Nostalgia: Concert queue goes way back

THE arrival of the Olympic flame to the Capital might have made all the headlines but the celebrations were also marked by a pop-concert at the Castle, with singer Emeli Sande getting the crowd on their feet.

The City is no stranger to huge rock events of course – some of which have even drawn out crowds as big as those that turned out for the Olympic Torch.

Back in 1976 the streets were packed with lines of Elton John fans queuing for hours to make sure they got their hands on a gold-dust ticket for the superstar singer’s concert at the Usher Hall later that year.

A decade earlier it was a very different type of crowd that turned out to see the Walker Brothers in concert at the ABC Cinema in Lothian Road.

The venue was packed with local ladies eager to get a glimpse of their idols, and the teenage fans duly screamed their appreciation when the band took to the stage.

Just a few year earlier the Capital’s teens had gone wild over another singing sensation, when Cliff Richard and the Shadows came to town.

For those who simply know him as “Sir Cliff” or “the guy who sings when it rains at Wimbledon” it might be a surprise to learn he was the heartthrob of his day, and the crowd for his Capital concert was almost exclusively made up of screaming teenage girls.

That same year saw the city’s pop fans treated to perhaps the biggest gig of all however, when the Beatles came to town and brought Beatlemania with them.

The group were mobbed when they arrived at Edinburgh Airport, and despite the chilly weather did their best to smile for the cameras as they were ushered to their cars.

And they faced even bigger crowds as they made their way through the city to the ABC on Lothian Road for their concert, with the streets packed with eager fans.