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> Login to your account > RegisterScorpions play Gorbachev tribute
From page 9 of Classic Rock Magazine June 2011
Cover of June 2011 issue.
Veteran German band rock Albert Hall gala for former Soviet leader’s birthday.
ENDURING GERMAN ROCKERS the Scorpions made a rare UK appearance at London’s Royal Albert Hall on March 30 as part of charity gala to celebrate the 80th birthday of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The band performed only one song, Wind Of Change, which became an unofficial anthem for Glasnost after the record’s release in 1990.
The unlikely relationship between Gorbachev, who served in the Kremlin from 1988 to 1991, and the Scorps, who are currently on their farewell tour, began when the band wrote Wind Of Change for their Crazy World album. Complete with its iconic whistled refrain
and its message of post-Cold War tolerance, it topped the charts in 11 countries. That lead to the aging politician requesting a personal audience with the band in the Kremlin.
“How incredible that a rock band would be almost the last official guests in the Kremlin,” singer Klaus Meine told Classic Rock in 2005. “Gorbachev was completely blown away that a German band would record a song in Russian.”
The Albert Hall charity event (with tickets costing between £35 and £100,000) also featured Bryan Ferry, Shirley Bassey, the London Symphony Orchestra and Melanie C. DL
