June 15–16 Song Festival Grounds
Old Rocksummer Logo

1989 – Rock Summer II

  • June 16–18, 1989

    Audience: 150 000 people altogether in three days


    ARTISTS
    Lineup More than 30 artists 
    Estonia
    Friday’s Deal, J.M.K.E., Jim Arrow & the Anachrones, Velikije Luki, Rosta Aknad, G.G.G., In Spe, Röövel Ööbik, Avicenna, Onu Bella & Öörahu, Monarh, Ultima Thule, Justament, Just Knud Qvigstad, Pantokraator, Risk, Tõnis Mägi Projekt
    Finland Miljoonasade, Hearthill, Stone 
    Ireland That Petrol Emotion, Dana
    Sweden Bai Bang
    UK The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Men They Couldn’t Hang
    USA The Robert Cray Band, Del Lords

    Headliners The Robert Cray Band, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Tõnis Mägi Projekt


    2 STAGES
    Sound Eastway Show Services OY (Finland)
    Lights Ekku Peltomäki OY (Finland)
    Stages Telinekataja OY (Finland)

  • ORGANIZER
    Estonian Club of Rockmusicians Muusik

     
    SPONSORS
    Koff, Finest, Esco, Estiko, Kalev

  • PRESS 

    • Estonian TV, Asahi TV (Japan), MTV (USA), RTR (Russia), YLE (Finland), Lithuanian TV
    • Journalists from Ireland, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria, Finland, Sweden
    • Estonian TV captured the events on the main stage
    • The director of TV recordings at Rock Summer Jaanus Nõgisto said: “We have the best technology that’s currently available in Estonia... There is a lot of work, because there are six cameras recording everything simultaneously and we have to compile it all onto a tape without any chance of editing it later... For the first time we’re using stereo sound for a video recording.” /special edition of the newspaper Muusik July 18/
    • Live broadcasts by the Estonian Radio
       

    NEWSPAPERS

    About the festival
    US producer Justin Mowbray: “I have to say, I’ve experienced something very unique and extraordinary here that’s absolutely impossible to describe to people who weren’t here for the concerts. This enchantment that connects thousands of people here could be called a MIRACLE that will stay with the visitors forever... It’s a phenomenon like no other, which can only happen at this exact place at this exact time. It is by no means a rock concert. You might not even realise what all this means yet.” /special edition of the newspaper Muusik July 18/

    The Robert Cray Band
    Leonid Zahharov from the USSR-wide radio program Muzikalni Globus: “As far as I’m aware, this is the first time that they have managed to secure US bands outside of “Goskontsert”. A particularly big achievement of the organizational committee is the fact they managed to get such a strong and original musician to perform as Robert Cray.” /special edition of the newspaper Muusik July 18/

    The Jesus and Mary Chain
    “At the concert J&MC smashed three monitors of Eastway Show Services OY, plus the same amount of mic stands and mics.” /special edition of the newspaper Muusik July 18/
    Wim Reid: “The trip from London to Tallinn was very tiring. The hardest part was at the Tallinn Customs. We hope to see the Estonian flag, hope to have a lot of fun, hope to get drunk.” /special edition of the newspaper Muusik July 17/ 

    That Petrol Emotion
    “They are happy to be called a “political indie band” / they understand that there are similarities between ESSR and the Republic of South Africa, but as they say, they’re playing for simple people / called U2 a bunch of frauds and mocked Live Aid / spoke about their career with a certain nostalgia for the punk days.” /special edition of the newspaper Muusik July 17/ 

    The Men They Couldn’t Hang
    “We have never played to a crowd as big as the one at the Song Festival Grounds. We’ve never performed in one of the Eastern Bloc countries either.” /special edition of the newspaper Muusik July 18/  

    Bai Bang
    “We came to Estonia, not the Soviet Union. We are not a politically motivated band, but we do wish that different political systems would come closer to each other. We’ve even been called a peace band because of that in Sweden.” /special edition of the newspaper Muusik July 18/ 

    • To get the logo for Rock Summer 1989 there was a competition that had 68 entries from 42 authors. The judges awarded the following people: Ilona Gurjanova 300 rubles (the winner), Rain Pikand 150 rubles, Toomas Niklus 150 rubles. Additional prizes, which were a set of RS 1989 tickets were given to Marko Kekišev, Priit Isok, Rain Pikand, Aarand Oja and Toomas Kusmin
    • 100 students from the militia school were helping out
    • A festival booklet was made that introduced all the acts in three languages (Estonian, English and Russian)
    • During the festival special editions of the newspaper Muusik were sold on the Song Festival Grounds. There were altogether three – one for each day. They included the schedule by performers and stages, interviews and information about what happened on the previous day, both onstage and off. There were also some caricatures, drawn by Hillar Mets
    • Four different kinds of tickets were made for the festival: a single one for each of the days and one for all three days