Banned singer rocks London

 
Protest singer: Yury Shevchuk, whose music is banned in Russia’s mainstream media, is staging a £100,000 gig tonight
22 March 2012

A singer blacklisted in his homeland for his pro-freedom ideology will tonight put on the most ambitious concert ever staged by a Russian rock band abroad.

Yury Shevchuk, frontman of DDT, is Russia’s answer to Bono and has been at odds with the country’s authorities since his career began in 1980.

His one-off show in Hammersmith, which is costing £100,000 to produce, is adapted from a show that will tour Russia, where he regularly plays to packed stadiums.

The concert is based on Shevchuk’s concept album Otherwise. He said: “The hero is a young guy. He is looking for the meaning and purpose of life, and he is not happy with the way things are around him. It is about his journey to inner freedom. In Russia, we don’t have this individual freedom, which is what British rock’n’roll is all about.”

DDT’s music is banned from mainstream TV and radio channels, and Shevchuk is infamous for having had a heated television showdown with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in 2010.

Shevchuk added: “The authorities think that if we’re not on the news, we don’t exist. But Russia is becoming more and more open. That’s what everyone is fighting for at the moment. But the fight is peaceful — we are tired of bloodshed.

Tickets for the concert at the Hammersmith Apollo will be available on the door, priced at £35 and £45.

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