How Western musicians performed in the USSR (PHOTOS)

1. Among the first Western musicians to visit the USSR after the war were Yves Montand and his wife, actress Simone Signoret, in December 1956.

Just a month earlier, an uprising against the pro‑Soviet leadership had taken place in Hungary and the artists had serious doubts about whether to go. Nevertheless, their concerts in Moscow, Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and Kiev were a great success. Yves Montand performed for workers at factories and in cultural centers and even debated Soviet policy with Khrushchev over a New Year’s Eve dinner.

2. Mireille Mathieu, meanwhile, became a true legend of Soviet tours.

She first arrived in 1967 together with Paul Mauriat’s orchestra and immediately won over the audience. After her performances in Moscow, Leningrad and Kazan, the “Mathieu” hairstyle and her fashion sense became popular among young women. Mathieu went on to visit the USSR and Russia many times.

3. In 1971, the legendary Duke Ellington Orchestra arrived in the USSR.

The musician himself was already over 70 by then, but, despite his age, he gave concerts in five Soviet cities: Leningrad, Minsk, Kiev, Rostov‑on‑Don and Moscow. Each concert drew over 10,000 people – and the artist recalled that he often played for more than four hours straight, because the audience called him back for encores many times.

4. In December 1978, one of the most popular disco groups, ‘Boney M’, arrived in Moscow.

The “ensemble from the Caribbean islands”, as they were billed on the posters, gave a total of 10 concerts. In foreign publications, the group’s Soviet tour was hailed as the musical event of the year. However, the musicians themselves were surprised by the restraint of Soviet audiences, who were not yet accustomed to singing along loudly and dancing at concerts.

5. Elton John’s tour in May 1979 became a real sensation. Soviet authorities believed that a visit by a Western rock star would demonstrate the country’s openness on the eve of the 1980 Olympics. One Moscow concert was broadcast live on BBC Radio 1 – the first such broadcast between the USSR and the West.

In total, he played four concerts in Leningrad and four in Moscow and, later, released a documentary film about his tour.

6. Starting in the mid‑1980s, thanks to 'perestroika', the number of Western artists visiting the USSR began to grow rapidly. In July 1987, Billy Joel arrived in the USSR.

He performed in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, and then gave three concerts each in Moscow and Leningrad. It was the first time Soviet audiences had ever seen a rock concert like this!

7. In 1988, Scorpions played 10 concerts in Leningrad, drawing more than 100,000 spectators.

A year later, they performed in Moscow. After their Soviet tour, the band’s lead singer Klaus Meine wrote one of the group’s most famous songs – ‘Wind of Change’.

8. For pop music fans, the highlight of the perestroika era was the concerts of Thomas Anders, former lead singer of the band ‘Modern Talking’. He visited in 1987 and 1990.

As eyewitnesses recalled, tickets cost almost as much as an average monthly salary – 100 roubles! Dieter Bohlen, another former member of the group, also performed in the USSR in 1989 – and even shot a music video in Moscow.

9. In June 1989, Pink Floyd performed in Moscow as part of their ‘A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour’.

They played five concerts at the 'Olympiysky' Stadium – and tens of thousands of rock fans gathered for each one.

10. The culmination of Western stars’ visits to the USSR was the ‘Monsters of Rock’ festival on 28 September 1991 at Tushino airfield.

It was the largest concert in the history of the USSR: it featured ‘Pantera’, ‘Metallica’, ‘AC/DC’ and other bands. The concert was free and according to various estimates, attendance ranged from 600,000 to 1.5 million people.