Sonic Youth played a show in Ukraine back in the spring of 1989. Today, the band released a live recording from their set in Kyiv on April 14, in which its proceeds will benefit World Central Kitchen and relief to Ukraine.
The nine-track recording is available via Bandcamp. It was the band’s first trek into the former USSR, stopping in Vilnius, Leningrad, Moscow, and Kyiv. Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz attended the Kyiv performance, and was forever changed by the captivating NYC underground rockers.
This is what Hutz had to say about the set:
“That SY Kyiv show was life changing for all musicians that were there… we were already attuned to Nick Cave, Einsturzende Neubauten, S Pistols and Discharge but these were the new vitamins we needed. I made a decision to experience NY right there. Plus my friends VV were opening so i got in free 🤟🏼. The fact that it wasn’t shut down half way through like all other punk gigs was the doing of a Ukrainian man named Mikhailo Gorbachev, who set up the atmosphere of political “springtime” and a promise of change.”
World Central Kitchen gives fresh food and hot meals to families in Ukrainian cities recently liberated.
Listen to the show below or buy it for $10 at Bandcamp.
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