concert.
All concert traffic travelling to Stirling on the M8/M9 and A9/ M9 will be directed to junction 10 (Craigforth).
Les Kidger of LCC Live Event Services said: “Ken Bruce was on Radio 2 this week talking about the show so I think the next eight weeks will do a lot to promote Stirling as a concert venue.
“TV companies are going to be there and there will certainly be a DVD that will show not just the concert but the areas around Stirling.”
Mr Kidger assured local residents that the site will not be left in a mess.
He said: “We do this all over the country. If we don’t leave a site clean we don’t get invited back and it is very important that we get invited back.”
Tory councillor Neil Benny said: “I was really pleased with the quality of the discussion about how the concerts will be managed. We received assurances regarding noise, litter, parking and many other matters that all need to be done right.
“That’s what people should expect us to do to help ensure the event runs smoothly with as little disruption as possible and everyone has a great time.”