Anti-rocker

Mumiy Troll gave the biggest concert of his life in Moscow

The level of pathos was such that it was not the Mumiy Troll group that was performing, but at least a duet between Eric Clapton and Elton John. However, we must give MT its due - this pathos was very clearly organized, which has not been seen at Olimpiysky for a long time. This is despite the fact that it was almost the first time that a rock band prepared a concert itself, without intermediaries. Usually, clueless security forces create a lot of chaos, which they then unsuccessfully try to eliminate. This time there was less security and more order. By eight o'clock the hall was almost full, and the concert began exactly at 20.01, so everyone was confused by surprise.

The opening act was the female punk band “Eighth of March”, which at the end of its performance managed to please the audience as much as a warming up team can. After which the lights went out, and on the screens on both sides of the stage there appeared screens with the faces of the Mumiy Troll musicians and a small clock that began counting down. When the numbers approached zero, the audience was already excited to the limit and rattled their feet in the stands. At the number “zero,” thunder, lightning and a rough sea appeared on the screens, and then the inscription viva el rockapops. The two-tiered stage, decorated in pink, was illuminated. On the second floor there were huge white drums, which men in white shirts began to beat. The shamanism lasted about five minutes. Finally, when the drummers calmed down, They appeared on stage.

"Olympic" accommodates 20 thousand spectators. This time it was exactly 16 thousand. And they all roared in unison. Ilya Lagutenko affectionately greeted the audience and began to sing. The light was magnificent and carefully thought out, all the photojournalists appreciated it. The sound was worse. Apparently, the so-called “wall of sound” was conceived, and there was a feeling that all the speakers were operating at maximum power. As a result, at times there was a wall of roar. However, the audience didn’t care - the audience knew all the songs by heart. Taking advantage of the abundance of equipment, the musicians played with a very harsh and “heavy” sound, squeezing everything they could out of the amplifiers.

The concert was long. “Mumiy Troll” performed its entire golden fund from albums from different years. There was a short break in the middle, and for some reason Rita Mitrofanova from Radio Maximum came on stage. Then the dressed musicians sang several songs acoustically and again switched to “electricity”. Having sung a short medley of “Leak Away” and “Vladivostok 2000” at the end, Ilya said goodbye just as affectionately, and the group disappeared from the stage. But not for long. They didn't even turn on the lights in the hall. The audience demanded encores, and he received them immediately, and it became clear that they had been carefully thought out in advance. The musicians took the stage in black monastic robes and white masks and famously performed “Carnival. No” and left, this time for good. No matter how much the audience screamed, they did not return.

The insane popularity of Mumiy Troll is not just a fact of the viewer’s love for a particular group. This is a symbol. Ilya Lagutenko is an absolute anti-rocker. The walls of the “Olympic” have never seen such coquetry, slyness and such ambiguous grimaces. He does everything that “classic” Russian rockers stubbornly avoid - conceptually designs the stage, smiles slyly and laughs, sometimes mockingly, and provokes the audience in every possible way. The rockers, with their stingy scenography and the absence of fireworks and other tinsel, are trying to emphasize that the main thing on stage is themselves and their songs. They want to look macho. Lagutenko turns it all inside out and rejoices, seeing that the audience is delighted with this. He seems to be playing, asking the audience: will you love me like this? And will you be like this? And even like that? Great, Lagutenko thinks and smiles. They will love you and will not go anywhere.

Svyatoslav BIRYULIN