MOSCOW (AP) — James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana and the Doobie Brothers sang for 25,000 Muscovites Saturday in a Fourth of July concert billed as the first free public performance by American musicians in Moscow.

Also on America s Independence Day, bombs were thrown at U.S.-related buildings and leftists demonstrated against U.S. bases in the Philippines, where July 4 was not celebrated as a holiday for the first time in decades; hundreds of Americans ate airlifted fast food at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China, and a top opposition leader shook hands with the chairman of the governing party at an American celebration in South Korea.

Under a clear blue sky and with temperatures in the 70s, the American musicians performed in a Moscow stadium that was only about three-quarters full, despite the popularity of American pop music among Soviet youths.

Soviet authorities controlled the distribution of tickets, and many fans were unaware it was taking place because the Soviet media gave it virtually no publicity.

Hundreds of soldiers formed two lines outside the Izmailovo soccer stadium, preventing anyone from approaching without a ticket.

Raitt said she didn’t mind the soldiers.

“We’re making a lot of music fans today among the people that possibly would have to be in Afghanistan or other difficult situations,” she said.

The Soviet Union sent troops into Afghanistan in December 1979 to help that country’s Marxist government battle anti-communist guerrillas, and there are an estimated 115,000 Soviet military personnel in Afghanistan now.

Tickets for the concert were distributed at Soviet factories, social organizations and universities, producing an audience of neatly dressed people, most of whom were in their 30s or older. Their applause generally was lukewarm, and many left early.

The concert, organized by the government-sanctioned Soviet Peace Committee and American promoter Bill Graham, brought to an end the 450-mile “peace march’’ of 420 Soviets and Americans from Leningrad to Moscow.