A musical history spanning 46 years, first under the Soviet Union and then in the Russian Federation, still makes the Russian rock band Picnic extremely popular today.
So much so that their show at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow was sold out, with over 6 thousand tickets sold.
Today they will also be remembered for being the group that experienced the massacre in the concert hall, a bit like what happened with the Eagles of Death Metal at the Bataclan in Paris in 2015.
Founded in Leningrad in 1978, the group itself however considers the real point the starting point of their musical militancy was the entry of frontman Edmund Shklyarsky in 1981, or the year in which the first album was recorded, in 1982. Over the years their music, which has its roots in Russian rock, has moved towards an original and unusual style, using symphonic keyboard instruments and exotic folk elements.
In 46 years of activity, the band has not been exempt from the political upheavals experienced in Russia: "Since the Picnic group has existed, seven general secretaries" of the Russian Communist Party have changed, "we started under Brezhnev. This shows that politics is changing, but the group Picnic remains", said the group's backing vocalist and bassist, Marat Korchemny in an interview with Ria Novosti in 2016.
In the USSR the band was included in the list of prohibited groups, and "the list it was never cancelled. So you could say we perform illegally," according to Shklyarsky, the only one left from the initial 1980s lineup.
Picnic have been banned from Ukraine since 2016 due to their performance in Crimea following the annexation of the peninsula by the Russian Federation.
"But we don't care about sanctions at all. Politics comes and goes, life remains," Korchemny underlined.
"Now no one will remember who the minister was 20-30 years ago, instead the Picnics will be remembered."
Since last night, for one more tragic reason.
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