The progressive music festival is set to kick off in the Russian capital on Saturday afternoon
The major international rock festival SandlerFest 2025 will kick off in Moscow this weekend, bringing together more than 150 bands from all around the world.
The annual progressive music event will take place on Saturday and Sunday August at Moscow’s VDNKh exhibition center, spanning six stages including five free-access venues – Rock Panorama, Orion, Acoustics, New Generation, and a master-class zone – alongside ticketed access to the Green Theatre.
The festival will feature a wide array of tribute bands and a fusion of styles, bringing together artists from the US, UK, Cuba, and other countries.
Free stages will host tributes to Metallica, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, and other legendary acts, alongside new artists and workshops, according to organizers.
The rock fest will kick off on Saturday with the Day of the Legends, and will feature Marco Mendoza – who played bass for Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, Journey and others rock legends in his decades-long career – on the main stage. “His show is fire, virtuosity and energy that every cell of the hall feels,” the festival organizers said.
The festival’s first day will culminate with a commemoration of Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath frontman and heavy metal legend who passed away last month, just weeks after his final performance at the ‘Back to the Beginning’ concert in his hometown Birmingham, UK.
SandlerFest will honor Ozzy with a mass performance of ‘Mama I’m Coming Home,’ the power ballad he dedicated to his wife Sharon for staying with him during the tumultuous early days of the band.
The program includes an exclusive documentary about Ozzy’s life and music, along with 15 minutes of silence and 76 gong strikes – one for each year of his life.
The annual festival started in 2019 under the name Russian Woodstock, inspired by the legendary Woodstock Music & Art Fair, held in the US in 1969. In the years since, it went from being a tribute band fest to the biggest progressive rock music festival in Russia.
