Krilya Numbers Dampened By Drizzle

Poor weather reduced crowds at Moscow’s Krilya Festival to about 13,000 per day, which had Bloodhound Gang, Soulfly, OK Go and 20 national acts.

Ed Ratnikov of TCI International, which co-books the bill with Istanbul-based Charmenko, said he was disappointed with the numbers but the Tushino Airfield site is beyond the outskirts of the city and dependent on a good walk-up on the day.

Although the July 29-30 crowds were about one-third down on average, Ratnikov was pleased that an event on the old military airfield had gone ahead without either a disaster or some interference from the regional bureaucracy.

In 2002, Rammstein‘s Tushino show had to be canceled when Ratnikov and Nick Hobbs received a letter from General Vladimir Pronin – chief of Moscow’s city police – saying the mayor had decided it was unsafe due to the crowd unrest resulting from the country’s World Cup soccer finals defeat by Japan.

The match had been relayed on huge screens scattered throughout Moscow. The result caused some spectators to go on a rampage, with the national media suggesting the “official” death toll of two was far below reality.

The following year, Krilya made world headlines when two female suicide bombers – believed to be Chechen nationalists – killed 18 and injured at least 60, according to the official figures released at the time.

– John Gammon