There were never so many people in St. Petersburg even at the World Cup matches.
According to official data, the Leningrad concert at the St. Petersburg football arena was attended by 65,110 people. Stadium concerts in Russia have never attracted so many crowds.
Previously, the top 5 was like this:
Metallica, Luzhniki, July 18, 2007. 62,000 people.
U2, Luzhniki, August 25, 2010. 60,000 people.
imagine Dragons, Luzhniki, August 29, 2018. 55,000 people.
"Leningrad", "Opening Arena", July 13, 2017. 47,000 people.
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Luzhniki, July 22, 2012. About 40,000 - 50,000 people (data vary).
We did not include in the rating the concert Michael Jackson gave at Luzhniki on September 15, 1993, since it is now difficult to estimate how many people were actually there. For example, Kommersant (issue dated September 17, 1993) writes: “80 thousand spectators waited in the open air for the appearance of the idol.” “Novye Izvestia” gives completely different data - that 30 thousand tickets were not sold, that the stadium was practically empty due to terrible weather, but in the end about 60 thousand people still gathered. You can also find information online that 50 thousand tickets were sold for Jackson’s concert.
At the opening ceremonies of the FIFA World Cup and the 2014 Olympics in Luzhniki (78,011 spectators) and Fisht (40,000 spectators), respectively, artists also performed, but they should not be taken into account - these are sporting events. Even in Luzhniki, rallies and concerts were held - for example, on November 4, 2017. It was reported that 130 thousand people came to the rally-concert then. But this should be regarded as more of a political than a musical event.
If we take into account non-stadium concerts, then, for example, the rock festival “Invasion” in 2001 was attended by over 100 thousand people. 120 thousand people attended the DDT concert on Palace Square in 1993. True, entry to it was free.
The most well-attended concert in Russia took place on September 6, 1997, when the 850th anniversary of Moscow was celebrated. Jean-Michel Jarre put on a show on Sparrow Hills that was watched by the whole of Moscow. Wikipedia shows an astonishing figure - 3.5 million people! It may be an exaggeration, but witnesses say: there were an incredibly large number of people.
There were big concerts during the USSR too. Not just big - grandiose!
On September 28, 1991, the legendary concert “Monsters of Rock in Moscow” attracted a gigantic audience. The information varies: somewhere they write about 400 thousand, somewhere (for example, in the English-language Wikipedia) - about one and a half million people. The bands that performed were iconic - Pantera, Metallica, AC/DC.
On August 12 and 13, 1989, the Moscow Music Peace Festival was held at Luzhniki. Over two days, 180 thousand people visited it. Very powerful rock stars arrived - Ozzy Osbourne, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, Skid Row, Scorpions, Cinderella.
On June 24, 1990, a concert of the Kino group took place at Luzhniki. About 70 thousand people visited it. That is, this is the most attended solo concert in the history of our country. It was the last for Kino - on August 15, 1990, Viktor Tsoi died in a car accident.
The main events in St. Petersburg in honor of City Day will be held on May 27, 2016. For one evening in honor of City Day, Palace Square will turn into an improvised ceremonial hall. The stage will be decorated with luxurious decorations: a wide staircase with a gilded forged lattice and candelabra, as well as a magnificent colonnade.
The main attribute of the interior - a central chandelier of 200 lamps - will emphasize the beauty of the facade of the Winter Palace. The diameter of the chandelier frame is 2.5 m, the total weight is 620 kg. It consists of 32 small chandeliers, 2500 crystal pendants. It took four people to assemble the chandelier and they worked for about six hours.
On May 27, City Day in St. Petersburg at 21.00, at the gala concert “Classics on Dvortsovaya”, Russian and world opera stars will perform for the citizens and guests of the Northern capital, accompanied by the Mikhailovsky Theater Symphony Orchestra. The headliner of the evening will be the brilliant Anna Netrebko.
“Each performance is a mini-performance with the participation of artists and dancers. And the Hermitage in this concert will be the main character,” Ekaterina Galanova, author of the project and director of the show “Classics on Palace Square,” told Metro.
Gardeners also planted 2 million flowers for City Day in St. Petersburg, reports the Improvement Committee. This volume of planting was achieved thanks to the warm and sunny May.
Peter and Paul Fortress will be captured by the Vikings Festival “Legends of the Norwegian Vikings”
Time. May 27–29, opening at 16.40
Place. Peter-Pavel's Fortress
For all the days of the festival, Peter and Paul Fortress will turn into a medieval Viking settlement. The event will be attended by more than 300 reenactors from the best military history clubs of this era from all over Russia. For the second time in a row, Vikings from Norway will come to St. Petersburg - from the Lofotr Museum, which is located on the Lofoten Islands in the north of the country. This is one of the most famous Viking museums in the world.
There will be a changing of the guard at the fortress
Divorce of the guard of honor
Time. May 28 at 11.55
Place. Naryshkin bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress
The first guard of honor ceremony of the year will take place on Saturday. From now on it will be held on Saturdays until the beginning of November. It involves the personnel of the 165th Separate Rifle Honor Guard Company and the orchestra of the headquarters of the Leningrad Military District. As part of the ceremony, there will be a parade ground, the removal of the flag of the Russian Federation and the flag of St. Petersburg and, of course, the traditional midday shot from a signal gun on the Naryshkin Bastion.
The townspeople are called for dessert
Ice Cream Festival
Time. May 28, 11.00–21.00
Place. Ostrovsky Square
The 21st Ice Cream Festival will delight visitors with more than 50 types of this delicacy. In addition, the Teremok home-cooking restaurant chain will bake a giant-sized pancake cake with banana and chocolate filling for St. Petersburg residents. It will weigh more than 400 kg and will be about 1.5 m in diameter.
Eight pancake bakers will create it online. Spectators will be invited to take part in a charity auction for the right to taste the first piece of pancake.
Dogs will walk along the catwalk
Dachshund parade
Time. May 28 at 12.00
Place. Garden of the Academy of Arts on Vasilyevsky Island
More than 100 dachshunds, together with their owners, will walk along a special 24-meter-long catwalk. The dachshunds will demonstrate amazing carnival costumes, which the owners began sewing several months ago. Viewers will see Star Wars characters, a boxer, a ballerina, and the Little Prince. The special guest is the dog Jose from the first charity animated series “Flying Animals”. The famous TV presenter Anna Fradkina will act as an expert in the costume competition.
Nevsky will be given to cyclists
Great Bike Parade and Parade of Literary Heroes
Time. May 29 at 12.00
Place. From the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall to the Park of the 300th Anniversary of St. Petersburg, stage on Malaya Sadovaya Street
The event is timed to coincide with the emergence of the Single Day of Bicycle Parades in Russia, which will now be celebrated throughout the country every last Sunday of May. The total length of the route in St. Petersburg will be 16 km. The bicycle parade will also take place along Nevsky Prospekt.
The parade of literary heroes will take place as part of the St. Petersburg International Book Salon. It is organized by the Juventa Theater.
According to legend, exactly 315 years ago, Peter the Great stamped his foot and ordered the construction of a city in the Neva delta. Many were hostile to his idea and did not believe that it would be possible to open a window to Europe on the marshy lands near the Gulf of Finland. But the emperor proved the opposite, and for several centuries St. Petersburg has delighted millions of people from all over the world.
When is City Day celebrated?
City Day in the Northern capital is celebrated every year on May 27, but a number of events dedicated to the solemn date will take place the day before. That is, we will have two whole free days when we can walk, enjoy the sun and the approaching summer.
Where to go on holidays?
By the end of May, the trees in St. Petersburg are already green, fountains are working, and festive decorations are visible everywhere. Even just walking the streets these days is a real pleasure. But it’s better not to limit yourself to a simple promenade, because there will be so many interesting things happening around!
Retro transport parade
If suddenly on Nevsky you see buses, trolleybuses and cars from the past, don’t be surprised - this is. On May 26, a column of rare cars will begin its triumphal journey along the central streets and avenues. Keep your camera ready, or even better, come after 15:00 to Inzhenernaya Street, where there will be a stop. Everyone will be able to look into the salon and take unusual pictures.
On May 27 at 12:00 it will start from all over Russia. A bright flash mob will take place, in which the singer IOWA and the dance group “Edelweiss” will take part. Also on holidays, a ship parade, a masquerade procession and a circus arts festival are planned.
Show "Singing Bridges"
When it gets dark, you can move closer to the water. On the night of May 27, the “Singing Bridges” show will be launched in St. Petersburg for the third time. It is expected that this year the crossings will be conducted to the music of Isaac Schwartz, a composer whose fame was brought to him by the melodies for the films “White Sun of the Desert,” “Star of Captivating Happiness,” and “The Brothers Karamazov.”
In honor of the Day, the city will be celebrated not with a recording, as is usually done, but with the accompaniment of a symphony orchestra.
Laying flowers to the Bronze Horseman
The holiday will be officially opened by the ceremony. Usually, the city's top officials and an honor guard participate in it, and ordinary citizens can only see the broadcast. But this year they want to open access to the Bronze Horseman to everyone, so be on Senate Square by 10:00.
Concert in the Peter and Paul Fortress
On May 27 at 12:00 a ceremonial shot will be fired from the bastion. It will symbolically open the festival, which will be held on the territory of Hare Island for the first time in recent years and will surprise the audience from the very first minutes. A costume show dedicated to the history of St. Petersburg will unfold on the stage in the form of a “Zenith plane”. He will be followed by Igor Kornelyuk and Tatyana Bulanova, and the headliners of the concert will be Irakli, the Pizza group and the disco tribe IOWA. The concert starts at 13:00, but you can come earlier - you won’t be bored.
Ice Cream Festival
Well, what would a holiday be without food! Come and eat ice cream on Saturday. At the festival you can try dozens of types of ice treats from different manufacturers, as well as take part in competitions, listen to music and just have a good time.
Show “Classics on Dvortsovaya”
Towards the end of the first day, the action will move to . In this beautiful open-air hall there will be a grand show for all residents and guests of St. Petersburg - “Classics on Palace Square”. The project involves stars of the Russian and world opera stage, ballet dancers, famous musicians and composers.
The concert starts at 21:00, admission is free.
Festive fireworks
The two anniversary days for St. Petersburg will end with a fireworks display. The first salvos will be fired at 23:00. An hour later the torches of the Rostral Columns will light up.
The concert will feature music by Verdi, Rossini, Bizet, Leoncavallo, Kalman, Lehar, Strauss, and the main event will be the performance of Anna Netrebko.
Ticket: free
Dates: Fri at 21:00
Address: Palace Square
Start date: May 27, 2016
Date of completion: May 27, 2016
In honor of City Day, St. Petersburg residents will enjoy a grand concert on Palace Square. In evening St. Petersburg, from a stage decorated in the spirit of a magnificent ballroom, the best works of classics will be performed: Rossini, Verdi, Bizet, Kalman, Puccini and Strauss.
The event will be attended by the Mikhailovsky Theater Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Tatarnikov and opera soloists, including People's Artist of Russia Anna Netrebko.
In the open air you will be able to listen to opera arias performed by tenor of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia Yusif Eyvazov, soloist of the Mariinsky Theater Ildar Abdrazakov, star soprano Olga Peretyatko, soloist of the Moscow New Opera Theater and guest soloist of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia Georgy Vasiliev and other famous performers.
The incredible performance will be complemented by dance numbers performed by world ballet stars and artists from St. Petersburg theaters. Among them are the theater “Mr. Pageau’s Wandering Dolls”, the St. Petersburg State Academic Ballet Theater named after Leonid Yakobson, etc.
The sheet music for the show “Classics on Dvortsovaya” weighs about 25 kilograms, preparations for which are already underway on the main square of St. Petersburg. The traditional celebration of classical art in honor of City Day will take place on May 27 and, according to organizers’ forecasts, will attract over half a million spectators. This year, the works performed include well-known, but not formulaic classics. The concert starts at 21.00. Free admission.
The program is designed so as not to repeat itself (the project will be six years old) or the “protocol” of most opera concerts. Light and spectacular arias, duets (and even quartets) from operas by Rossini, Verdi, Saint-Saëns, Leoncavallo, Offenbach, Puccini and operettas by Kalman, Lehar, Lecoq, sunny Neapolitan songs and unexpected hits will be performed by outstanding opera stars of our time - for some Of these, this will be the first St. Petersburg open-air.
The owner of a unique soprano, a person of peace and simply a beauty Sonya Yoncheva I have already performed in St. Petersburg, but not in an open area. It is called the best La Traviata since Maria Callas, but its repertoire is incredibly wide: from refined baroque to jazz and even rock compositions.
St. Petersburg debut awaits the American opera diva Danielle De Niese. Having received an Emmy, the main US television award, at the age of 16 for her performance on the stage of the Los Angeles Opera, she never ceases to amaze the public with daring experiments: in parallel with conquering the world’s leading opera stages, she writes soundtracks for Ridley Scott’s films, tries herself in various genres of performing arts , such as hip-hop, for example.
World opera stars and good friends will open their performance in the Classics on Dvortsovaya with the temperamental duet of Don Carlos and Rodrigo from Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlos. Dmitry Hvorostovsky and Marcelo Alvarez. Dmitry needs no introduction, and about Marcelo it is enough to say that he built a career as an opera singer in three years and almost from scratch, leaving the family furniture business, to which he devoted 10 years of his life. All this time, singing was just a hobby, but at some point he realized that he would either take operatic vocals seriously, or fate would pass him by. Today Marcelo Alvarez is one of the top 5 tenors of our time.
The Russian opera representation will include tenors unique in timbre and beauty - the soloist of the Bolshoi Theater Alexey Tatarintsev and Mariinsky Theater Sergey Skorokhodov, fiery soprano Veronica Dzhioeva and deep expressive mezzo-soprano Yulia Matochkina.
According to tradition, music on Dvortsovaya will only be played live - performed by Symphony Orchestra of the Mikhailovsky Theater conducted by Mikhail Tatarnikov.
The dance line of the evening will be created by masters of Spanish flamenco - a team of world-famous dancers Ursula Lopez, and the legendary St. Petersburg dance group TODES. Both one and the other have to fit their skills into musical content that is unusual for them - they stage numbers specifically for “Classics on Dvortsovaya”.
Undoubtedly, “Classics on Dvortsovaya” should give the impression of a holistic enchanting holiday with an internally constructed dramaturgy, consonant with musical emotion and movement, says the project director Ekaterina Galanova. - But in order for the picture to come together, the viewer should not get bored for a minute! Each individual performance should turn into a mini-performance - with a plot, with the main characters, with its own dance pattern, with a certain set of images, with atmosphere and mood... This year we are installing video projection screens on the stage on which video content will be broadcast. There is one for each number. The video content was prepared by Dance Open's long-time partners - St. Petersburg and French specialists. I admit honestly, what St. Petersburg residents and guests of the city will see will be the result of a painful creative search and careful selection of artifact details from the creators of the best 3D shows in Europe, as well as in St. Petersburg and Moscow. There are 29 numbers in the concert; 3-4 sketches were created for each of them. Believe me, this is terabytes of work. In the conditions of the White Nights, we, of course, do not promise 3D video, but we guarantee unprecedented entertainment.”
Here are some interesting numbers:
More than 100 concert ball gowns will be worn by participants of the upcoming open-air. If translated into numbers, this is a kilometer of fabric, over 800 meters of flounces, 97 meters of crinoline ribbon and 72 meters of finishing braid. The gilded chandelier, which has become a symbol of the project, will be raised on May 25 in the morning. Its diameter, taking into account all the hanging structures, is almost four meters. It is assembled from 32 small chandeliers and 2,500 crystal pendants; the assembly is carried out by four people and takes almost a whole working day. The total weight of the chandelier is 620 kg. Total power consumption - 8 kW. Wiring to connect all 200 lamps takes 7 days.
The project will take place on the initiative of the Government of St. Petersburg with the support of the Culture Committee.
