The show “Symphonic Rock Hits. Lord of Darkness» by the Concord Orchestra. The page announcing the performance, which was supposed to take place on March 31, has been removed from the concert hall’s website.
The symphony orchestra’s website says that the Moscow concert is being postponed, and they promise to announce new dates later. In the telegram channel, the band reported that concerts “due to the current situation” are also being postponed in St. Petersburg, Pskov, Smolensk, Bryansk, Kursk and Veliky Novgorod.
A message about the Concord Orchestra concert on March 25 appeared in telegram channel of the pro-government movement “Call of the People”. Judging by it, Sergei Arutyunov, associate professor at the Gorky Literary Institute and editor-in-chief of the Pravchtenie portal of the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, wrote to the Kremlin Palace with a request to “cancel the Sabbath.”
“I also understand perfectly well that you are ordinary businessmen and are pursuing the goal of profit and enrichment, but against the backdrop of the tragedy that has just occurred with the concert activities, the mourning declared in the country, how can you sell tickets to some kind of satanic show there «Concord Orchestras» during the days of Great Lent, in the very center of the Russian faith, among the cathedrals of the Kremlin, which will certainly silently reproach you for blasphemy? <…> Satanists in the Kremlin are a sabotage against not only believers, but also our entire people,” Call of the People quotes Arutyunov’s appeal.
On the evening of March 28, the pro-government movement announced that the concert had been canceled and thanked “everyone who took part in banning the satanic event.” The Concord Orchestra website says that the group performs compositions by Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Roxette, Nirvana, AC/DC, Linkin Park, Scorpions, Queen, Muse and Evanescence. The phrase “Lord of Darkness” has now been removed from performance announcements.