[VIDEO] Ukrainian Band Okean Elzy Shifts Concert to Subway as Sirens Rang Across Kyiv

Okean Elzy, one of Ukraine’s most celebrated rock bands, shifted its final concert in a group of performances celebrating its 30th-anniversary, on Wednesday evening to the subway tunnels to the tune of air raid sirens with fans joining in on the chorus.

The concert at Kyiv’s Palace of Sports was interrupted at around 8 p.m. when air sirens rang across the capital, prompting all in attendance to seek shelter in the nearby subway station where the band joined in and continued the concert.

“Yes, boys and girls, now there will be a quiet, slow, lyrical song, to which you and I will shine the lights,” said the band’s frontman Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, as he instructed fans to turn on the flashlights on their mobile phones in the tunnel.

Vakarchuk, with a loudspeaker in hand and accompanied by his band members on acoustic guitars, began signing the band’s hits “As Never Before” and “Don’t Ask,” as seen in videos released by the band’s official Instagram page.

In the video, hundreds of fans could be seen joining in on the chorus with flashlights in hand, filling the entirety of the tunnel.

In another video posted by the band, Vakarchuk could be seen singing the band’s new hit “As Never Before” released just a few weeks prior.

Other Topics of Interest

ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November, 23, 2024

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

In the compilation video, the band could also be seen singing one of its greatest hits “Without a Fight” in the tunnel with its audience.

The band’s 30th-anniversary concerts took place every evening between Oct. 12 and Oct. 16 (except for Oct. 15), with the first concert on Oct. 12 sparking some controversies when police and territorial recruitment centers (TRC) officials started checking military registration of males outside the venue and ostensibly arresting those without adequate documents.

However, a Kyiv Post correspondent who attended the concert a day later noted no similar checks were conducted, likely due to the controversies that arose.

Okean Elzy, formed in 1994, gained fame across post-Soviet nations with some of its music featured in the popular 1990s Russian gangster movie “Brat” (meaning brother in Russian) and its 2000 sequel.

However, the band has distanced itself from Russia and maintained a strong pro-Ukrainian position after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2014.

The band has led the audience to sing the national anthem of Ukraine during its concerts in London on multiple occasions.

The band’s frontman Vakarchuk has also been a political activist with multiple stints in Ukraine’s parliament as a lawmaker, with speculations rampant in 2019 that he would take on then-presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky in the presidential election.