I’ve heard my share of TV journalists have a bit of trouble with the pronunciation of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s name, but I doubt that the Russian politician has any trouble singing along with Deep Purple’s hit songs. It turns out that Medvedev is a huge Deep Purple fan and even boasts a large collection of the group’s LP’s, which he spent many years searching for.

“Not reissues, but the original albums,” Medvedev insists.

Whether or not the Russian President had anything to do with or not, Deep Purple plans a tour of Russia this fall, which will include 12 of the country’s largest cities, culminating on October 27 with a “grand concert” at the Olympiisky Stadium. I don’t think I could have come up with a better name for a Russian concert venue if I tried!

The tickets are already on sale and do not come cheaply, ranging in price from 2,000 rubles ($86) and 10,000 rubles ($430). I guess concert ticket prices are up all over these days.

Back during the days when we knew that part of the world as the Soviet Union, or, as former President Ronald Reagan once called it, “The evil empire,” many rock groups were banned from performing there. For some reason Deep Purple was not among those with a “nyet” next to their name on the official list of banned rock bands during those days.

Other groups were not so fortunate, with the likes of AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath and the Talking Heads all blacklisted by Soviet leaders.

Fortunately for rock fans in that part of the world, walls that divide cities occasionally do actually come down, and Communist régimes bite the dust.

Enjoy the show Mr. President.

For more check out the original story from the Russian News & Information Agency.