Makarov Plans Historic Outdoor

Estonian promoter Juri Makarov is planning a two-day outdoor at Tallinn’s Song Festival Grounds to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the country’s first pop and rock festival, back in the days when it was about to emerge from behind the Iron Curtain.

Rock Summer 88 – or Glasnost Rock, as it was called – was not only the first festival to be staged in Estonia, it was also the first within the old Soviet Union.

The lineup included Big Country, Public Image Ltd., Steve Hackett, and Finnish rockers The Leningrad Cowboys.
The event ran for nine years, missing 1990 only because of the political unrest leading up to the break away from the USSR.

“The most important common denominator was the Singing Revolution,” Makarov told Life In Estonia, an English-language style magazine.

“The urge for freedom brought people together, and made the hearts of the musicians and the audience sing.”
The Singing Revolution, which inspired a documentary film of the same name, is the term used to describe Estonia’s non-violent struggle for freedom.

Now Makarov and others who created the original festival are working on the anniversary edition, which coincides with Estonia’s 95th anniversary as an independent country.

The Rock Summer 25 line-up (June 15-16) has Bryan Adams, Buckcherry, John Lydon & Public Image Ltd, Zucchero, Walking Papers, and Sharon Corr.