Metallica played its major 1991 Moscow concert at Tushino Airfield.
The concert took place on September 28, 1991, during the Monsters of Rock festival tour. It was described as the first free outdoor Western rock concert in Soviet history, placing the performance in the dramatic political and cultural transition at the end of the Soviet era.
Attendance estimates vary widely. Contemporary and later accounts commonly place the crowd between 150,000 and 500,000 people, while some unofficial estimates have suggested a figure as high as 1.6 million. The safest description is therefore a massive crowd with disputed exact totals.
The event occurred soon after The Black Album's release and became one of the most memorable live moments associated with the album era. It is often discussed alongside Metallica's later dedicated Wherever We May Roam Tour, but the Moscow show was part of Monsters of Rock.