PORTLAND, Ore. — Read the updated version of this story here.
Providence Park is bringing concerts back to the stadium for the first time nearly two decades, starting with the Foo Fighters on Friday.
The rock band Foo Fighters will perform at the stadium in Southwest Portland on Aug. 16. They're wrapping up their "Everything or Nothing At All" tour in North America. General admission tickets for the pit area are still available, as of Wednesday, according to Providence Park's website.
The concert will be followed up with a performance by Green Day on Sept. 25, with special guests The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and The Linda Lindas for "The Saviors" tour.
"We felt like there was really no better time to bring concerts back to Portland," said Providence Park CEO Heather Davis. "This is now a venue that will allow tours to stop here in Portland on their way from California to Seattle. Most often, tours were just bypassing Portland in the past."
KGW spoke to a fan named Lee who was waiting outside the stadium early Friday morning. It will be his 24th time seeing the Foo Fighters in concert.
"As a Portland resident, I'm just excited to see them in my home town," he said. "Not their fault, but they seem to just skip every other tour, so when they come to Portland, it's always like, 'Cool, I don't have to travel for once."
Providence Park shared a timelapse video showing crews transform the field into a concert space. The added seating on the field expands the stadium's capacity to 30,000 seats. To put that into perspective, Moda Center's maximum capacity is nearly 20,000.
There is no designated parking lot for the stadium, so concert goers will need to find street parking, a nearby parking lot or take public transportation.
The stadium held its last concert in 2005. Its first concert was back in 1957 when over 14,000 people watched legendary singer Elvis Presley. It was one of the first outdoor stadium concerts in music history, according to the Timbers. After that, the venue hosted more shows over the years including The Beach Boys in 1984, Bob Dylan in 1986, David Bowie in 1987 and Johnny Cash in 1993.