Concert Review: Moscow, Russia - March 14, 2009
Anna Dolgikh:
Dear all! This is my review of the concert in Moscow held on the 14th of March 2009. It was a very amazing and a special day for me. And I want to say thank you to Chris, Astrid and Vanessa for this! If to speak about the concert I should begin with that we were almost late to it. We started our drive to the concert’s place very early - 3 hours before the concert while the way there should have taken 1 hour. But absolutely unexpectedly we have got in a very serious traffic jam. I should say that they are usual in Moscow, but only not on the weekend days! At first I didn’t realize what was going on and my husband tried to protect me from being upset telling me that we were not far away from the concert place, and that although we moved very slowly the rest of the way was very short. But the time passed, and we were moving and moving and no concert hall appeared. And I began realizing that something was really wrong - I looked at my husband and read in his eyes that all was very serious. It turned out that we were far away from the concert place and the traffic jam must have been very serious. So serious that we could be very late to the concert. It is possible to stand for hours in the Moscow traffic jams. Cold sweat was on my forehead. I sat in the car realizing that there was no way to move quicker and was almost crying because of that all. I tried to get calm, but that wasn’t easy, as this concert was very special for me. I think I have passed through all types of despair while we were driving to the concert hall. Finally we arrived to the concert place 10-15 minutes before the time of the concert’s beginning. When I went out from the car I could hardly believe that we have arrived. But the main thing was that we were in time! The concert began with the solo part. The first song was “The Road to Freedom”. Then Chris sang “Carry Me”, “The Same Sun” and “Always On My Mind”. While introducing the songs Chris joked asking us whether our English was ok, as he unfortunately couldn’t speak Russian except the word “thank you”. Then there were the songs about Russia – “Moonlight and Vodka”, “Natasha Dance” and “Leningrad”. Before singing these songs Chris spoke about Russia and said that he liked to come here and liked the way the country was changing. Of course it was very pleasant for me to hear these words. I should say that Russia has its own specific. There are lots of opposite things here and one should be ready to everything – to the good, to the bad. I see Russia as a country where a person can easily touch both Paradise and Hell. I was always amazed how precise Chris described this in his lyrics to “Natasha Dance” song - “And when you dance, will you tell me in a story, the joy and pain of living in your world”. The part with the band began with the song “Where We Will Be Going”. I should say that I was impressed by this song very much. As usual this song began with the strong musical accompaniment and the lights turned from the soft that were during the solo part to the bright and shimmering. And all this was so powerful and amazing that I forgot about everything on the earth and was absolutely fascinated by the song. The next song was “One World”. And I was so happy to hear it, as it is one of my favorites. It was followed by “Missing You” and it was so wonderful to see Chris’s smile when he was singing it. As usual I found the “right” moment to present the flowers. Usually the lights turned off at that moment or the new song begins. This time was the second one. The songs went one after another so when there was a break between the songs I went out to the stage. But the break turned out to be too short and the next song was already beginning when I just reached the stage. So I put the flowers on the stage’s floor and was going to return to my seat when Chris postponed the beginning of the song a little bit and hugged me. There were lots of warm applause in the hall at that moment. And when Chris helped me to go down the stairs from the stage the light technician turned on the light in order to make it possible to see the stairs. Chris’s care impressed me so much that I felt myself really amazing at that moment. The next songs were “A Spaceman Came Traveling”, “Sailing Away” and “Spirit”. Chris was so emotional while telling us the story of “Spirit” and sang this song so strong that I had shivers on my skin. I think lots of people were impressed by this song as well. What was really amazing is that Chris made “The Lady In Red” walk around the audience twice – in the middle and at the end of the concert! And some ladies were happy to receive a hug or a kiss from Chris or even to dance with him. The audience was so excited! Many people smiled! So many applause were after that!!! The walk around the audience was followed by the songs “Leather On My Shoes”, “The Words I Love You”, “Say Goodbye To It All” and “Don’t Pay The Ferryman”. Chris was amazing as always. He put lots of emotion, lots of energy, lots of love in each song. But I felt that the audience was not easy. I had a feeling that it was rather restrained and didn’t return the energy to Chris. I don’t know why it was so. May be it was because there should have been many people from the political and business elite and they were very official and prefer not to show their emotions. But nevertheless there were the people who allowed themselves to show their emotions and smiled and clapped their hands while Chris was singing his songs. My husband told me a very interesting story. Not far from him a couple from the political elite was seating. And they were very restrained during the concert - no smiles, not so many clapping. But step by step the lady from that couple became more and more emotional. And when Chris was making “The Lady In Red” walk around the audience she began smiling and was looking at Chris’s walk with great interest. And finally when Chris approached her during this walk and kissed and hugged her, her face was so happy and her eyes were shining. She has changed and her husband began smiling as well and has been clapping a lot till the very end of the concert. So despite the fact that the audience wasn’t very easy Chris managed to influence the people greatly. May be the people didn’t show it much through their behaviour but I am sure that everyone brought lots of light in his heart from this concert. And when Chris left the stage before the encore songs the people absolutely didn’t want to let Chris go and were clapping and clapping. When Chris returned to sing the encore songs he said that we could stand up and dance. He came down into the hall to invite the audience to dance and many people stood up and approached the stage. And it was wonderful and the people got more relaxed! One of the encore songs was an English song based on a melody from a Russian folklore song and it was such a delight in the hall when Chris was singing it. The last song was “The Snows Of New-York” and before singing it Chris thanked the audience for making him feel like a friend during the concert. I want to say that it was such a joy for me to see Chris and some things still seem to be like a miracle. Thank you very much for reading my review! I really hope that you enjoyed reading it. Kind regards, Anna Dolgikh