The discreet ties between rock ‘n’ roll greats and big bucks have long been an open secret. Again and again there were spectacular private concerts; this is how the Rolling Stones played in front of the investment division of Deutsche Bank. Bookers tell of exquisite DJ club gigs at oil sheiks. A discreet business.
The colleagues from the American ROLLING STONE have now followed up and documented the connections of this uncool complex in interviews and research.
In light of the war in Ukraine, bassist Tommy Stinson remembers his stage days with the Replacements or Guns N’ Roses. “We played in very strange places,” he says, thinking of a 2010 GN’R show for a Russian energy company. “For doing SOMETHING like that,” Stinson says today. “What the hell had gotten into us?”
Pop, rock, and hip-hop acts have raked in hefty sums performing at corporate and private parties in the United States for decades. Since the 2000s, a similar shadow economy has also existed in Russia or on distant dream islands that belong to the local oligarchs.
Seven-figure fees for VIP weddings and company galas are documented. GN’R, Elton John, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Killers, Jennifer Lopez, Prince, Robbie Williams, Amy Winehouse and Sting cashed in.
Before the Ukraine conflict, these show gigs were simply considered an additional source of income. A US industry source estimates that there were two or three oligarch-sponsored shows every year. “We knew the background and the wealth. It’s an industry that’s all about money.”
In 2005, Christina Aguilera reportedly made $2 million for appearing at the wedding of Russian billionaire Andrei Melnichenko. Recently, sanctions by the European Union led to the confiscation of his yacht, which cost 500 million euros. The fertilizer and coal baron belongs to the most influential group of Russian businessmen.
Two years later, George Michael got three million dollars for a New Year’s Eve show with the Russian tycoon Vladimir Potanin, who is considered the richest man in the country. Unlike many of his colleagues, Potanin has not yet been sanctioned by the EU or the US.
Putin looked at Deep Purple
In 2008, Tina Turner and Deep Purple performed in a show celebrating the 15th anniversary of state-owned Gazprom. Putin attended the concept festival. There are differing reports as to how long he stayed with Deep Purple. The 2010 Guns N’ Roses show at Moscow’s Mosfilm studio was paid for by Alexander Chistyakov, then deputy chairman of the board of the Federal Grid Company, Russia’s largest state-owned grid operator. “It couldn’t have been more embarrassing,” says Stinson. “A bunch of drunk party guys glad we were playing. I didn’t see any gilded toilets, but I’m sure they were there somewhere.”
Now there are frozen bank accounts, confiscated yachts. “Nobody wants to talk about it,” says an industry source. All the artists and Russian tycoons contacted either refused to comment or didn’t even respond to ROLLING STONE’s inquiries.
Concerts also after the invasion of Ukraine in 2014
Even after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, the discreet performances did not stop. In 2016, Sting and Jennifer Lopez starred at the Moscow wedding of Said Gutseriev, son of sanctioned Russian oil billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev. The mega-wedding included a 12-foot wedding cake and a flower-bedecked ballroom ceiling. As parting gifts, the guests received jeweled boxes. During her performance, Lopez joked that the hardest thing she had to do today was learn how to pronounce the bride and groom’s names.
A year later, Elton John and Mariah Carey performed at the wedding of a granddaughter of Russian billionaire Valery Kogan, who is a co-owner of Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport.
Since the beginning of the war, some musicians have admitted their involvement: “No oligarch in Britain, Russia or anywhere else is able to book a gig, a wedding or a party,” Sting recently commented on the old routes. “Those days are over.” After the cancellation of an upcoming concert in Russia, Deep Purple’s Roger Glover announced sheepishly and rather vaguely, “just like many other artists, we have occasionally given private concerts for fans in different countries.”
The business with private concerts is currently also frozen. The war in Ukraine has made it “degoutant” to play in front of oligarchs. “We’re getting big name requests from some shady people in this region and we’re just deleting them,” says a top US event booker. A manager of several prominent rock bands adds: “At this point in time, I wouldn’t advise any of my clients to perform in Russia. Doesn’t matter; how high the fee is, that was just terrible …”
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