A ‘LEGENDS of Rock’ gig with Nazareth and Big Country will be held at East End Park to raise money for Dunfermline Athletic.

The local heroes will perform live and play for free on Saturday 30th May – the first time they’ve ever played on the same bill.

Fans from across the globe are expected to watch their favourites in their home town and if it’s a success – the club hope to raise £50,000 – more big-name acts and concerts could follow.

Pars director Kip McBay told the Press, “The ground is licensed for 11,000 people but anything in excess of 2000 and we would be happy.

“It’s a fund-raising exercise for the club. The two bands will get expenses but basically they’re doing it free of charge which is fantastic.” Hurricane Road, featuring Stevie Agnew, are the third act on the bill and there are more set to be announced, including special guests.

The stage will be put up on the centre circle, facing the main stand, with tickets priced at £35 for seating and £30 for standing going on sale on Friday 27th February at 9am from Ticketmaster and the club shop.

Doors will open at 4pm, there will be VIP and hospitality packages available as well as pop-up bars and food stalls on the pitch. Mr McBay said, “All going well it would be great for the club. The fans just want a night out so why not spend £30 going to this gig as opposed to somewhere else?

“We’d like to raise £50,000, we’d be more than happy with that. It could take off and if it’s successful we could repeat it.” Pars fans Pete Agnew, of Nazareth, and Bruce Watson, Big Country guitarist, came up with the idea to put on a rock show at the stadium to help their beloved club.

They knew all about the fund-raising efforts to save the club when it hit financial trouble – kicked off by a £2500 donation from the Press – and were more than happy to help.

Fellow fan Blair Morgan, who has contacts in the football and music industry and founded the Morgan Law Partnership, helped bring the event together. He said, “Here we’ve got local guys in internationally-renowned bands who are 100 per cent up for it and said, ‘Of course we’ll do it’. It’s fantastic.

“The whole purpose is to raise money for the club to keep it going so hopefully supporters clubs, season-ticket holders, Pars fans and music fans will all come along.

“We’ve got the stadium, we’ve got local acts with the most fantastic music history imaginable, we’ve got the date and we’ve got the production company, we just need to sell the tickets now!” Rock stars playing football grounds isn’t new, with Elton John playing at Falkirk and St Johnstone’s stadiums, and could be a fresh money-making venture for the Pars.

Mr Morgan said, “I went to see Elton John at McDiarmid Park and if you had someone like that here you’d put the stage at the Cowdenbeath end, you could have 10,000 standing on the pitch and 8000 in the stands, not far short of 20,000 people. What we’re doing now is an experiment and we’re trying to keep the risk as low as possible.

“There’s no reason why it shouldn’t work. If it does, we could look at something else.

“I’ve got contacts in the music business, there are always artists looking for a platform or if you can get them when they’re out on tour you’ve got a chance.” Nazareth have sold more than 20million records, have toured the world and play to audiences in excess of one million every year – they’ve just recorded their 28th album and have a new singer.

Big Country appeared at Live Aid and have also toured extensively, their album, ‘The Crossing’, received three Grammy nominations in the USA, the following album, ‘Steeltown’, reached number one in the UK and signature song ‘In A Big Country’ was a massive worldwide hit, selling more than two million copies.

Mr Morgan continued, “The big territories for Naz are Brazil, Russia, Scandinavia, USA and Canada and we’re hoping that people will travel because they can see the band playing in their home town.

“If you look at the centre stand, that holds 1500 people and we can have 2000 standing on the pitch in front of the stage.

“If we get more we can move the stage further back, have more people on the pitch and use the wings of the stand.

“The stadium is totally under utilised, it’s such a waste, so hopefully this will work.” Mr McBay said Fife Council had been very supportive and added, “They are keen as they see it as part of the town centre regeneration and, from their point of view, it’s another venue that can bring people into the town.

"You’ve got pubs and clubs putting on music, Carnegie Hall can take 500-600, the Alhambra could take 1200-1800 people but we offer a bigger capacity venue.

“There will be people that will specifically come to Dunfermline for this gig, from abroad and the UK, they’ll be in the town before and after, they’ll need somewhere to stay too. There will be a lot of music fans here so there will be benefits for the town.” Helen Law, the chair of the City of Dunfermline area committee, said, “I’m a season-ticket holder and I recognise the importance of having a successful club in Dunfermline – it also brings in people to the city.

“Bringing more travelling supporters from more successful teams helps us do what we’re supposed to do, bring more visitors to Dunfermline.

“It’s important for us as a local authority and we’ll do what we can to support them as they are a community club.

“We can’t throw money at it but we’d love to see it become a venue for bigger events.”