Since 1884, Portman Road was always the stadium for Ipswich Town Football Club who now compete in the Championship in England. This is a all-seater stadium that has a capacity of 30,031 and lies in the centre of Ipswich, merely two or three hundred metres from the railway station which happens to be on the mainline to London.

The stands at either end in the stadium have been reconstructed in recent years and there are quite a few executive boxes and various suites that may hold corporate events in.
Until the mid-80s, Portman Road was for the most part a football venue even if there was periods when cricket was played here in the course of the summer months and all through World War I, the stadium was also utilised by the British Army for a training camp. Of course, nearly all fans just knew Portman Road as being a football stadium.

In March 1985, the American Evangelist, Billy Graham including Portman Road as part of his UK tour and about 8,000 people came to watch him. With income becoming an increasing number of essential to teams, several opportunities were considered using the arena in the course of the summertime as there wasn't any football.

During the summer time of 91, Status Quo end up being the 1st of several leading music stars and groups to play at Portman Road. Nonetheless it was subsequently more than a decade prior to the next big music act came to Ipswich when Elton John played at the stadium. Since then, momentum has picked up with a good number of foremost music stars performing such as Tina Turner, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, REM, Dire Straits, Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart and most lately, Pink.

The summertime events at Portman Road are set to continue as they definitely are of benefit of both the football club and the area.

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Rob Atherton
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Author: Rob