tommy lee sparta europe tour

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• Oct 27, 2023

Tommy Lee Sparta Returns to Europe; Set to Collaborate with RajahWild for a New Single

The dancehall star will kick off his European tour in Stuttgart before performing alongside Munga in Munich on Sunday. He is also in the process of working on a collaboration with the rising dancehall sensation

Set for European comeback (Photo: Jamar Cleary)

Dancehall heavyweight Tommy Lee Sparta has finally returned to Europe, marking his first appearance on the continent since his release from prison. He's all geared up for a highly-anticipated inaugural performance scheduled for Saturday, October 28th in Stuttgart, Germany, as part of his ongoing tour.

This tour spans across various cities, including Munich, where he will be sharing the stage with fellow dancehall artist Munga. The tour is set to continue until November 18, taking him through the Netherlands, Italy, and France, concluding with a performance in Lyon.

Tommy Lee Sparta's career has been on an upward trajectory since his release from prison, and his global ambitions are clear. He has plans to visit African countries such as Gambia, Kenya, and Ghana later this year, expanding his international footprint.

Meanwhile, insights from Kaboom Magazine indicate that the 'Under Vibes' deejay is actively engaged in the development of an upcoming single. This particular track is planned to feature one of the emerging talents in the dancehall genre for this year, RajahWild. Presently, it's in the creative stages and is being crafted within the emerging record label, El Chopaniur Records.

Rising sensation Rajahwild (Photo: Rickayla Mcneil)

Since his release last March, Tommy Lee Sparta has graced several renowned music events, including Sumfest and Your Best Weekend Ever , underscoring his enduring talent and unwavering dedication to his craft.

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Tommy Lee Sparta on his first-ever European tour

by DHRW (Jamaica)

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TOMMY LEE SPARTA LIVE IN STUTTGART

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Tommy Lee Sparta Announces ‘The Freedom Tour,’ Set For Africa And Europe

Dancehall star Tommy Lee Sparta has announced his first tour since his release from prison earlier this year.

According to Tommy Lee, whose real name is Leroy Russell Jr., ‘The Freedom Tour’ is being organized by Roots Vibes Promotion, and will see the  Psycho  singer bringing his “electrifying energy” and “captivating performances” to parts of Europe and Africa, from October 26 to November 30.

“I will be hitting the stage in various countries across Europe including Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, France and Denmark”, Russell Jr. noted in an Instagram post last Saturday, promising fans a chance to create “unforgettable memories together.”

He also revealed that for the African leg of the tour, he intends to hit a few notable spots, including Kenya and Ghana.

“I am also super excited to share that we will be heading to… Kenya, Gambia and Ghana. Get ready!! We’re going to have an absolute blast together!” shared the former Portmore Empire deejay.

In November 2020, Sparta had announced an Africa and European tour dubbed the “Under Vibes Tour” with dates between March 1, 2021 and May 12, 2021. However, he was arrested for gun possession in December of that year.

The deejay was sentenced to three years in prison, but was released early on March 23 this year.

Underscoring his excitement at the upcoming tour, Tommy Lee wrapped the announcement with a promise to his eagerly awaiting fans. “I can’t wait to see you all and share the vibes with each and every one of you. This tour is going to be a celebration of music, culture and unity that you won’t want to miss,” he explained.

In the meantime, Tommy Lee Sparta is preparing to make a grand return to the Sumfest stage come July 21 at the Catherine Hall Entertainment Centre in Montego Bay. He is expected to share the night with other marquee acts, including Valiant and Chronic Law.

The singer had notoriously been barred from performing at the festival under directives from the Police High Command, who had expressed their intent to question him regarding an uptick in crime in the volatile community of Flanker, St. James back in 2015.

Further hindering the star’s ability to perform at the festival was his eventual incarceration in 2021 . He was arrested and charged for illegal possession of firearm and possession of illegal ammunition. 

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"Mi a go Europe now fi five year, every time it get bigger!"

Besieged by legal problems in Jamaica, Gothic deejay Tommy Lee Sparta heads to his happy hunting ground of Europe in October for a series of shows.

The multi-tatooed artiste, known for songs such as Uncle Demon and Pat It Up , is scheduled to kick off the two-week trek with a show in Stockholm, Sweden on October 15.

"Mi a go Europe now fi five year, sometime twice fi the year. Every time it get bigger; more people drawn to the thing," said Tommy Lee Sparta prior to a recent recording session in Kingston.

While in Europe, he plans to promote some of his new songs including Redemption Song and Spartan Party , as well as work with hot reggae/dancehall acts like 876 out of Germany.

Europeans are traditionally more appreciative of roots-reggae acts like Burning Spear , Culture and The Congos , but the last five years has seen artistes like Vybz Kartel , I-Octane , Busy Signal , Konshens and Alkaline appealing to younger fans.

Tommy Lee Sparta has had his share of run-ins with Jamaican law enforcement who have investigated him for crimes in his native Montego Bay.

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Tommy Lee Sparta to Embark on Month-long Tour of Africa and Europe This Fall

Tommy Lee Sparta , the Montego Bay-based deejay, has briskly resumed his musical career following his release from the Horizon Remand Correctional Facility in March. 

Alongside his highly anticipated performance at Reggae Sumfest later this month, the artist, whose real name is  Leroy Russell Jr. , earlier this week revealed his plans for a month-long tour across Africa and Europe.

Scheduled from  October 26  to  November 30 , the excursion will take Tommy Lee Sparta across the expanse of the two continents with stops in various countries, including Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Ghana, and Kenya. Additional venues may be added as the tour unfolds.

In a lengthy Instagram message, he wrote,  “Hey everyone, it’s Tommy Lee Sparta here and I have a special announcement for all my incredible fans out there! I am thrilled to let you know that Roots Vibes Promotion is bringing my electrifying energy and captivating performances to Europe and Africa for an amazing tour!”

He continued, “ Starting from 26th October to 30th November, I will be hitting the stage in various countries across Europe including Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, France, and Denmark! Get ready to witness my incredible talent firsthand as we create unforgettable memories together. “

The “ Psycho ” deejay’s early release from prison, granted due to his exemplary conduct, marked the culmination of his more than two-year incarceration for illegal firearm and ammunition possession. Originally sentenced to three years, his guilty plea and model behaviour played significant roles in securing his early freedom.

The artist’s legal troubles began in December 2020 when he was arrested for illegally possessing a firearm on Holborn Road in New Kingston. After being detained by the police SWAT division, Tommy Lee Sparta was charged and brought to court , where he was represented by attorneys-at-law  Tom Tavares Finson KC  and  Donahue Martin .

As Tommy Lee Sparta prepares to take the stage at Reggae Sumfest, his undeniable talent and devoted fan base ensure that he will deliver a memorable performance, showcasing his remarkable resilience and dedication to his craft.

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Tommy Lee Sparta (@tommyleesparta)

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Tommy Lee to go on tour in October

2:54 pm, Tue July 11, 2023

Tommy Lee Sparta

Tommy Lee Sparta has announced his first tour since his release from prison back in March.

The Freedom Tour as it's called, organized by Roots Vibes Promotion will begin on October 26 and concludes on November 30.

The Under Vibes hitmaker will tour countries in Africa and Europe including Germany, France, Kenya and Ghana.

The Montego Bay native had initially planned for the African/European tour in 2021 but he caught trouble with the law for illegal gun possession and was later sentenced to three years in prison. He benefited from an early release.

Tommy Lee Sparta is scheduled to make his appearance on the Sumfest stage July 21 along with other acts including Teejay, Valiant and Chronic Law.

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Tommy Lee Sparta’s First European Tour Starts Today

After a sold out show for thousands in suriname over the weekend, fast rising jamaican entertainer tommy lee sparta is now in the netherlands to kick off his first european tour., for the next seven weeks the jamaican deejay is scheduled for performances in belgium, france, holland, sweden, switzerland, italy, denmark, germany and the united kingdom., the shook singer is very enthusiastic about his first journey to europe..

“Well a long time mi want come a dem place ya. Mi been talking to mi fans online from all these countries for a while now, so is a great feeling fe forward over ya still”,says Tommy Lee Sparta

The relatively fresh act has been extending his fan bas e into the very massive children audience. His new track, Captain Sparta, t hat was made exclusively for minors, has opened a unique door for him .  For the first time in Sweden a dancehall artist  will be in concert for a children only event . Sparta’s manager, Junior “Heavy-D” Fraser arranged the treat for the twelve (12) to Seventeen (17) age group.

Watch tommy lee sparta perform in suriname .

FOR MORE NEWS & MUSIC FROM JAMAICAN DANCEHALLARTIST TOMMY LEE SPARTA CLICK HERE

For this extremely special performance “captain sparta” will entertain his young audience with his lyrical content altered for his juvenile fans. his entire catalogue will be edited appropriately for his fresh-faced crowd..

According to Tommy Lee Sparta “Mi haffi do something special fe di kids, mi get tweet and message everyday from dem. Suh mi know dem a look my way and mi want dem fe happy too, so me make music just fe dem uzimi. Dem support me suh mi a invert it yah now.  (Breaking out into song, he sent the message)…“Kids be a genius like Jimmy Neutron.”

L ast weekend saw the debut of his fully animated music video, Captain Sparta. The Mental Chung production Music video has been receiving rave reviews.

Watch tommy lee captain sparta official music video.

BUY  TOMMY LEE CAPTAIN SPARTA ON ITUNES

Tommy lee sparta discusses this new project in detail, as well as his alternative/ dancehall track, spartan angels in an exclusive interview with anthony miller., the program will also feature the duet’s featured act, tabeta cshae sparta this friday on entertainment report at 9pm (est) on www.televisionjamaica.com, sharing is caring.

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Tommy Lee Sparta excited about European tour

In a few weeks deejay Tommy Lee Sparta will be embarking on a one-month European tour. The deejay, who is this month's featured act in THE STAR -organised Magnum STAR Live series, will kick off the tour on November 20.

According to Junior 'Heavy D' Fraser, one of the main persons behind the tour, this will the deejay's first European tour in two years.

"Him nuh tour in awhile, about two years, so this one is well anticipated," Fraser said.

He said the tour will take them across places such as Holland, Amsterdam, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, France, Italy and Denmark, before ending on December 19.

"It's going to be exciting because you have people from even England who are planning to travel to Holland and France to see him perform," he said.

The deejay, when contacted by THE STAR , also spoke excitedly about the tour.

He pointed out that fans can expect to see him in his full element for all the performances

But before he jets off, come Saturday, the deejay will be giving Portlanders a sample of his stage skills.

"Them can expect the best of me," the deejay said of Saturday's event.

Tommy Lee will be performing in THE STAR 's pop-up series, Magnum Star Live, which will be making its first stop at Cristal Nightclub in the parish.

The series will be making stops at non-traditional stage show locations across the island.

For the kick-off event on Saturday, Tommy Lee will be joined by Ricky Trooper who will take on selecting duties.

The series, sponsored by Magnum Xplosion, SpyTech and Konka, will also have a in-paper element, with features on the artiste and the parish where the event will take place each month.

View the discussion thread.

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Parties and punch-ups: behind the scenes at the 1989 Moscow Peace Festival

Just your everyday tale of the first (and probably last) anti-drug festival behind the Iron Curtain, with Bon Jovi, Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne, Cinderalla and Skid Row

If the original 1969 Woodstock festival, with its gruesomely naked bodies, uninhibited drug-taking and unprecedented approach to crowd control – come on down, brothers and sisters, it’s all free! – had been emblematic of the countercultural ‘revolution’ of the late 1960s, then there can have been no better symbol of the money-grabbin’, drug-hypocritical, so-called safe-sex 1980s than the Moscow Music Peace Festival, held exactly 20 years – and what seemed like several lifetimes – later. 

Never mind Live Aid . More people may remember that but Live Aid, with its ultra-focused fundraising and dizzying global clout, was more of a handholding 60s throwback than it was a genuine expression of the age; a cultural aberration that deliberately traded on me-first 80s guilt to ram home its almost anachronistic message: feed the children, help the poor, pretend Thatcher and Reagan never existed (and while you’re at it, help revive my career). 

The Moscow Music Peace Festival, however, was a genuinely self-absorbed, glossed-over, height-of-the-80s, multimedia event; inspired by the deeply held desire of a convicted international drug-trafficker to avoid going to jail, and the fervent wishes of the famous bands whose careers he then guided not to be robbed of their Svengali, their bad daddy, their real money maker. 

In short, the only interests the Moscow Music Peace Festival really served were of the people on the stage, not the ones off it. 

Even the location for the event seemed bizarrely at odds with prevailing rock culture, certainly as it had existed up until 1989: since when had the Lenin Stadium in Moscow become a venue of choice for high-profile rock bands? 

Since Doc McGhee said so, that’s when. McGhee, lest we forget, was then manager of five of the seven big-name bands that would appear on the Moscow bill: Bon Jovi , The Scorpions , Mötley Crüe , Skid Row and local Russian outfit Gorky Park. 

While the only other big name acts appearing at the festival not connected to McGhee – Ozzy Osbourne and Cinderella – were both managed by people he’d worked with many times over the years (notably, Sharon Osbourne, on the Crüe’s breakthrough US tour opening for Ozzy six years before, and when Doc returned the favour by letting Lita Ford , then managed by Sharon, open for Bon Jovi on his 1988 world tour). McGhee was also a convicted felon.

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Or as drummer Tommy Lee put it in the 2001 official Mötley Crüe biography, The Dirt : ‘Before [McGhee] met us, he was living a secret life that blew up on him when he got busted for helping smuggle 40,000 fucking pounds of pot from Colombia into North Carolina.

It wasn’t his only bust, because he was also being accused of associating with some well-connected madmen who had conspired to bring over a half a million pounds of blow [cocaine] and weed into the United States in the early 80s.’ The result, after he had pleaded guilty at the trial in North Carolina, was a relatively modest $15,000 fine, plus a five-year suspended prison sentence.

The reason he was able to get off with such a light sentence was his additional offer to put together an anti-drugs organisation, the Make A Difference Foundation, for which he would raise money the only legal way he knew how: via his music biz connections.

As Tommy said: ‘Doc knew that anyone else probably would have been in jail for at least 10 years for that shit, so he had to do something high-profile to show the court he was doing the world some good as a free man. And his brainstorm was to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Woodstock with the Moscow Music Peace Festival.’

But as Tommy ruefully concluded: "It was all bad from the moment we stepped on the plane… There was a so-called doctor on board, who was plying the bands who weren’t sober with whatever medicine they needed. It was clear that this was going to be a monumental festival of hypocrisy."

Not that I was yet aware of any of that as I stood there, sweaty and starving, at Cheremetyov airport in August 1989, waiting for the plane to land. I was still too flummoxed by Moscow itself to worry about what any of the bands might be thinking. I had arrived 48 hours before to find a city gripped by such a fearful heat that all the sensible (read: rich) people had fled the city for their summer dachas. Not that there was much to keep them there during the cooler months either.

Back then, before the Berlin Wall had fallen, the image Moscow conjured up in one’s mind was of a large, grey, unhappy citadel full of long faces and even longer food queues. The reality, however, was much worse than that. Rule number one, I discovered on my first night there, was There Is No Food. That is, nothing edible.

There were restaurants, of course, but mostly they were all closed. Usually for ‘cleaning’ which seemed to take place approximately six nights out of seven. Even when you did find a restaurant open it invariably wasn’t worth eating in. Learning to survive on the road means learning to eat anything. Fussy eaters are the first to throw in the towel.

As a result, over the years I had, at various trying moments, found myself eating smoked reindeer and bear-steaks in Helsinki; drinking the foul tap water of Rio de Janeiro; quaffing chilli-dogs and fries at fast-food counters all over America; and gorging myself on raw fish and cold rice in Tokyo.

But never in all my travels had I come across anything so frankly – or ironically – vomit-inducing as the Chicken Kiev in Russia. “Why do you think there are no dogs on the streets of Moscow?” whispered Dimitri, conspiratorially – one of the many official KGB-approved festival ‘guides’ and ‘interpreters’ – as I pushed away my plate again one night.

Rule number two: There Is No Such Thing As Russian Money. Well, actually, there was – it was called ‘the rouble’, but no self-respecting Russian trader would accept them as currency. Officially, a rouble was the equivalent of £1 sterling. But on the black market you could get up to 10 roubles for your pound.

Even then, however, they simply weren’t worth having. The only thing a stack of Roubles could buy you was a wooden doll and a big furry hat. The only real consumer goods available were on sale in the tourist-only stores, which took all major credit cards including American Express. In fact, the main currency in Moscow back then, spookily, was US dollars. And if you didn’t have the exact amount you could throw in a pack of Marlboros. For change, you might receive an assortment of dollar bills, 10- franc pieces and the occasional silver Deutsche Mark. For small change you might get handed a packet of orange-flavoured Tic-Tacs. No joke.

As for music… well, these days, no doubt, it’s as easy in Moscow to download your favourite emo codswallop from the internet as it is anywhere else. Back then, however, records and tapes were purchased almost exclusively on the black market. There was only one official record store in the whole of Moscow and when I visited it they were selling the sort of junk you might find at a car-boot sale – dusty Frank Ifield LPs and third-generation home-made cassettes of The Beatles.

Everything else was either banned or simply not available in the Russian market. The reason for this, as Jon Bon Jovi later told me, was that “they don’t pay royalties”. He said they’d actually let them release the Slippery When Wet album in the USSR, “but we did it knowing we’d never see any money for it”. If it hadn’t been for the fact that the album had already made $100 million throughout the rest of the world they’d never have been so generous. Along with most of the Western bands flying in for the festival, I was staying at a ‘five star’, £125 night shit-hole in the heart of Moscow, one block from Red Square and the imposing shadow of the Kremlin.

Sex workers lined the entrance to the hotel, and dark-suited security guards with the thick necks and thicker accents of Bond villains checked the ID of everyone wishing to enter. Enormous black cockroaches clung lazily to the walls and ceiling of the lobby. In my room on the 16th floor I was advised by one of the advance crew to check for bedbugs before turning in for the night.

In my bathroom the water running from the taps was the rich brown colour of yesterday’s piss; in the soap dish there sat a decomposing apple-core. The only towel provided was hanky-thin and crisp as an old rag. Two cigarette stubs floated lifelessly in the toilet pan. I was truly baffled. What the fuck had happened back there when they’d had the Great Revolution? Hadn’t anybody come out on top at the end of it? And if they had, where did those guys go to eat – and sleep?

I had only been in bed 10 minutes when there was a knock at my door. I thought it might be the KGB. But when I opened the door a crack there was only one of the sex workers from the lobby, asking if I’d like to buy champagne (“Only ten dollars, US,” she grinned uninvitingly) or perhaps more (“I keep you company, yes?” Er, no… thanks).

This happened every single night I was there. On the third night, already drunk and feeling emboldened after another day of dog-burgers and Tic-Tacs, I invited her in. She asked if she could bring a friend and out of nowhere another woman appeared. I gave them $20 and we opened a couple of bottles of champagne. It was so sickly sweet it made Asti Spumanti taste like Dom Perignon.

I sat there on the bed morosely, drinking it and asking them about Russia. They agreed that Russian life was “verrry bad”. Never mind, I said, Gorbachev was working on it, right?

“No!” they cried in unison. Gorbachev was “verrry, verry, verry bad!”

They said they’d preferred life under the old regime. At least then, they said, you could get meat and bread and didn’t have to queue for everything. I gave them another $20 when they left and went to sleep feeling worse than ever. Gorby may have been a huge hero to the West back then but apparently he didn’t mean shit to the ordinary whores and champagne guzzlers of Moscow.

I went to sleep thinking I understood but of course I didn’t. It goes without saying that the bands were even more nonplussed when they arrived. Walking through Red Square in the rain with Ozzy the day after he landed, he looked around glumly and summed up the general feeling surrounding the build-up to the festival when he said: “If I was living here full-time, I’d probably be dead of alcoholism, or sniffing car tyres – anything to get out of it. I can understand why there’s such an alcohol problem here. There’s nothing else to do.”

Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx from the Crüe were similarly downbeat when I ran into them backstage at the Lenin Stadium the day before the first of two shows.

“It might be an anti-drugs concert for some people,” said Nikki with a shrug, “but it’s not for us. It’s anti-abuse we’re talking about. That’s our belief. We’re not here to preach. If you tell a young kid not to do drugs, he’s gonna do it anyway. I know I did. We just say – if you cross the line between use and abuse, then that’s really tragic. I’ve crossed that line, many times. And I know from experience that it’s bad, and I try to tell kids not to cross the line. The rest is up to them.”

But then Ozzy and the Crüe were the only bands on the bill still struggling with ‘substance abuse’ issues of their own. Indeed, Ozzy would be arrested for attempting to strangle Sharon within weeks of returning home from Moscow, after drinking the case of Russian vodka miniatures he’d been presented with by the promoter. While Nikki, Vince and the guys were then famously fresh out of an enforced spell in rehab, riding a wagon they were still barely clinging to.

The Scorpions, the only band from the West on the bill to have played there before – 10 sold-out nights in Leningrad in March ’88 – were predictably more upbeat about the festival’s prospects for doing good, hamming it up during their soundcheck at the Lenin Stadium with an over-the-top version of Back In The USSR.

As vocalist Klaus Meine told me afterwards: “There’s everywhere a drug problem, all over the world. So I think it’s good that the bands stand together on one stage and give a message to the kids in the world: forget about the drugs. The best drug is music.”

In the end, it was left to the ever-more earnest Jon Bon Jovi to talk up the festival and put it into some kind of historical perspective. Driving around town with Jon one afternoon in the back of a Russian-made Zil limousine, I listened patiently as he waxed lyrical about Nelson Mandela, Bob Geldof and the impossibility of obtaining a cold beer in Moscow. The two major issues, said Jon, were “money and awareness”.

After the “production costs” all proceeds from the two concerts were clearly earmarked for various drug and alcohol ‘rehabilitation centres’ and ‘substance abuse awareness’ programmes, specifically in the Soviet Union, where until the onset of Gorby’s perestroika it was not officially admitted that a drug or alcohol problem even existed.

The extra “icing on the cake” was being able “to do something no other rock band has yet done”. Live Aid had been about helping the famine-victims of Africa; Moscow was about helping the kids closer to home.

“You know, at this stage of the game, it’s like you ask yourself, ‘What can we do that Led Zeppelin or the Rolling Stones or the Beatles didn’t already do?’ And being here is it. Not only do we get to come over in a good cause, we also get to put on the kind of rock show never before seen in the Soviet Union.” Meine peered out the window through his shades at the rain sleeting down then added: “People are always ready to question the motives behind why a bunch of rock stars would want to get together and do something like this. And, sure, inevitably you get a clash of egos occasionally. It’s not exactly the easiest thing to organise in the world, we sure found that out! But at the end of the day, I look at it like this.

"I wouldn’t have known about Nelson Mandela’s situation like I do now had I not been drawn to it because of the artists on Amnesty. Or I don’t think that I would’ve ever known about Ethiopia the way I do now if it wasn’t for Bob Geldof. So there is a wonderful icing on the cake. You get to see all these big performers that I enjoy too, but there’s ultimately a cause behind it. And that’s what raises your awareness.”

All of which was true. And yet behind the scenes several spectres still loomed. Not least that of Aerosmith , who not only pulled out of the event at the eleventh hour but also insisted their contribution to the official Make A Difference album (a version of The Doors ’ Love Me Two Times) be lifted from the final pressing, after privately expressing concern over where exactly all the money was actually going.

Then Ozzy threatened to pull out of the event the night before the first show when McGhee suddenly changed his placing on the bill from third to fourth, upgrading Mötley Crüe to the slot above Ozzy. McGhee took the threat seriously enough to return Ozzy to his original placing on the bill, just below the Scorpions and Bon Jovi, and Ozzy kept his promise and did the show.

What Mötley Crüe thought of this was only made clear 12 years later when The Dirt came out. According to Tommy, "Doc had told each band something different in order to get them to do the show. Jon Bon Jovi thought it was just another stop on his world headlining tour, while we thought it was supposed to be a small-scale, reduced set. Then the production manager broke the news to us that we’d been demoted. We were on before Ozzy and The Scorpions, I was fucking livid.

Doc was supposed to be our manager, looking out for our best interests, and he was favouring one of his newer clients, Bon Jovi, over us and the Scorpions, who, in Russia, were massive. 'Fuck you, Doc,' Nikki said to him. 'We didn’t fly all the way to Russia to be an opening act while Bon-fucking-Jovi gets to headline for an hour and a half. What’s up with that?'"

After the show was over, Tommy says, he ‘hunted Doc down and found him backstage. I walked right up to him and pushed him in his fat little chest, knocking him over onto the ground like a broken Weeble. As he lay there, Nikki broke the news: “Doc, you lied to us again. This time you’re fucking fired!”’

The last time I saw Jon Bon Jovi on that trip he was in Red Square, still looking for a cold beer.

“Have you discovered any of the night life here yet?” he asked me hopefully.

I shook my head. We stood there on the steps of St. Asille’s Cathedral in Red Square, along with all the other out-of-towners and tourists, waiting to watch the changing of the guard at the gates of the Kremlin. I don’t think either of us knew what difference any of it really made…

It’ll be alright on the night…

Amid all the backstage chaos, just how did the Moscow shows go down?  

Despite the behind-the-scenes bickering – Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee even punched out promoter Doc McGhee when he realised headliners Bon Jovi were to use pyrotechnics, something all the bands had been told was strictly off limits – music-wise the Moscow Music Peace Festival was a triumph. 

Against all the egotistical odds, each band finally took to the stage and played six songs. Skid Row stormed through a set that featured The Sex Pistols’ Holidays In The Sun , Ozzy Osbourne mixed his own solo material ( Shot In The Dark and Suicide Solution ) with a couple of Black Sabbath classics ( Sweet Leaf, Paranoid ) to a huge response. 

Cinderella were at the height of their powers – turning in a set that included high-voltage versions of Falling Apart At The Seams and Coming Home , while Mötley Crüe channelled their anger into a ball of punkish energy with a ferocious set that featured Girls Girls Girls and Wild Side . 

The Scorpions were given a huge reception – they were arguably the most popular band on the bill back then – and Gorky Park held their own. 

Topping it off, Jon Bon Jovi showed his prowess for courting popularity with the locals by wearing a Russian army coat and hat as the band tore through a show that included Blood On Blood, Wanted Dead Or Alive and Lay Your Hands On Me . Both nights finished in a memorable jam session; members of all the bands joined by drummer Jason Bonham took on Elvis’s Hound Dog (first night), Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally (second night) and Led Zeppelin’s Rock And Roll (both nights).

Mick Wall is the UK's best-known rock writer, author and TV and radio programme maker, and is the author of numerous critically-acclaimed books, including definitive, bestselling titles on Led Zeppelin ( When Giants Walked the Earth ), Metallica ( Enter Night ), AC/DC ( Hell Ain't a Bad Place To Be ), Black Sabbath ( Symptom of the Universe ), Lou Reed, The Doors ( Love Becomes a Funeral Pyre ), Guns N' Roses and Lemmy. He lives in England.

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US PGA Championship 2024: Who is in the field and how did they qualify?

Anticipation is building ahead of the 2024 US PGA Championship , with the field for the second men's Major Championship of the season almost complete.

As of May 3, 16 past champions of the Wanamaker Trophy are expected to tee it up at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky from May 16-19.

This week's Volvo China Open marks the climax of the Asian Swing on the DP World Tour, with players vying for exemptions into the PGA Championship field on offer for those who finish in positions one to three on the Swing standings.

Brooks Koepka is the defending champion, having won his third PGA Championship title at Oak Hill Country Club last year.

Below, we outline the qualifying criteria for this year's PGA Championship and who is currently set to feature in the field.

2024 US PGA Championship qualifying criteria

• All former winners of the PGA Championship

Winners of the last five Masters (2020 – 2024)

• Winners of the last five U.S. Opens (2019 – 2023)

Winners of the last five Open Championships (2018 – 2023). Cancelled in 2020

• Winners of the last three THE PLAYERS Championships (2022 – 2024)
• The top 3 on the International Federation Official World Golf Ranking List as of April 29, 2024.

Winner of the 2023 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship

• The top 15 finishers and ties from the 2023 PGA Championship

The top 20 finishers from the 2024 PGA Professional Championship

The top 70 players who are eligible and have earned the most pga championship points from the 2023 charles schwab challenge through the 2024 cj cup byron nelson (ending may 5, 2024), playing members of the last-named u.s. and european ryder cup teams (2023) provided they remain within the top 100 on the official world golf rankings as of may 6, 2024, winners of pga tour co-sponsored or approved tournaments, whose victories are considered official, from the 2023 charles schwab challenge through the 2024 wells fargo championship and the 2024 myrtle beach classic, the top 3 finishers on the dp world tour asian swing event rankings, that include the porsche singapore open, the hero indian open, the isps handa - championship and the volvo china open, the pga of america reserves the right to invite additional players not included in the categories listed above, if necessary to complete the field, those players beyond the top 70 players who are eligible and who have earned the most pga championship points from the 2023 charles schwab challenge through the 2024 cj cup byron nelson (ending may 5, 2024), in order of their position on such list, field for the 2024 us pga championship.

Listed by alphabetical order for each qualifying criteria, as of May 3rd 2024.

This page will be updated once the PGA of America reveals an official list of participants.

All former winners of the US PGA Championship

• Keegan Bradley (USA)
• John Daly (USA)
• Jason Day (Australia)
• Jason Dufner (USA)
• Pádraig Harrington (Ireland)
• Martin Kaymer (Germany)
• Brooks Koepka (USA)
• Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland)
• Shaun Micheel (USA)
• Phil Mickelson (USA)
• Collin Morikawa (USA)
• Vijay Singh (Fiji)
• Justin Thomas (USA)
• Jimmy Walker (USA)
• Tiger Woods (USA)
• Y.E. Yang (South Korea)
• Dustin Johnson (USA)
• Hideki Matsuyama (Japan)
• Jon Rahm (Spain)
• Scottie Scheffler (USA)

Winners of the last five U.S. Opens (2019-2023)

• Wyndham Clark (USA)
• Bryson DeChambeau (USA)
• Matt Fitzpatrick (England)
• Gary Woodland (USA)
• Brian Harman (USA)
• Shane Lowry (Ireland)
• Francesco Molinari (Italy)
• Cameron Smith (Australia)

Winners of the last three Players Championships (2022-2024)

The top 3 on the the international federation official world golf ranking list (as of april 29).

• Keita Nakajima (Japan) - Japan Golf Tour
• Andy Ogletree (USA) - Asian Tour
• Ryan van Velzen (South Africa) - Sunshine Tour
• Steve Stricker (USA)

The top 15 finishers and ties from the 2023 US PGA Championship

• Michael Block (USA)
• Patrick Cantlay (USA)
• Eric Cole (USA)
• Corey Conners (Canada)
• Cameron Davis (Australia)
• Tyrrell Hatton (England)
• Viktor Hovland (Norway)
• Kurt Kitayama (USA)
• Victor Perez (France)
• Justin Rose (England)
• Sepp Straka (Austria)
• Josh Bevell, Profectus Golf, Nashville, Tennessee
• Evan Bowser, LaPlaya Golf Club, Naples, Florida
• Preston Cole, Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte
• Tyler Collet, John’s Island Club, Vero Beach, Flor .
• Matt Dobyns, Meadow Brook Club, Jericho, New York
• Larkin Gross, Westwood Country Club, Fairfax, Virginia
• Jared Jones, River Oaks Country Club, Houston
• Jeff Kellen, North Shore Country Club, Glenview, Illinois
• Brad Marek, Corica Park, Berkeley, California
• Kyle Mendoza, Hacienda Golf Club, Oceanside, California
• Jesse Mueller, Grand Canyon U. Golf Course, Phoenix
• Zac Oakley, Bidermann Golf Club, King of Prussia, Philadelphia
• Tracy Phillips, Cedar Ridge Country Club, Tulsa, Oklahoma
• Ben Polland, Shooting Star of Jackson Hole (Wyoming)
• Braden Shattuck, Rolling Green Golf Club, Ashton, Pennsylvania
• John Somers, Southern Hills Plantation Club, Trinity, Florida
• Josh Speight, The Club at Viniterra, Locust Valley, Va.
• Andy Svoboda, Butler National Golf Club, Oak Brook, Illinois
• Jeremy Wells, Cypress Lake Golf Club, Estero, Florida
• Wyatt Worthington II, Eastside Golf, Las Vegas
• Ludvig Åberg (Sweden) 
• Sam Burns* (USA)
• Tommy Fleetwood* (England)
• Rickie Fowler (USA)
• Nicolai Højgaard (Denmark) 
• Max Homa* (USA)
• Robert MacIntyre* (Scotland)
• Colin Morikawa (USA)
• Xander Schauffele* (USA)
• Jordan Spieth* (USA)

*Expected to be inside the top 100 on May 6

• Ludvig Åberg (Sweden)
• Tommy Fleetwood (England)
• Nicolai Højgaard (Denmark)
• Robert MacIntyre (Scotland)
• Sam Burns (USA)
• Wyndham Clark (USA))
• Max Homa (USA)
• Xander Schauffele (USA)
• Jordan Spieth (USA)
• Akshay Bhatia (USA)
• Nick Dunlap (USA)
• Austin Eckroat (USA)
• Brice Garnett (USA)
• Lucas Glover (USA)
• Emiliano Grillo (Argentina)
• Lee Hodges (USA)
• Billy Horschel (USA)
• Stephan Jaeger (Germany)
• Tom Kim (South Korea)
• Chris Kirk (USA)
• Jake Knapp (USA)
• Luke List (USA)
• Peter Malnati (USA)
• Grayson Murray (USA)
• Vincent Norrman (Sweden)
• Matthieu Pavon (France)
• Nick Taylor (Canada)
• Sahith Theegala (USA)
• Erik van Rooyen (South Africa)
• Camilo Villegas (Colombia)

To be confirmed following the conclusion of the Volvo China Open

• Joaquin Niemann (Chile)

* More players could be announced following the Official World Golf Ranking update on May 6

To be confirmed following the PGA TOUR's 2024 CJ CUP Byron Nelson

*Players listed in italics once they are due an exemption from an earlier qualifying criteria.

Zander Lombard eyes first DP World Tour crown in China

Zander Lombard is hoping to finally get himself into the winner's circle on the DP World Tour after moving into contention at the Volvo China Open.

DP World Tour Partners

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• 3rd Transport Ring (TTK)
• District Central (TsAO)
• Garden Ring
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• Things to do ranked using Tripadvisor data including reviews, ratings, photos, and popularity.

1. Moscow Private Tours

2. Mosstreets

3. Moscow through the Eyes of an Engineer

4. Flotilla Radisson Royal

5. Moscow Free Tour

6. Bridge to Moscow

7. Spanish Guide Moscow - Day Tours

8. Go Russia Travel Company

10. City Pub Crawl Moscow

12. Privilege Tour

13. Moscow Navigator

14. Trans-Siberian Railway Network

15. Put-in Tours

16. Moscow River Boat Tours

17. Walks With Folks

18. Moskovskiye Gulyaki

19. Moscow Bike Tours

20. Real Russia

22. Happy Moscow Tours

23. Tour of Moscow - Day Tours

24. Kremlin Tour

25. Three Whales

26. Guia de Moscú

27. Tsar Visit

28. Sup-Club

29. Excursions in Russia

30. IdeaGuide - Your Personal Guide in Moscow

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