Pērkons (LV – Rock)
Pērkons (“Thunder” in Latvian) is one of the most important and scandalous Latvian rock bands of the 1980s and still perform concerts from time to time.
At first, Pērkons played two completely different kinds of music – instrumental classical music, and wild rock’n’roll bordering on hard rock. The band is better known for the latter. Their songs became the folklore of the youth, speaking about things nobody else dared to speak about. The band was, for no expressed reason, banned by the Soviet power in 1983. They continued to play as an ensemble of the kolkhoz “Soviet Latvia”, careful not to mention the title Pērkons again. In 1985, after a concert in Ogre, a group of teenagers demolished two train compartments. After this, the group was banned again, even though it had nothing to do with the incident.
The texts of their music are at least as rebellious as the music itself, mostly written by Māris Melgalvs, one of best known examples is“Balāde par gulbi”. This will be a rare chance to catch the legends live!
