By William E. Shmidt
MOSCOW, Sept 28, 1991-Bare chested and painted in tattoos, the lead singer for a Texas heavy-metal group named Pantera gazed over a sea of tens of thousands of screaming Soviet fans sprawled over the Tushino Airfield Saturday afternoon and said that he was moved.
"It's a killer thing that we are all here together," screamed the singer, Phil Anselmo, who had just removed a yellow devil's mask, "and shows that music is the universal language."
With that, Members of Pantera, one of the four Western heavy-metal bands appearing at what was described as the first free outdoor Western rock concert in Soviet history, lurched into their ear splitting hit "Primal Concrete Slave" while the audience of teenagers, bikers in black leather and other fans jammed their fists in the air and swayed jerkily with the heavy bass beat.
The one-day concert, called "Monsters of Rock" and sponsered by Time Warner Inc., the entertainment and publishing conglomerate, brought to Moscow some of the West's most popular heavy-metal bands, like AC/DC and Metallica.
There were no official police estimates of the crowd at the airfield. A promoter for Time/Warner estimated the size of the audience at 150,000, while other estimates ran as much as three time higher.
Until a few years ago, AC/DC and its music were officially banned in the Soviet Union. Andrei Orlov, a music critic and writer, said the decision to let AC/DC play in Moscow reflects not only the liberalizing effect that President Mikhail S. Gorbachev has had on most aspects of life here but also a long overdue recognition of popular reality.
"Look at the graffitti in the city," Mr Orlov said, "AC/DC is written on every wall."
The concert was not the first time Western heavy-metal acts have played Moscow. In 1989, Ozzy Osbourne, Bon Jovi and Motley Crue filled Lenin Stadium for two days to help raise money for Soviet Charities. (the Moscow Music Peace Festival)
Officials at Time/Warner described the concert as a "celebration of democracy and freedom" in the Soviet Union, in the wake of last month's failed coup.
In return for bringing the acts to Moscow, Time/Warner will come away with a docomentary film that will presumably celebrate Time/Warner celebrating democracy and freedom in the Soviet Union. There were nearly twice as many camera operators on and near the stage at any point than there were musicians. And automated cameras on booms dipped and curled above the crowd at Tushino, a sprawling and little used military airbase in northwest Moscow.
There were some scattered arrests, as ranks of police officers wearing helmets and wielding truncheons chased after troublemakers and drunken youth, who appeared to be well-represented among the crowd. Police took little chance on the crowd's getting out of hand. More than 1,000 militiamen were on guard around the stage, and more were hidden in trucks parked further away.