President Gorbachev Appears as a Special Guest at a Rock Music Festival in Germany

On April 17, 2004, Hannover, the capital of Lower Saxony, hosted a unique festival. Fifty years ago on April 12, Bill Haley and The Comets recorded Rock Around the Clock -- considered by many critics to be the first-ever rock’n’roll song to become a hit. The 50 Years of Rock Festival was held at the famous Preussag Arena, which was packed by close to 10,000 rock fans of various ages. Thomas Gottschalk, one of the most popular talk-show hosts in Germany, hosted the event, presenting to the audience for 2.5 hours one by one some of the “founding fathers” of rock.

Ex-President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev – the “Man who Changed the World” – in Mr. Gottschalk’s words, was his special guest of honor. While admitting that his heart lay with classical and traditional music, Mr. Gorbachev gave the rock-stars their due, stressing that in their records they captured the color and spirit of their turbulent times. He recalled the now late Russian rock legend Viktor Tsoi, whose 1986 song (We Want) Changes! was echoed by the Scorpions’ classic Wind of Change released in 1990.

Incidentally, back in December 1991, when The Scorpions were in Moscow, they came to the Kremlin on President Gorbachev’s invitation and performed the hit song live right in the USSR President’s office – something unheard of in that era.

Taking advantage of the fact that the event was broadcast live and there were more than six million people watching it, Mr. Gorbachev asked the host’s permission to address the performers and the audience with a call to support vitally important projects pursued by the Green Cross International – an environmental organization that he heads.

In his address, President Gorbachev emphasized the looming crisis of fresh water shortages and the need to improve the quality of water supplies. 80 percent of new cases of diseases are caused in some way ore other by the lack of available fine quality fresh water. The problem is especially severe in the Middle East, in the Southern Africa and in the Volga basin of Russia.

Many rock performers had shown interest in the issue and declared the willingness to support the efforts of President Gorbachev and the Green Cross already at the preliminary discussion stage before the festival was started. A special account was shown on TV screens where funds could be transferred to go directly to the environmental disaster areas.

The audience listened to the The Comets, The Scorpions, Status Quo, Reamonn, The Rasmus, Jon Lord (Deep Purple), Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Barry Ryan, Gary Brooker (Procul Harum), David Clayton Thomas (Blood Sweat and Tears), Peter Kraus, Shakin’ Stevens, Die Puhdies, and Eric Burdon performing live their eternal hits. Mikhail Gorbachev’s conversation with Mr. Gottschalk in front of the audience and the TV cameras was several times interrupted by applause. The two other special guests on the show were Peter Gabriel and Bill Wyman.

You can learn more about the event, read the reviews and interviews (unfortunately, only in German) and see the photos at the German TV channel ZDF’s web-site at: http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/8/0,1872,2099528,00.html