Back in the USSR

Paul McCartney played the 3,000th gig of his career in St Petersburg yesterday. To further back up his reputation as a god among men he even managed to stop it raining…

…he arranged for three jets to spray dry ice into the clouds above the city and keep the wet weather at bay.

The Beatles were banned in the Soviet Union, where their song Back in the USSR became a bit of an anthem. Of course, he played it during the concert. But for me, the song will always bring back memories of a bar in Irkutsk, improbably named ‘Liverpool.’ The walls are covered with old vinyl records and album covers from the 1960s, most of them Russian editions of Western bands (yes, including quite a few bootleg Beatles records). The bar also hosts an excellent Beatles tribute band a couple of nights a week. There are only three members, rather than the traditional four but, it’s Russia, so who cares about nitpicking details like that? And the best thing? Whenever I and the other students on my course would walk in they’d break into their own rendition of Back in the USSR just for us.

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