They've got balls: Metalheads, who gave a show in Kyiv in early 2014

Number of events after the New Year in the capital of Ukraine wasn't big as always, because of the large number of cancelled concerts. The situation in the country was surely not helpful to the organizers who certainly suffered great losses due to the cancelled shows. However, some bands performed to their Ukrainian fans despite of to the "unstable political situation", so this article is about them.

There were no signs of the epidemic cancelling concerts in December last year, that's why the performance of American band Five Finger Death Punch was perceived as a matter of course: artists promised to attend and they did. Before the show some of musicians had time to visit the barricaded Maidan, photos from which quickly spreaded through the Internet, thanks to the fans.

The number of cancelled events began to increase since late February. Nothing interesting happened in Kyiv, except for small parties, until March 10 — the day of Udo's concert, who pleased Ukrainians the most this year: musician with his eponymous band had a tour in Ukraine and he had visited seven cities in a short period of time. Accept's ex-vocalist played in Chernigov, Ilechevsk, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Simferopol, Kharkov and Kyiv from March 1st to 10th. From city to city Udo & Co moved by train, so some fans had the opportunity to travel with their idol.

Thirty Seconds to Mars' frontman, who mentioned Ukraine in Oscar speech, during his visit to Kyiv didn't miss the opportunity to stroll around the city

Two days after the U.D.O.'s show, the Oscar winner Jared Leto with his band Thirty Seconds to Mars visited Kyiv, where they had a sold-out concert in the Palace of Sports. Jared mentioned Ukraine in Oscar speech, so during his visit to Kyiv, he didn't miss the opportunity to stroll around the city. After his walk the phrase "Leto at the Maidan" (Leto means "summer" in Russian — editor) and his photo consistently appeared on various Internet resources few days later.

The Greek band Rotting Christ performed in Kyiv before, but musicians decided to please fans with their show again. Band came to the capital of Ukraine with their new album and old hits. After Kyiv, Rotting Christ had to travel to Kharkov and Ilechevsk (but the dates were changed). After the Greeks, the German post-hardcore band Eskimo Callboy performed in Kyiv too at the end of March.

April Fool's Day inhabitants and guests of the capital celebrated with a famous Russian Rammstein fan, Alexander Pushnoy. Also Sick Puppies and Caliban arrived in April. Musicians of this bands made memorable photos in the city center.

Guitar virtuoso Steve Vai visited Ukraine on the last Friday of April. The concert in Kyiv was part of a two-year tour in support of his new studio album "The Story Of Light". The gig has become one of the most memorable events, because Steve Vai came to Ukraine for the first time with full band rock show, which lasted two and a half hours.

June pleased Kyiv residents by performances of three bands: the French shoegazing group Alcest, the American post-hardcore group Blessthefall and the British metalcore band Architects. At that time the attendance of concerts started to fall appreciably, probably affected by frequent and not always timely cancellation of the concerts.

About 30 shows of metal bands were cancelled in the capital of Ukraine during the first half of 2014

In total 30 bands cancelled their shows for different reasons in Kyiv since 2014, some of them even didn't perform in Ukraine before. Curiously, but the management of some bands informed organizers about cancellation only at the last moment. The managers of groups posted an apologizing messages on the bands' official websites just a day before the event. Some bands, like Within Temptation and Amaranthe, moved dates for autumn, 2014.

We hope all these bands (Cult of Luna, Depeche Mode, Scar Symmetry, Skindred, Nine Inch Nails, Killswitch Engage, Leaves' Eyes, Tarja Turunen, Royal Hunt, The Birthday Massacre, Turisas, Gogol Bordello, Chelsea Grin, In Extremo, Billy's Band, Dark Tranquillity, Children of Bodom, Peter Gabriel, White Lies, Behemoth, Korn & Soufly, Guano Apes, W.A.S.P., UFO, Emmure, Megadeth, Aerosmith and The National), who cancelled their show, will play in Kyiv in the nearest future.

By Anastezia