HÀ NỘI — The well-known hard-rock band Scorpions of Germany will perform in a music festival in Hà Nội in October.

The band’s five members will play for two hours during the Monsoon Music Festival 2016 at the Thăng Long Imperial Citadel. The performance is part of the band’s world tour to celebrate its 50 years of establishment anniversary. 

The band will arrive in Hà Nội before October 23, bringing a staff of 20 specialists and stage equipment.

“We’ve waited three years for a nod from the Scorpions,” said composer and music producer Quốc Trung, the festival’s general director.

This year’s festival will send a message about traffic safety to encourage the public, particularly youngsters, to improve their driving behaviour.

The festival will feature foreign singers and bands such as SaveUs of Denmark, Last Train of France, Rukhsana Merrise of the UK, Idiotape of Korea and DJ Brezel Goring of Germany. Vietnamese pop stars Mỹ Linh and Tùng Dương have been invited to join the event.

The Scorpions band includes guitarist Rudolf Schenker, the band’s leader, Pawel Maciwoda on bass, James Kottak on drums, guitarist Matthias Jabs and vocalist Klaus Meine. 

They released their debut album Lonesome Crow in 1972 and later several other albums, selling more than 100 million copies.

One of their platinum albums, Crazy World, sold more than a million copies worldwide.

The group has performed at famous music festivals and concerts in Germany, Greece, Brazil, France, Russia, Japan, Dubai and the US.

Last year, their latest album, Return to Forever, which includes 12 songs in heavy metal, was released.

The Monsoon Music Festival began in 2014, and attracts dozens of foreign and Vietnamese artists each year.

It won the Devotion Award for Music Show/Festival of the Year presented by Việt Nam News Agency’s Thể Thao & Văn Hóa (Sports & Culture) Newspaper last year.

The 2016 festival will take place at Thăng Long Imperial Citadel, 19C Hoàng Diệu Street, from October 21 to 23.

For informatoin about the performance schedule and tickets, please visit www.monsoonfestival.vn. — VNS