Laibach to become first international act to play Kyiv since start of Ukraine war

Laibach group shot — (Image credit: Mute)

Slovenian art provocateurs Laibach have announced plans to become the first international act to play a full show in Kyiv since the war in Ukraine began a year ago.

The band are scheduled to play at the Bel Etage Music Hall in Kyiv on March 31, where they'll perform Eurovision – a programme that incorporates some of the band's most well-known material – alongside a new song, The Engine Of Survival. Tickets are on sale now, priced from €18.39.

In a statement, Laibach say, "While the rest of Europe prepares to celebrate its idea of freedom and solidarity on 9 May in Liverpool [a reference to this year's Eurovision Song Contest], Laibach will be taking Eurovision back to Ukraine - where it belongs and where the only true and real vision of Europe is taking place right now."

All proceeds from the Kyiv show will be donated to charities working in Ukraine.

The show is the latest event in what may turn out to be a busy year for Laibach, who released two new collections last month. The full-length Sketches Of The Red Districts examined "the conflict-ridden genesis of the band's formation in the industrial town of Trbovlje in 1980" while the Love Is Still Alive EP featured new versions of songs that originally featured on the soundtrack of the 2019 movie Iron Sky - The Coming Race.

The band also found time to perform at the opening ceremony of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championship, which began yesterday in Planica in northwestern Slovenia (footage below).

In 2015, Laibach became one of the first western acts to play in North Korea, a performance documented in the Liberation Day movie, released two years later.

Laibach tour dates 2023

Mar 31: Kyiv Bel Etage Music Hall, Ukraine
Apr 14: Zagreb Tvornica Kulture, Croatia
Apr 21: Ljubljana Kino Šiška, Slovenia
May 20: Klagenfurt Burghof Festival, Austria
Jul 14: Bolków Castle Party Festival, Poland

Laibach Kyiv Poster — (Image credit: Laibach)

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. 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.