The legendary heavy metal band Metallica has surprised fans with a specially rehearsed rendition, in Russian, of a famous song by iconic Soviet singer-songwriter Viktor Tsoi during their live show in Moscow.

The 37-year-old cult band, with hits like ‘Nothing else matters’ and ‘Enter Sandman’ under their belt, played one concert in Moscow over the weekend as part of their WorldWired Tour.

Already overjoyed to hear their beloved band perform live, and two years after their previous visit to Moscow, fans were taken by surprise when, half-way through the concert, base-player Robert Trujillo and guitarist Kirk Hammett unexpectedly started performing the song ‘Blood type’ by Viktor Tsoi. And in Russian, no less. The stunt turned out to be amazingly touching and powerful, with the audience clapping with the beat and singing along in unison, as the video shows.

Metallica’s Russian fans were clearly a lot more familiar with the words, as here’s how Trujillo had to struggle through learning the lyrics. That’s supposed to be the lyrics of the Tsoi song ‘Blood type’ transcribed for him in Latin letters.

Viktor Tsoi and his rock band Kino (‘Cinema’) hold a cult status in Russia’s modern cultural history. The song is an anti-war musical statement originally performed by Tsoi’s band in 1987, eight years into the Soviet-Afghan conflict. It remains one of his best-known songs, admired and sung by generations of Russians. Tsoi himself remains an iconic figure, long after his death in a car-crash in 1990.

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Metallica is known for their tradition of performing special covers for local fans. Last year in Prague they played ‘Jožin z bažin’ by Ivan Mladec, in Norway they played A-ha’s ‘Take on me’ in Sweden, Abba’s ‘Dancing Queen’ and, in Berlin, Rammstein’s ‘Engel.’ The quartet will now have to uncover a local iconic song in Romanian, as they are next heading to Bucharest, for a gig on August 14.

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