Ilves manned the decks at the Vest pub to play his newly-released charity compilation album - a selection of favorite songs from his formative years.
The record came about as a result of comparing musical tastes with his security policy adviser Andres Vosman (a.k.a. DJ Drummie), another record buff, Ilves told the crowd.
"It was great to work with [him] because here he is telling all about NATO and all the bad things the Russians are doing and then in the meantime we listened to obscure music because he knew obscure music and I knew obscure music," Ilves said.
"In Estonia the charity we picked out is the charity for children with acute and chronic diseases who do not have much of a chance living for long. And so the idea is to live out your dream of course they need money to do this," Ilves said in explaining the reasons he agreed to put his name to the compilation after several years of hesitation.
"The record consists of songs from 1963 to 1978. They are not my favorite songs. They are just songs that I found important, songs that later on became important. There are many songs that are not on the record because I could not get permission for them," he added before launching proceedings with The Kinks' classic riff-rock You Really Got Me.
The media-savvy President also got the crowd cheering by saying "Es milu Latviju" [I love Latva] and also "Es milu Ieva" [I love Ieva - a reference to his new Latvian fiancee, Ieva Kupce.
Of the actual music, it's hard to fault Ilves' taste as his selection includes an impressive array of classic cuts with one exception, Peter Sarstedt's maudlin monstrosity Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?.
However, the rest is uniformly excellent and any compilation that includes Ziggy Stardust era Bowie, The Ramones and MC5 (yes, MC5!) has got to be worth having.
In fact this may be the best charity record ever, so buy it HERE or HERE.
Four Tops – I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
The Temptations – My Girl
The Shangri-Las – Leader of the Pack
The Beach Boys – Help Me, Rhonda
Cream – Tales of Brave Ulysses
The Band – The Weight
The Velvet Underground – Rock & Roll
Roxy Music – Virginia Plain
The Who – Baba O'Riley
Lesley Gore – It's My Party
New York Dolls – Trash
The Troggs – Wild Thing
David Bowie – Panic in Detroit
Ramones – I Wanna Be Sedated
Peter Sarstedt – Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?
MC5 – High School
