Otto Dix's concert was disrupted in St. Petersburg

Darkwave group Otto Dix canceled their performance in St. Petersburg after a provocation by the nationalist organization "Russian Community". This was reported by the Astra telegram channel.

According to the channel, representatives of the organization came to the club where a concert dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the group was to take place, they filmed people and asked provocative questions. Later, police arrived at the club, presumably called by members of the Russian Community.

One of the eyewitnesses reported that the nationalists also promised to disrupt the group's upcoming concert in Moscow.

Previously, police came to the band’s concerts in Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod. Otto Dix vocalist Michael Drau then said that the reason for the raid was “anonymous calls”, but did not specify what exactly the informers were complaining about.

After the concert in St. Petersburg was disrupted, Drau wrote that he planned to temporarily work on creative material in another country, and now he does not know “whether to return or not” back to Russia.

Astra suggests that the cancellation of the concerts may be related to the law on “LGBT propaganda” and refers to “unconfirmed rumors” that Michael Drau is a trans man, formerly called Marina Sergeeva.

According to Wikipedia, which cites numerous interviews with the artist, Michael Drau's real name is Mikhail Sergeev. He was born in Khabarovsk. One of the reasons for the rumor that Drau is a trans man is because of his high-pitched countertenor voice.

Unconfirmed information about the artist’s trans transition was spread on social networks in the second half of the 2000s, at the peak of Otto Dix’s popularity.

• Since December 2022, the dissemination of positive information about homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism has been prohibited in Russia. There are penalties for this. In November 2023, the Supreme Court of Russia, at the request of the Ministry of Justice, decided to ban the non-existent “international LGBT movement” and recognize it as extremist. After this, police in Russian cities conduct raids on clubs where queer events were taking place.