Steel romance

Mark Almond returned to Russia for the first time after the car accident, which he fell into in 2004, Mark Almond decided on big performances. In mid -March, he played two concerts in Greece, and the third concert took place in Russia, where he spent a lot of time before the accident. Almond is pretty to our public - you can see this again by watching how tightly the spacious “orange” was filled. This artist is most often associated with gay culture, but judging by the people who have come to his current concert, Almond's sexual orientation does not play a special role for Russian listeners.

The fact that Almond loves Russia, after the release of the “Heart on Snow” record, on which he performs Russian songs and romances, no one also doubts.

On the scene of the singer, his longtime friend pianist Martin Watkins and an impressive look, similar to a hammer, guitarist Nile Whitmer, also known as Neal X. A huge square Whiter and a little thin Almond made a funny pair.

The performance began very solemnly - the audience was presented with a small photo report about the previous visit of Almond to Russia: to the sounds of the “hopes” of Pakhmutova - Dobronravov, pictures with Grebenshchikov, Penkin, Alla Bayanova and other participants in the “Heart on Snow” project were projected onto the screen.

Then Almond himself appeared, all brilliant in the literal sense: his face was in sparkles, and something sparkled in his mouth - either gold or just steel.

Contrary to the expectations, Almond did not particularly come on the “Heart on Snow” repertoire, although he began with “So Long the Path”, the first song of this album, and a little later, along with the guitarist of the Russian team, in Front played the romance of Vadim Kozin “Autumn, Transparent Morning”. Andrei Samsonov joined the musicians for a couple of compositions, who produced the almonde record and the initiator of his current arrival in Russia. Almond called Samsonov a musical genius, and he in response modestly played the singer on the clarinet.

The concert was a two -hour retrospective of Almondov’s creativity: here “i´m Coming”, “Heart in Velvet”, “Untitled”, “Moonbathe Skin”, Champagne and When I Was A Young Man met here. The beginning and the final were “electric” - that is, the musicians played under the electronic lining of the bass and shock, but in the central part Almond sang under the piano and the acoustic guitar, which turned out to be more spectacular. Moreover, the lining sounded rather dirty. It is impossible not to notice that Almond's voice left much to be desired: either these are the consequences of a car accident, or something else, but the singing was not easy for the artist, his voice sat down and clearly lost flexibility. True, this did not affect the enthusiasm of the public, especially since Mark Almond did not lose his specific artistry.

He was called to the BIS, and he sang “A Lover Spurned”, but in order to hear the famous “Tainted Love”, Almond had to call again. The artist was not long in coming. He joyfully thanked everyone and said that there were moments when he no longer hoped to be in Russia again.

03/28/2006 / Alexander Zaitsev, the material was published in the newspaper No. 53 dated 03/29/2006.