| Group "DDT" at the Olimpiyskiy A well-known truth teller of the Russian land, a powerful singer, a hater of totalitarianism and pop music, a poet (and in the past an artist who professionally painted Lenin), a native of the city of Ufa, Yuri Yulianovich Shevchuk and his team “DDT” give concerts very rarely. But very accurate. Why? In principle, Shevchuk in our country and neighboring countries can give at least three hundred concerts a year - there will be more than enough public interest, because not only has the backlog of popularity gained by the musician in Soviet times not been exhausted, but over the past decade and a half the group has gained fans obviously increased. To the albums with outright hits (such as “Autumn”), which the group released in the early 90s, they have now added “Unity” - two conceptual, but very popular records. Nevertheless, the group plays so rarely that its big concerts are shown on television.
According to fans, it was impossible to buy tickets for the DDT concert at the Olimpiyskiy two weeks before the event! It was worth seeing. And Shevchuk did not disappoint. We started with the relatively new song “When One” (from the first part of “Unity”). There is almost no music in it, this is a kind of “totalitarian rap”, to which Shevchuk plucks an acoustic guitar. Then Shevchuk, again solo, right off the bat, moves on to old hits: “Rain”, “What is the wind to us”. The last one was sung by the whole hall; however, the audience showed their ardent participation at almost every third song, so I won’t repeat myself. Only on the fourth composition, “You are not alone,” did the rest of the group’s musicians appear on stage.
To perform the song “Pops” (originally recorded by Shevchukov’s ambitious project called “Rock Group”) guests take the stage: Alexander Chernetsky (group “Different People”), Alexey Gorshenev (“Kukryniksy”) and Ilya Chert (“Pilot” ). At this time, on three monitors, a cut of the latest pop videos is shown (where for some reason a piece of Shnurov from the video “Up in the Air” ended up). The cut is in the style of Soviet propaganda about the soulless and decaying West: swimming pools, cocktails, limousines, chic singers with bare backs, the playful Mikhail Grebenshchikov and all that stuff... Funnily enough, at the end of the concert this “high life” ( “Dolce Vita”) materializes: women in boas made of ostrich feathers jump onto the stage to the song about the tercentenary of St. Petersburg. Against their background, the bearded Shevchuk looks simply hilarious.
An hour and a half of hits fly by like one minute.
By the second hour, however, the tempo drops slightly and some lengths are formed. Yuri Yulianovich reads poetry, tells stories, communicates with the audience. In general (and in detail - newsreels on monitors, folk ensemble "Rejoice", etc.) the stage design of the concert is very well thought out and is perceived directly and naturally. After such a powerful and professional concert, it becomes embarrassing for the “home” videos of “DDT”, such as “White River”. On stage, everything is done well, the musicians play without the slightest mess, Yuri Yulianovich sings great - he growls and strains like your Tom Waits. He might even parody the trembling tenor of his friend Boris Borisovich Grebenshchikov (“Congratulations to BG for making fifty dollars!”).
All this, of course, is not rock at all, especially not “Russian rock”. The point, of course, is not the names, it’s just that genre clichés interfere with correct perception. So, when once again Yuri Yulianovich foolishly marched across the stage or cursed the “damned pop music”, the colleague standing next to me irritably said: “Well, holy fool, damn it.” And he was... absolutely right! Shevchuk is precisely what “turns on the fool” when talking about serious things, and everything works for this idea, including the “impossible at a rock concert” women in feathers. Another question is that this is done in a powerful rock style (which is very rare for us), and the songs can be listened to as music , and other texts can even be perceived as poetry . Not to mention the fact that both are in perfect balance, practically eliminating the element of chance, and that is why Shevchuk’s impact on the audience is so powerful. And making fun of him is a simple matter; he himself is ready to expose himself. Shevchuk’s behavior is like children’s creativity, a “performance” of children who have watched enough TV. Funny and holy children - a line from the song “Rain”. Alexander BELYAEV |
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