Green Day cancel Moscow stadium show in wake of Ukraine invasion, urge fans to 'stay safe'

Green Day
(Image credit: Pamela Littky)

Green Day have cancelled their upcoming Moscow show in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

Posting in a now-expired Instagram story, the band wrote, "With heavy hearts, in light of current events we feel it is necessary to cancel our upcoming show in Moscow at Spartak Stadium. We are aware that this moment is not about stadium rock shows, it’s so much bigger than that. But we also know that rock and roll is forever and we feel confident there will be a time and a place for us to return in the future. Refunds available at the point of purchase. Stay safe."

Green Day were scheduled to play at Moscow's Spartak Stadium – previously a host to bands like Guns N' Roses, Depeche Mode and the Red Hot Chili Peppers –  on May 29, ahead of the European leg of the band's twice-postponed Hella Mega tour with Fall Out Boy and Weezer.

In tangentially related news, Russian activist and Pussy Riot co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova has joined forced with cryptocurrency groups Trippy Labs, CXIP and PleasrDAO to create UkraineDAO, a decentralised autonomous organisation that will facilitate the sale 10,000 NFTs of the Ukrainian flag as well as auctioning a second, unique flag NFT. 

More details are available at ukrainedao.love, and all proceeds will go to support Ukrainians affected by the invasion.

"Creating a DAO is a good way to get international and Web3 attention and give the Ukrainian people a voice," says Ukrainian activist Alona Shevchenko, who came up with the idea. "This is exactly what DAOs are for, making change offline in the real world harnessing the power of blockchain."

Meanwhile, frontman Former Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider has said that he approves of Ukrainians adopting We're Not Gonna Take It to rally resistance, but not "infantile" anti-maskers.

Fraser Lewry

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.