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Various - For Those About To Rock: Monsters In Moscow
UK release date: 5 June 2006
4 stars
Various - For Those About To Rock: Monsters In Moscow

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track listing

Pantera:
1. Cowboys From Hell
2. Primal Concrete Sledge
3. Psycho Holiday

E.S.T.:
1. Bully

The Black Crowes: 1. Stare It Cold
2. Rainy Day Woman

Metallica:
1. Enter The Sandman
2. Creeping Death
3. Fade To Black

AC/DC:
1. Black In Black
2. Highway To Hell
3. Whole Lotta Rosie
4. For Those About To Rock... We Salute You

Special Features:
Featurette On The Efforts Of The Russian Army To Postpone The Concert

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In August 1991 Communist hardliners stormed the Russian Parliament and put Mikhail Gorbachev under house-arrest in an attempt to undo the years of glasnost and the cooling down of the Cold War. However, those behind the coup did not account for public feeling nor political factions within Moscow and, after three days, the putsch was defeated.

So what to do in celebration? How about hastily arranging a free concert with some of the world's most popular hard rock bands and getting an estimated half a million Muscovites gathered in a field to shake their heads?

This DVD tells the story of that concert and starts with old shots of war, Communism and the clashes that occurred during the coup. This is done to a soundtrack of AC/DC's For Those About To Rock, whose lyric "stand up and be counted" is particularly apt.

There then follows some insightful behind-the-scenes footage, including obligatory political comments from Metallica motormouth Lars Ulrich, as well as the late Dimebag Darrell (then Diamond Darrell) saying that although Pantera were in the studio recording at the time, they dropped everything to play this gig.

In the "stage set-up" section of the DVD there is an interesting cultural contrast between the loud, profanity-spewing American site co-ordinator (as he deals with too many interpreters and low-flying helicopters and not enough "hands" and toilet amenities) and the military-attired, Russian organisers who are intent on repeating that "everything is going to plan".

And so on to the concert footage itself, which starts with a fresh-faced Pantera, who at the time had not released what would be the seminal A Vulgar Display Of Power. Nevertheless, we are treated to three classic songs from Cowboys From Hell, and Pantera do what the always did live - play fast, heavy and full of aggression. In fact, the words from Cowboys From Hell - "we are taking over this town" - are probably even more appropriate than those from the aforementioned For Those About To Rock.

At this point we discover a huge problem. Any concert of this size has to have an understanding between the crowd and security but here it is safe to say that there was none. Many of the crowd are at their first heavy metal concert and naturally want to jump, shout and push to Pantera and Russian band E.S.T., while the security, aka the Russian army, want to do what was natural for them - oppress anyone jumping and pushing with nightsticks.

A downward spiral ensues with angry people get angrier as they get beaten up by angry military men. The organisers talk to both sides, including a great rhetorical question: "Do you want to listen to Neil Diamond for the rest of your life?" However, it is The Black Crowes who really help calm everyone down with a swaggering performance of foot-tapping, feel-good blues, summed up by frontman Chris Robinson spreading the peace: "We just want you to have a good time. We just want you to have a little piece of mind. You've got a lot of good times ahead of you."

As the sun goes down Metallica appear and one can see during the opening Enter Sandman that James Hetfield's eyes are saying: "Whoa, there really are a lot of people here!" Hetfield and crew appear to put a massive effort into the show, no doubt due in part to Ulrich's and Kirk Hammett's walk around the tent city (the base for the freedom fighters), which is shown in a prequel to the concert footage.

Before AC/DC's set, guitarist Angus Young is shown the barricades used in the fighting, again illustrating that this was not just a "pitch up, play and walk away" scenario for these bands. As always, AC/DC are pretty much the perfect live rock 'n' roll band. Massive tunes such as Back In Black and Whole Lotta Rosie are instantly recognisable, although the latter begs the question of how on earth they managed to get a 100ft blow-up Rosie through Russian customs!

Overall, this DVD captures the feeling of what it must have been like to have been part of this unique occasion, although there are a little too many shots of the crowd being beaten up for comfort and, in the first half of the DVD, these distract from the music. However, with some great performances, it is still easy to sit back and enjoy an inspiring celebration of people-power.


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