Press-releases
24.04.2008
Paul McCartney Announces Free Historic ‘Independence Concert’. Kiev Independence Square, Ukraine – Saturday 14th June 2008
On Saturday 14th June 2008, at the invitation of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, Paul McCartney will perform to hundreds of thousands of people in Independence Square, Kiev, Ukraine. This groundbreaking event has been named Independence Concert and was launched today in Kiev by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation. Paul's special show will be free to attend and will be broadcasted live on Novy TV.
This exciting event will be seen as symbolic for several generations of Ukrainians. It will allow people of different ethnicities and religions, political preferences and geopolitical orientations to come together around the ideas of peace, love and unity; the very ideas that Paul McCartney with The Beatles helped bring into the World. Independence Concert is an independent social initiative that aims to strengthen confidence and understanding in the Ukrainian society.
The ideology and spirit of The Beatles helped build the democratic aspirations for much of the soviet society and eventually led to the peaceful collapse of the USSR and independence of the former Soviet republics.
Independence Concert appeals to the ideals that helped 30 years ago to melt down the ice of the ‘cold war' in the hearts of millions and changed the world into a better place. Today the ideology that forms the core of Ukrainian independence is shared with Paul McCartney's own ideology. Independence Concert serves to promote happiness, freedom, love and peace not only in the Ukraine but also to the entire World.
It is planned that this historic concert will be broadcast live on screens in cities across the Ukraine for those who can't make it to Kiev.
In addition to the concert the Victor Pinchuk Foundation will also be exhibiting 40 of Paul's paintings at the Pinchuk Art Centre, the largest in Eastern Europe. This will be Paul's first exhibition in this part of the world. His first art exhibition was in Siegen, Germany in 1999. Paul will personally open the exhibition.
QUOTES
Paul McCartney said:
‘I'm very excited because on the 14th of June I've been invited to play a concert in Independence Square, Kiev. Me and the band are going to be there and we're going to have to a great evening and we hope to see you there. So come along, it's going to be great evening hopefully for the Ukraine. Pull together, groove, rock and roll - all together"
Victor Pinchuk, Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist and founder of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation said:
"One could not imagine this 30 years ago. Nobody could even dare to hope for this 20 years ago. One could only dream about it 10 years ago. 5 years ago we could only envy our neighbours for whom this became a reality. And finally the day has come. For the first time we have the opportunity to hear the songs that changed the world and created a new culture. The songs that we grew up with and became who we are.
These songs tell us about very simple but nevertheless important things: real love can't be bought and that real friendship can't be sold. There is much more to what unites people than what divides them, and in reality it's not an impossible task to become a better person and to make the world a better place, especially if you do it all together.
Recently, we had not so many reasons to unite. Not to group under some political flags but to really gather all together. There are not so many ways to bring together the East and the West, to make the young and the mature closer, to combine different convictions and aspirations into one common national idea of building a free, tolerant and prosperous country. And I believe that this initiative and the concert can help us".
NOTE TO EDITORS
The Victor Pinchuk Foundation is the largest Ukrainian private philanthropic organization and was established in 2006 by businessman and philanthropist Victor Pinchuk. The Foundation develops and implements social projects aimed at modernizing Ukraine and the bringing about new generation of Ukrainian leaders.
The Foundation's top fields of activities are health care, education, culture, human rights, Ukraine's global integration and local communities' development.
Among the largest projects of the Foundation are: the "Cradles of Hope" Program for opening neonatal health care centers all over Ukraine; student scholarship program "Zavtra.UA"; the PinchukArtCentre contemporary art museum.
Victor Pinchuk Foundation is a member of European Fund Center and Ukrainian Grant makers Forum, a partner of the Yalta European Strategy (YES); the Foundation cooperates with Clinton's Global Initiative and other non-governmental organizations.
Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool on 18th June 1942. He was raised in the city and educated at the Liverpool Institute.
Since writing his first song at the age of 14, Paul McCartney has dreamed and dared to be different. In the sixties, as the writer and co-author of their greatest songs, he changed the world of music with The Beatles. Legendary albums include: Please Please Me, Revolver, Help!, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The White Album. Through the following four decades, first with Wings and albums that included Band On The Run and Wings at The Speed Of Sound and then as a solo artist, most recently with his new album Memory Almost Full, he has continued to break boundaries and to influence the sound of music around the globe.
Paul McCartney is also an accomplished classical composer. His most recent classical album Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart) was released in September of 2006. On November 3rd 2006, Ecce Cor Meum was given its world premiere performance to a sold-out audience at the Royal Albert Hall. Paul received a standing ovation from the audience at the end of the performance. On Thursday 3rd of May 2007 Paul was presented with the Best Album Award at the Classical Brits. The award was voted for by readers of Classic FM magazine and listeners of Classic FM.
Equally renowned as a live performer as he is a songwriter, Paul McCartney has spent much of the last five years performing sold out concerts to millions of people all over the world, winning rave reviews along the way. 2003 saw him play to a crowd of over 500,000 outside the Coliseum in Rome and in the same year Paul performed, historically, his first ever gig in Russia when 90,000 people came to see him play in Red Square, Moscow. The following year, in the summer 2004, Paul headlined the Glastonbury Festival. 120,000 festival-goers gathered to watch what has now become the festival's most legendary moment. British music bible NME declared, "Spare a thought for Michael Eavis. He could live to host 100 more Glastos and he'll never top this." The Observer reported, "His appeal continues to bridge generations." Later that year Paul is honoured at the NME Awards when they present the award for Best Event for his performance on the famous Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury.
On tour in the US in 2005, Paul has another ‘world first' moment when his performances of English Tea and Good Day Sunshine are beamed live to the International Space Station from his show in Anaheim, California. It becomes the wake-up of the day for NASA astronaut Bill McArthur and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev. It is headline news the following morning in newspapers around the globe.
On March 21st2007, Hear Music (the newly formed record label from Starbucks Entertainment and Concord Music Group) announced that their inaugural CD release would be from Paul. Weeks later Paul released details for his 21st studio album Memory Almost Full. The album was released worldwide in the first week of June to critical acclaim, charting at number five in the UK. On June 7th Paul played an intimate secret show at the Electric Ballroom in Camden to around a thousand people. With all the tickets disappearing within minutes of being announced, it was the hottest and most talked about show in town. This was Paul's first UK live performance since his Glastonbury performance in 2004. Since it's release Memory Almost Full has reached platinum sales status and received Grammy nominations.
On February 20th of this year (2008) Paul was awarded the Outstanding Contribution Award at the 2008 BRIT Awards at Earls Court in London. Paul was given a standing ovation by the UK music industry as he received his award and closed the prestigious award ceremony with an incredible show stopping performance.
A freeman of The City Of Liverpool and Lead Patron of The Liverpool Institute Of Performing Arts, Paul McCartney was appointed Fellow of The Royal College of Music in 1995 by The Prince Of Wales. In 1996 Paul McCartney was knighted by H.M. The Queen for his services to music.
