Oasis revealed as Scottish capital’s most ‘seismic’ concert

New data from the British Geological Survey (BGS) reveals that Oasis is the most ‘seismic’ act to have performed at Murrayfield Stadium over the last two decades – a fact that may come as little surprise to fans of a band as famous for its internal turbulence as its musical output.

Researchers have reviewed archived data from a nearby seismic monitoring station, roughly 4 km from the venue, to compare the earthshaking impact of the biggest acts to perform in Scotland’s largest stadium. In terms of crowd energy, the Mancunian band’s performance in 2009 really does set them apart as the capital’s true ‘Shakermakers’.

Murrayfield Stadium’s most seismic concerts (2004-2024)

While the music may have been the impetus – the energy detected by the national monitoring stations is not driven be the volume of the band or the crowd, rather it’s the movement of fans jumping and dancing in time to the music, with the height of the jumping and weight of the crowd also potential factors. It raises the tantalising possibility of comparing the response of a band’s fans to concerts in different decades – and the ability for fans to show they can still ‘Go let it out’.

“In 2009, seismic signals generated by Oasis fans were consistent with a crowd energy of 215 kW at its peak – enough to power around 30 of the scooters featured on the iconic ‘Be Here Now’ album cover.

“Our network of sensors around the country is sensitive enough to pick up ground movement from a source miles away, that may not be detectable to humans – and precise enough to register exact timestamps for when the events occur.

“The peak energy reading was recorded around 20:30 on that June evening back in 2009, which correlates to the time the band first took the stage and performed ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Star’, which couldn’t be more fitting in terms of topping our seismic music chart!”

Callum Harrison, BGS seismologist

The historical data is part of a BGS archive of continuous ground motion recordings from seismic sensors around the country, that dates back over several decades. Collectively this information is used to carefully monitor the UK’s seismic activity, which experiences around 300 events each year. Although the magnitude of many of these earthquakes is too low to be felt by humans, some of the larger seismic events can pose a risk to buildings and infrastructure. Understanding this risk provides crucial information for scientists and decision makers on how to best mitigate this hazard.

“In this instance we are only looking back over 20 years, however geological processes occur over vast time scales that can be difficult for humans to comprehend. Improving our understanding of historical earthquakes is an important part of BGS research in trying to understand and mitigate the seismic risk around the country.”

Callum Harrison, BGS seismologist

As fans eagerly await the band’s return to the Scottish capital on 8 August, the question now is whether the those in attendance still have the energy to rank amongst Edinburgh’s top ‘Shakermakers’.