Keanu Reeves in John Wick (2014) / Rock for People 2023

Keanu Reeves to perform at Czech music festival Rock for People next month

John Wick and The Matrix star Keanu Reeves is headed to Prague next month, but not to shoot his latest movie. The Hollywood star will perform with his band Dogstar at the popular Rock for People music festival, which runs from June 12-15 in Hradec Králové, about an hour east of Prague.

Dogstar and Reeves will perform at the music festival’s YouTube Music Stage from 5:30 p.m. on Friday, June 14. Headliners at this year’s Rock for People festival include The Prodigy, The Offspring, Sum 41, Avril Lavigne, Bad Omens, Bring Me the Horizon, Yungblud, Pendulum, Parkway Drive, and others.

Tickets to Rock for People are still available, but selling out fast. Single-day tickets to catch Keanu Reeves and Dogstar on Friday have already sold out, but four-day passes for the festival are still available at CZK 3990, as are Friday-Saturday weekend passes for CZK 2990.

Reeves, who plays bass guitar, formed Dogstar with drummer Robert Mailhouse and guitarist Gregg Miller in 1991. Bret Domrose replaced Miller as lead guitarist and vocalist in 1995, and the band toured extensively throughout the United States and Asia alongside the likes of David Bowie and Bon Jovi in the late 1990s before breaking up in 2002.

Two decades later, in 2020, Reeves, Mailhouse, and Domrose reunited for jam sessions in Los Angeles during the pandemic quarantine. Dogstar reunited for their first concert in more than 20 years at the BottleRock Napa Valley festival last summer, and released their third studio album, Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees, in October.

“Seeing Dogstar perform with the stellar Keanu Reeves on bass is a dream come true for me,” Michal Thomes, Rock for People’s festival director, said in a press statement last year after booking the band.

“We tried to invite the band back in the nineties, but it didn’t work out and the band was not active for almost 20 years. We are even more happy that it finally happened. The participation of Dogstar and Keanu Reeves at the Rock for People festival will surely be an unforgettable experience for both music and film fans.”

Dogstar’s performance at this year’s Rock for People festival represents the only Czech stop on their 2024 European tour, which kicks off in Madrid on May 30 and finishes in Turin on June 30.

This won’t be the first time Reeves has come to the Czech Republic in recent years, however. The Hollywood star shot scenes for the John Wick spinoff Ballerina in Prague during the winter of 2022-23. That film has been pushed back to 2025 due to recent reshoots, which were filmed in Budapest earlier this year.

In 2023, Russell Crowe stopped by the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival as part of a European tour with his band, performing as part of the festival’s opening night concert after picking up a Crystal Globe for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema.

Reeves won’t be able to do the same, as Dogstar’s tour dates conflict with the Czech film festival’s opening. But as the band’s European tour finishes in Italy on June 30, perhaps festival organizers can entice Keanu to come to the festival’s closing ceremony the following weekend.

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Jason Pirodsky

Jason Pirodsky has been writing about the Prague film scene and reviewing films in print and online media since 2005. A member of the Online Film Critics Society, you can also catch his musings on life in Prague at expats.cz and tips on mindfulness sourced from ancient principles at MaArtial.com.

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