From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Moscow Music Peace Festival
Moscow Music Peace Festival
The Moscow Music Peace Festival was a one-time gath- This was the first time that an audience had been al-
ering of high-profile hard rock acts for a performance in lowed to stand up and dance at a stadium rock concert in
Moscow, Soviet Union on 12 and 13 August 1989 to pro- the Soviet Union. Previous to this, all concerts had to be
mote world peace and establish international coopera- seated.
tion in fighting the drug war in Russia. It was part of an
era of momentous change in the Soviet Union, in which
capitalism was on the march and communism was col-
Artists
lapsing. In 1991, the Soviet Union was officially dissolved. • Cinderella: Tom Keifer, Fred Coury, Jeff LaBar, Eric
The concert exposed the Soviet Union to western cul- Brittingham
ture and specifically rock music. The concert was also • Gorky Park: Alexie Belov, Nikolai Noskov, Sasha
a pinnacle moment in glam metal and the peak in hard Minkov, Jan Ianenkov, Sasha Lvov
rock music’s popularity. • Scorpions: Klaus Meine, Matthias Jabs, Francis
Buchholz, Herman Rarebell, Rudolf Schenker
• Skid Row: Sebastian Bach, Dave Sabo, Rob Affuso,
Production and crew Rachel Bolan, Scotti Hill
The show involved a large production team and logistics • Mötley Crüe: Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee,
provided by Eurotruk. Generators powered the entire Mick Mars
event as it was broadcast as a pay-per-view event by • Ozzy Osbourne: Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde, Randy
MTV. Catering came from the UK. There were direct-dial Castillo, Geezer Butler, John Sinclair
telephone lines from the production office, and satellite • Bon Jovi: Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Alec John
uplink from Bear Lake back to the USA. Such, Tico Torres, David Bryan
The show production radios were the latest from the • Special Guest (for finale): Jason Bonham
USA and some were encrypted. There was 6 Megawatts of
power available from the generators.
Performances
Each band performed about a 5-song set, however the
Management time lengths for some of the sets, particularly by Bon
The concert was put together by the Make a Difference Jovi, are substantially longer ( including 8 minutes of im-
Foundation, rock producer Doc McGhee, Stas Namin and prov followed by Wanted Dead or Alive by Richie Samb-
other major players in the Soviet Union and the United ora.)At the end of the concert was a collaboration of mu-
States. McGhee agreed to bring his artists to Moscow sicians, featuring Vince Neil & Sebastian Bach on vocals
after becoming involved in a drug scandal himself and and Jason Bonham on drums, equally representing the
wishing to avoid a jail sentence. bands performing a rendition of "Rock and Roll" by Led
Mötley Crüe have been on record stating they were Zeppelin.
upset with McGhee at this point in time. McGhee let Bon The performances were shown on TV and are re-
Jovi close the show, and use pyro, something Mötley Crüe capped in a video directed by Wayne Isham. Bootlegged
was told they could not do. Bon Jovi fired McGhee after copies of the performances are also available widespread
this show, as did Mötley Crüe. Mötley Crüe claims that on the Internet.
this concert was the first time the band performed sober.
Album
Venue Main article: Stairway to Heaven/Highway to Hell
The event was held over two days in Moscow’s largest The bands were all featured on the 1989 compilation al-
stadium, Luzhniki Stadium, which has a seating capacity bum Stairway to Heaven/Highway to Hell, put out the Make
of about 100,000. However, as the concert also included a Difference Foundation. Each band recorded a song orig-
spectators on the field, the number of attendees was inally by some famous rock artist who had suffered a
much greater. The event was the first rock concert to be drug- or alcohol-related death. These included songs
held at the stadium, which had previously been used pri- from The Who, the Sex Pistols, Jimi Hendrix, Tommy
marily for sporting events. Bolin, Thin Lizzy, and Janis Joplin, along with a collabo-
ration for Led Zeppelin’s "Moby Dick" (for John Bonham),
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Moscow Music Peace Festival
and a live collaboration where the bands perform a med- Union, the globalization of culture, and the glory of 1980s
ley of Elvis Presley and Led Zeppelin songs. glam metal.[citation needed]
Despite the intended anti-drug message of the album, The event became known for inspiring the song
some bands later admitted in interviews that the Moscow "Wind of Change" by the Scorpions, a ballad which be-
Music Peace Festival period ironically included much came a soundtrack to the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the
drug use. One notable event in that matter was Ozzy Os- Soviet Union, and communism in general.
bourne who strongly expressed his views against drug Don’t Blame Me: The Tales of Ozzy Osbourne states that
abuse during the press conference straight after his per- after the event, Osbourne was given multiple bottles of
formance. After having completed the press conference Russian vodka. Ozzy drank all of them and became "be-
it was that same Ozzy Osbourne who had to be helped yond drunk". It was then that Osbourne attempted to kill
through the narrow corridor leading back to the dressing his manager–wife Sharon Osbourne.
rooms after continuously stumbling into both facing The Make A Difference Foundation was created by
walls, not being able to walk straight.[citation needed] "Doc" McGee after his arrest for drug smuggling. As a
condition of his parole he was to use his influence in
Problems the music world to start an anti-drug foundation. Even
though Ozzy Osbourne, Richie Sambora, and most of the
Noted in books such as Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of members of Motley Crue (particularly Nikki Sixx) were
Heavy Metal, the concert also showcased the ego clashes known for drug/alcohol abuse.[citation needed]
which eventually helped lead to the collapse of glam met-
al shortly thereafter. Many of the bands argued over who
went on before whom, and many were envious of Bon
Images
Jovi, who not only headlined the event and was far more
considered to be pop music among the hard rock and
heavy metal community, but also had a much more the-
atrical stage spectacle and longer set times; each band
was supposed to do a stripped-down show with just mu-
sic and no spectacular theatrics. Jon Bon Jovi supposedly
offered his headlining spot to Ozzy Osbourne after Ozzy
threatened to not go through with his set (a move many
felt was calculated to further JBJ’s ’boy next door’ per-
sona). Ozzy’s set was initially scheduled before Mötley
Crüe’s set. Apparently, Ozzy felt his band was bigger and
he should go on after Motley Crue. To solve the problem,
Motley Crue went on before Ozzy but the tape was edited
so it appeared Ozzy went on before Motley Crue to the
viewers back in the U.S. Those involved in the show’s
production felt this was an egotistical bush move on
Ozzy’s behalf since this was supposed to be for charity,
and left many in the rock ’n roll community confused
since Ozzy and Mötley Crüe toured together for Ozzy’s
Bark at the Moon and Mötley Crüe’s Shout at the Devil al-
bums, respectively, and became fast friends during the
tour.
The members of Mötley Crüe were so incensed about
preferences shown to Bon Jovi that Tommy Lee punched
manager Doc McGhee (who was also the manager for Bon
Jovi) backstage at the venue (McGhee was fired shortly
thereafter), opting to fly back to the US on their own. The
concert was also often chided by the bands themselves as
being hypocritical, as many of the musicians were drink-
ing or using drugs at the time despite the ties with the
Make a Difference Foundation. • Moscow Music Peace Festival Vol.1
Nevertheless, whatever happened backstage general- • Moscow Music Peace Festival Vol.2
ly stayed backstage, and what went on onstage happened
to turn out to be a spectacular rock festival that positive-
ly inspired people and epitomized the fall of the Soviet
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Moscow Music Peace Festival
References
• Moscow Music Peace Festival (1989) (TV)
• Book: Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moscow_Music_Peace_Festival&oldid=455117331"
Categories:
• 1989 in Russia
• 1989 in the Soviet Union
• 1989 in music
• Concerts
• Dissolution of the Soviet Union
• Metal festivals
• Rock festivals in Russia
• Culture in Moscow
• Events in Moscow
This page was last modified on 11 October 2011 at 22:51. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of
the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.Contact us
Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Mobile view
3