President Dmitry Medvedev got his wish on Tuesday night when he hosted Deep Purple at his luxurious residence near Moscow, the Kremlin said.
Medvedev, 45, dressed in jeans and a black jacket, drank tea with the rock idols he has followed since he was a young boy, when he listened to the band in his tiny apartment in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg.
"Of course, when I started listening to Deep Purple I could not imagine that I would be sitting here with you at this table like this," he told the band, according to Interfax.
The veteran musicians, some sporting sunglasses and long hair, gave Medvedev a pair of drumsticks as a gift before heading off to play a concert in the capital.
Medvedev first met Deep Purple in 2008, weeks before he was steered into the Kremlin by his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, at a gig marking 15 years of the gas giant Gazprom.
When Medvedev arrived to greet his guests, he blasted one of their songs from an old tape player, winning applause from the band. Vocalist Ian Gillan then joked that he always thought presidents were old men, although not in Medvedev's case.
As the party gained momentum, Medvedev's son, Ilya, 15, played the guitar with the band, RIA-Novosti reported.
Unlike Putin, who has said he prefers patriotic Russian songs, Medvedev is a dedicated rocker. Last year, he met U2 frontman Bono at his Black Sea residence near Sochi.
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