Igor Sandler told how Kid Rock could become a refugee in Russia

It all started with the Dairy Brothers festival, which we arranged for young groups. For several years, it has been successfully held at the ZhZL club, and the legendary Kid Rock flew to Russia exclusively, for the only time. It was December 17, 2005 – a date that certainly deserves to be noted in rock chronicles …

Kid Rock flew to Russia for two reasons at once: as part of the support group for the farewell match of the famous hockey player Igor Larionov and by invitation to perform at our festival. In the evening, a huge bus with Igor Larionov, his guests – NHL stars and Kid Rock, rolls up to the ZhZL club.

Kid from the threshold, without undressing, jumps out onto the stage and begins to sing with the Jack Pot group, which at that moment was working on stage. He sang Sweet Home Alabama with them. Everything came out so organically and naturally that the audience took it for a rehearsed production. And the young musicians, taken aback by such an unexpected star colleague, not understanding what was happening, continued to play as if hypnotized.

Then they were joined by the host of the concert, Jean Sagdeev, the legendary leader of the EST group – a bright memory! It was a fantastic sight. The hall is frozen. Going into a rage, Kid Rock takes off his leather jacket and throws it inside the bass drum. His performance was pure improvisation. The musicians played in their rhythm, and he adjusted to them, doing everything incredibly organically. After singing several songs, he left the stage, the concert was continued by other groups. Under the final, I also performed with my show. Imagine my surprise when Igor Larionov’s guests, famous hockey players, lined up in my dressing room to take pictures and get an autograph.

Only later did I learn about the mysterious cause of the hype – an incredible story that happened in parallel. Kid Rock, heated, after the performance, jumped out of the club on the Garden Ring and began to catch the car. Purely by chance, an old friend of mine was driving by, looking for a place to park. Seeing Kid Rock on the roadway, in the middle of the night in the center of Moscow (!), A friend, I must say, was very surprised. The spectacle, of course, looked like a surreal hoax in its unexpectedness. Still not believing what he sees, a friend drove up to Kid, rolled down the window. Kid says to him in English: “Dude, please take me to the casino!”…

… And they went to the Metelitsa. But the guards did not let Kid Rock in: unlike my friend, they did not recognize him as the legendary star of world rock. In addition, the guy was pretty drunk and excited. He started yelling and swearing, “I am Kid Rock! World Star! – to which the guards replied: “We don’t know any star, get out of here before you are handed over to the police.” After a bit of a fuss, Kid still calmed down, got back into the car, and a friend took him to the hotel. In the meantime, there was a band playing there that he had already seen during the afternoon when we had dinner with him in the hotel restaurant. He played with them a little more, had dinner and somehow wandered off to sleep …

After the festival, the stagehands called me and said that they found a leather jacket in the drum, and in it was an American passport in the name of Robert James Ritchie. I asked to leave everything in the club. The next morning, after sobering up, Kid Rock realized that he had lost his passport. I got a call from his manager and excitedly asked if we had found his papers. To which I told him: “Let him not worry, we will organize political asylum for him. We have girls no worse than his wife, Pamela Anderson … “The joke, I must say, did not really reassure the guests …

And in the evening, at the Metropol restaurant, there was a reception in honor of Igor Larionov, where we all gathered. Many of our stars performed. I remember a very bright performance by Grisha Leps. It turned out to be a very strong event, where I solemnly handed Kid Rock his jacket and passport, which, of course, he was incredibly happy about. A stamp of incredible relief literally lit up his face. On the same evening, an impromptu trio was created on the stage of the Metropol: Kid Rock – vocals, guitar, Igor Butman – saxophone, Igor Sandler – piano. Our improvisation was very warmly and vigorously met by the audience.

In this way, the incredible adventures of Kid Rock in Russia became the reason for an unexpected pilgrimage to a photo shoot in my dressing room …

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A couple of months later, Igor Larionov called me from the USA and told me another story, no less exciting. Kid Rock was driving from state to state, drove into some roadside bar where there was a disco. I had a bite, drank, grabbed a little extra, as often happens with him, saw a beautiful girl, began to drive up to her, and she was with a guy. Word for word, a fight broke out, and Kid Rock loves to fight, but there were, of course, significantly more local guys, and he had to retire through the back door. He jumped into the car and drove off, and on the highway he was intercepted by the police. As usual: hands on the hood, a search… This is not the first time for Kid.

Suddenly, the policeman, recognizing the musician, says: “Kid, I don’t know what to do! I have no right to let you go, but I’m your fan, and I don’t know what to do! As a result, having overcome the conflict of conscience and professional duty, the police fan let go of his idol. Kid got into the car and drove away. The next day, this became known at the police station, the policeman was fired, and this is almost a black mark in the USA: the guy lost all social benefits and any prospects in the professional field. This story was written in the newspapers, the story reached Kid Rock. After that, he organized a concert, filled the stadium with people, and gave all the money from the sale of tickets to this policeman. Of course, the whole country was trumpeting about it. A bright and extraordinary act – completely in the style of Kid Rock, a man quite rightly nicknamed “Absolute Rock and Roll”!

Help “ZD”

Robert James Ritchie is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, songwriter, and actor known by the pseudonym Kid Rock. He achieved wide popularity in the late 90s – early 2000s. After several unsuccessful releases, in 1998 he broke through the American charts with the album Devil Without a Cause. He has sold over 22 million copies of his albums in the US and has been nominated for five Grammy awards. Known for scandalous social life and marriage to Pamela Anderson, an actress and fashion model.