Exactly 33 years ago Thursday, on April 14, 1989, Sonic Youth staged a concert in Kyiv, Ukraine, one of the last Western acts to play in the then-Soviet city prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the U.S.S.R. Amid the current Russian invasion, the pioneering band has unearthed a partial recording of that Kyiv gig to raise money for humanitarian efforts.
Live In Kyiv, Ukraine 1989, available to purchase through Sonic Youth’s Bandcamp page, includes nine songs from the band’s first-ever show in the city, including a near-full performance of their then-new album Daydream Nation.
Luckily for fans of the Azov Battalion, “Youth Against Fascism” came out in 1992 and will therefore not be included.