But the vindictive trial that ensued was a major international media event which revealed both the depth of the defendants' courage and intelligence and the power of popular music to illuminate a political situation.

Pussy Riot's guerrilla rendition of Punk Prayer: Mother of God Drive Putin Away in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Moscow, on 21 February was brief even by punk standards, and less striking and significant to non-Russian eyes than the band's rooftop appearance in Red Square a month earlier. D epending on how you define it, the most important performance by a rock band in 2012 lasted either less than two minutes or a full nine days.