The owner of the Afanasy beer holding Maxim Larin announced the partial cancellation of the McLarine for the Motherland festival in Tver, at which the German rock musician, the leader of the Rammstein band Till Lindemann, was to perform on August 29. In a statement posted on social media on Saturday evening, August 28, the event organizer referred to government opposition.
“The festival in full, as we tried to organize, we are unable to do it due to the decision and physical obstacle of the authorities. Today and yesterday we were shown this,” he wrote. According to Larin, the police disrupted Lindemann’s rehearsal by blocking the organizers’ cars. Therefore, it was decided to cancel the concert on the stage, which was installed on the territory of the holding and on which the German musician was supposed to perform. “Then there will be no reason for the police to prevent the artists from coming to the site, because there is no one there,” Larin believes. He also announced the installation of a second stage, where local musicians will perform.
The organizer of the festival linked the situation with the elections
At the same time, the businessman, who was previously a deputy of the regional parliament from the Rodina party and who is called the informal leader of its Tver branch by local media outlets, linked the actions of the authorities with the upcoming elections. “I didn’t know that during the pre-election campaigns it’s forbidden to hold corporate parties for the anniversary,” wrote Larin, for whose 50th anniversary the festival was timed.
In an interview with the BBC, the entrepreneur said that the authorities did not like the name of the event, as it could be associated with a political party. At the same time, Larin points out that the festival is called “MacLaryn for the Motherland”, since it is “patriotic”.
The police came to Lindemann’s room and the Afanasy holding
Initially, the main guest of the festival was to be the Russian group Bi-2, but the musicians later refused, citing the warnings of local authorities against them about antiquated restrictions. Then Larin announced the invitation of a world-class star and on August 27, after Lindemann’s arrival in Tver, announced the performance of the Rammstein frontman. On the night of August 28, the police came to the hotel room of the German musician. Interfax, citing an unnamed source, reported that the audit was being carried out “within the framework of the statement.” According to him, the police warned Lindemann about the need to comply with restrictive measures during mass events.
According to Interfax, during the night visit to the hotel, an administrative case was also opened against Lindeman’s producer Anar Reiband for violating the migration regime. “When crossing the border of the Russian Federation, he declared the purpose of the trip to be tourism, although in fact he was organizing concert activities,” an informed source told Interfax. According to him, Ryband was detained in the framework of administrative proceedings. In turn, the interlocutor of TASS indicated that the police have no complaints about Lindemann himself.
Maksim Larin later also reported on the visit of “men in black under the cover of the police” to the Afanasy holding. “Our contractor was prevented from editing the scene and many other things. We were able to hear the conversation of law enforcement officers. It follows from it that there is an order to prevent the holiday by any means,” he wrote on Instagram.
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