Red carpet to roll out for film fans at Hollywood-themed Tynecastle show
Film fans heading to the Hollywood-themed curtain-raiser to the Edinburgh International Festival at Tynecastle Park will get the chance to head down a red carpet – if they turn up in fancy dress on Friday.
Iconic themes from Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Pink Panther, Superman and ET: The Extra Terrestrial will be performed by the LA Philharmonic Orchestra at the free 15,000-capacity concert.
Work is underway on the pitch to create a stage replicating the Hollywood Bowl, where the “LA Phil” famously perform every summer.
Classic scores from Jaws, Jurassic Park, Casablanca, Vertigo and Sunset Boulevard will also be performed on a stage taking up more than a third of the pitch at the Gorgie ground, which has never hosted an open-air concert before.
Ann Budge, the owner of Heart of Midlothian Football Club, gave the green light for the ground to be used at the start of the Scottish football season after seeing the orchestra in action on its home turf.
A specially-created red carpet arena, which will operate for around half an hour from 6:20pm on Friday, will be open to anyone in a film-related costume. School and community groups who have been allocated some of the free tickets are already expected to head down the 20-metre long red carpet.
Caroline Donald, the EIF’S head of learning and engagement, said: “The red carpet taps into the Hollywood glamour of the ‘golden age of cinema’ and allows us to have our own Hollywood Bowl experience, right here in Edinburgh.”
John Robb, head of technical at the EIF, said: “The club has been absolutely fantastic in letting this concert happen. We’re working very hard with them to ensure the pitch is in as good as possible condition for the first game afterwards.
“We’ve put aluminium protection, which is a bit like an artificial runway, down on the part of the pitch where the stage is going to be and there will be a plastic coating on the rest of the pitch where around 5,000 people will be sitting on Friday night. We’ve tried to design a stage that will emulates the look of the Hollywood Bowl.”