Kazan hosted: more than 20 thousand people attended VK Fest in Tatarstan

Kazan became the third city on the VK Fest map in 2025. On June 29, the open air was held at the Kazan Family Center and gathered more than 20,000 people. Yulia Savicheva, Alvin Gray, BREAD, ZOLOTO, The Culture Room, Three Days of Rain and Basta performed on the stage. Read more about how the first VK Fest was held in Kazan in the Izvestia report.

How was VK Fest in Kazan?

In the summer of 2025, a new point appeared on the map of VK Fest, which continues its tour of Russia — Kazan. The stage is located in one of the most beautiful places in the city — at the Kazan Wedding Palace, located on the embankment peninsula on the right bank of the Kazanka River, overlooking the Kazan Kremlin.

The festival was expected here — tickets were completely sold out two days before the start, the venue gathered more than 20 thousand people. Zoya Novikova, the head of VK Fest, told Izvestia about this.

— What a special location we have: the Kazan Family Center is the embodiment of our values — about family, about children, about quality time together, which will remain in memory for a long time. Today I see a huge number of families with children, and it's great for me to watch parents, teenagers, and our youngest visitors alike get high. So we're doing everything right. It is very responsible to hold VK Fest in the capital of the republic, because Kazan hosts many events of a federal scale. But we are pleased with how powerfully we were evaluated," Zoya Novikova said.

The festival was distinguished by its local flavor. For the first time, a stage with Tatar artists was opened, where Nurminsky, GAUGA, "The Musician's Hut", Marat Yarullin, HOMAGE, Ilgiz & Malsi Music, Al Su and Elina performed.

Yulia Savicheva opened the line-up on the main stage. This year, for the first time, she participates in VK Fest. Andrey Zolotukhin, one of the main young representatives of indie rock, also made his debut at the festival. with the hits "Sad at the afterparty", "The streets were waiting", "It Didn't Happen", "Kapalavada". His audience was hospitably greeted with posters with the inscription "Our ZOLOTO".

Zhenya Trofimov also came out to listen to the stage, who was to perform with the "Culture Room" next. The band from Barnaul, whose hit "Trains" conquered the charts and which is called the main discovery of 2024, then performed on the purple stage of the festival in Moscow. Now the band is one of the main headliners and among the most sought—after musicians in any city.

— Our schedule is so tight that we only arrived this morning. We will also have a concert in Kazan and, hopefully, we will have time to enjoy the city. The only thing we're hunting for right now is some delicious chak-chak. The people here are pleasant and warm. It is clear that they were going to the artists, waiting for this festival. We've seen their feedback on social media that they're really waiting for us," said Zhenya Trofimov.

— Kazan has a dream line-up! Very cool bands. We're getting high ourselves," said guitarist Vyacheslav Klimashin. — Now, for example, the first place in the charts is occupied by the song "Kitchen" by the band "Bond with a button". Everyone sings it the same way as our "Trains" or the songs of ZOLOTO. This is popular recognition. I think there wasn't enough honest music like that.

Alvin Gray, the band "Bread" and Three Days of Rain also took the stage in Kazan.

— We love festivals. VK Fest is because it is regular and popular, and also because a lot of people can be involved in creativity, let them listen to music," said Gleb Viktorov from the Three Days of Rain group.

Next to the stage, a queue stretched along the embankment to the autograph session area, where comedians Anton Shastun, Arseny Popov, and blogger Valya Carnival were waiting for fans. Some people came to the latter on purpose — she recognized one of her loyal fans and hugged him when they met.

There was a "Lecture hall" nearby. The head of the KAMAZ-master team, Eduard Nikolaev, and Maxim Mikhailov, Olympic champion, diagonal of the Zenit-Kazan volleyball club, for example, discussed the development of sports in the capital of Tatarstan. And the matchmaker Rosa Sabitova and the host of the Natal Chart Dmitry Zhuravlev are the secrets of family happiness.

Basta became the headliner of VK Fest in Kazan

For several years now, Basta has been one of the main headliners of VK Fest, without which it is now difficult to imagine the tour program. And yet, time after time, he manages to masterfully turn on the audience, forcing them to sing along and swing their arms to the beat.

The audience was especially waiting for his appearance in the finale of the festival — they chanted the artist's name, inviting him to the stage. And when he appeared, a musical frenzy began — a crowd of thousands danced to the rock and roll "My Girl", rocked to "My Game", raised their hands to the sky and made wishes to the lines "You're next to me, and this is the purest thrill", sang in unison "Slowie" and "I'll find you through the ages," she lit lanterns to "When I'm gone, I'll sing with the voices of my children." The final chord was the song "At Dawn" and a powerful firework display.

Kazan became the third city on the festival's map in 2025. Before that, it was traditionally held in Sirius (Sochi) and also for the first time in Chelyabinsk. Next up are St. Petersburg (July 5-6) and Moscow (July 19-20).