Deep Purple headlines Autumn Rock Marathon in Kyiv (10/06/96)

Deep Purple headlines Autumn Rock Marathon in Kyiv

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Deep Purple of 1970s fame came to Kyiv on September 15 to play at the first open-air concert at Republican Stadium, now renamed Olympic Stadium. One hundred thousand were expected. Only 20,000 showed.

On a cold, rainy day, the Autumn Rock Marathon, which show organizers said would set the stage for an onslaught of live Western music performances, didn't quite attain the level of its hype, but it wasn't bad. It wasn't Woodstock, that's for sure, but had there been mud it might have looked like the 1969 rock festival.

Although at first it looked like the concert was going to be an outright disaster, by evening's end those on hand were rocking and clapping and enjoying the music.

On a gloomy day with intermittent drizzle and rain, and gusting winds, the diehards, as anywhere, weren't disheartened. They came not only to hear the aging rock band of "Smoke on the Water" fame but to cavort with the seven best groups from Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.

The professionalism was there. The music was great. The sound, well, it could have been better, especially during Deep Purple's performance, which the organizers blamed on the lack of a sound check because the band arrived late. No real glitches, but far too few people.

"We are blaming everything on the weather," explained Alexis Sheldon, international manager of Tavria Games, which produced the show and has produced shows annually for the last five years in Khokova, near Kherson.

His boss, Nicholas Bogayev, called the festival a success despite the dismal turnout because Deep Purple is the first band of truly international rock and roll fame to play in Ukraine, explained Mr. Sheldon. "Financially, we didn't care," he said.

Of the supporting acts, three were from Ukraine, three from Russia and one from Belarus. Braty Karamazov of Kyiv went first at 3:30 p.m. with barely 1,000 people in the place, most on the main floor, where tickets sold for $10 and did not provide for seating. The stadium seats at a mere $4 provided a seat and shelter from the rain but were not a deal in the cavernous and drafty stadium.

The "Braty" were followed by a Lviv favorite, Plach Yeremiyi, the most nationalistic of the bands. Ironic as it seems, when they sang "after all the Russification, do we have a chance to be Ukrainian?" in one song, the mostly Russian-speaking crowd answered with a resounding "yes" and cheers of support. Okean Elzy was the other Ukrainian band that appeared.

The single Belarusian band, Rublevaya Zona, a heavy metal act, also sang several political songs and produced the most professional show. But the band everyone wanted to hear, besides Deep Purple, was Mashyna Vremeny from Russia, probably the most famous of the bands from this part of the world. When the group took the stage it was as loud as it could get in a stadium that was one-tenth filled.

At one point it seemed that there was more militia on hand than audience. They were more than prepared for the crowd. Security was tight and officers roamed the stadium in pairs, many with automatic rifles slung across their backs. At times it was ridiculous that crowd control was so tight with so few people on hand.

As the sun set, the stage began to look more like a rock show should, with strobe lights and spotlights casting colorful beams onto the stage and out into the stadium. And as more people came, it finally also looked like a rock crowd and not just bystanders watching bands go through rehearsal.

The crowd did not seem too fazed that Deep Purple was two hours late. They chanted, sang and danced, all helped by plenty of beer and spirits that were available in the stadium's outside passways.

The appearance of four of the five original members of Deep Purple, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Jon Lord, with Steve Morse who has replaced Ritchie Blackmore, at approximately 10:30 p.m., set the crowd into a frenzy. The band concentrated on songs from their newly released album "Perpendicular."

Then the place turned into a madhouse when the band hit the first notes of their standard, "Smoke on the Water," and then followed with their classic, "Highway Star."

Early on in the show a concert attendee, Pavlo Petkurs, 23, of Kyiv, said, "I don't care if it rains all night, as long as Deep Pople (that's how he pronounced the band's name) plays 'Highway Star.' " If his sentiment was shared by the rest of the audience they, too, felt the concert was a success.