from his apartment in Kyiv, music director Vlad Yaremchuk told how he had been awoken at 4am by the familiar sound of air raid sirens.
Just weeks earlier, Mr Yaremchuk has been given the green light from the government to put on Ukraine’s biggest festival, Atlas, for the first time since the pandemic.Instead, DJs and music producers have found themselves doing whatever they can to support the war effort. “Otherwise if you have any sort of semblance of self-consciousness you can’t do anything else, you have to feel useful, otherwise you feel guilty because there are people there losing their lives for you every single day. And whether you are in Ukraine or outside the country you have to contribute, otherwise you know where we will end.”More than a year later, Ukrainians are now having to accept that the war is not going to be over any time soon and they need to adapt to a new normal.
At times, both dancefloors in Liverpool and Kyiv will be united via a livestream on big screens, in what promoters describe as a first-of-its-kind event. Proceeds will go towards supporting humanitarian and military efforts in Ukraine.