In the first concert performance in Harvard Stadium in nine years, pop singer Barry Manilow is scheduled to make an appearance there on the evening of July 31.

In a benefit performance for Boston's "Summerthing" program sponsored by the Busch Brewing Company, the summer concert is expected to sell out within the next few days, a spokesman for Boston's Cultural Affairs Office said yesterday.

"Barry is very excited about coming to Harvard to perform," Michael Cronin, Manilow's agent, said yesterday. "It's also very exciting that Harvard should let someone come to the stadium for the first time in nine years," he added.

Woo-Woo

The last time a performer appeared in the stadium for a concert program was in 1969, when Boston's "Summer thing" sponsored the performance of several rock groups in a billing with Joan Baez. But the Athletic Department denied promoters use of the stadium in subsequent years because of damages to the stadium that followed several demonstrations and arrests after the 1969 performance.

Look, But Don't Touch

"This time we are being very careful," Kevin McCall, director of operations for the Athletic Department, said yesterday. "The security will be very tight, Boston police will be there, and nobody, not even Manilow, will be allowed on the playing field. The field, especially, is sacred territory," he added.

Fidel Castro appeared at the stadium to deliver a lecture in 1958, in one of the few earlier uses of the stadium for non-sporting events.