A Russian court ordered Till Lindemann, the frontman of German metal band Rammstein, to pay 638,800 euros ($670,000) over a canceled concert in northwestern Russia’s Tver region, the state-run TASS news agency reported Monday.
Tver-based company Prime Marketing, which had contracted Rammstein to perform in the regional capital, filed a lawsuit against Lindermann with Russia’s International Commercial Arbitration Court.
The dispute stems from a planned performance in August 2021 as part of the “McLarin for the Motherland” festival, organized by local businessman Maxim Larin to coincide with his 50th birthday.
The concert was canceled after local authorities reportedly blocked the band’s vehicles from accessing the festival grounds for rehearsals and searched the hotel where Lindemann was staying, ordering compliance with Covid-19 restrictions.
Belarusian rock band Bi-2, also scheduled to perform, pulled out after receiving warnings from authorities about the event’s “inadmissibility.”
Attendees were initially asked to wear black shirts emblazoned with the festival’s slogan, “McLarin for the Motherland,” but Larin later requested they avoid wearing the shirts, fearing the authorities might interpret the event as an unsanctioned rally for the nationalist political party Motherland.
A Russian arbitration court also ordered Lindemann’s producer, Anar Reiband, to pay Larin 10 million rubles ($100,000) as part of a separate lawsuit. Larin claimed Reiband had agreed to provide advertising services in the Tver region but failed to deliver after receiving an advance payment
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