Concert Review: Moscow, Russia - May 19, 2011
Anna Dolgikh:
Dear all! This is my review of the concert in Moscow held on the 19th of May 2011. Well, I should say that this concert was one of the most incredible concerts I have ever seen! I have noticed that life consists of the opposite things. At first I faced with it in the books of such great authors like Osho and Carl Gustav Jung. In their books you may read one thing, then just turn a page, and read absolutely the opposite thing! And I was really wondering how that could be, until I realized that life is really so... So about the opposite things... I believe with all my heart that people everywhere are the same. There is absolutely no difference between the people living in different countries, our hearts and souls are absolutely the same. But together with that we have an influence of a country we were born in, its history, its traditions, and it influences on us greatly making us be different... Speaking about the specific of Russia, I should say that the Russian people tend not to show their real feelings, and hide them deep inside. Because we were taught to do it through the years. In the USSR times people had to behave like it was established to be, there was no a personality, there was a society, there were established rules, ideas, everyone had to follow one way of life, and if you thought and felt in the different way, it was a great problem... And still unfortunately this thing, not to show the real feelings, is transferred to the children... So it is a natural thing that at a concert the Russian people will sit, listen, be very much impressed, feel a lot inside, but will show nothing... This happened at previous Chris’s concerts in Russia. When the people were so much impressed by a concert, had so many sincere feelings inside, but didn’t allow themselves to show them... But this concert turned out to be absolutely different... But let me start with the beginning. The concert began with the “Moonfleet Overture”, and then the beginning of the story was told, but this time in Russian. I was really impressed by that, it was really great! The first songs were “The Light On The Bay” and “Have A Care”, and there was so much energy in these songs! Then Chris sang “Go Where Your Heart Believes”, and it was so amazing to listen to this song once again, because there was so much love and inspiration in this song... Then Chris spoke about the concert and Moscow. The next songs were “Missing You”, “Ship To Shore” and “A Spaceman Came Traveling”, and while singing the last one Chris inspired us to sing “la la la” as he usually does. It was rather a new thing for the Russian audience, so the people hesitated for a while, but than began singing in a very lovely way. And, well, what touched me till the bottom of my heart... A little girl was sitting next to me, I think she was 10 years old or so. And she was so much impressed and fascinated by Chris and the concert itself. She was thrilled by the songs, and when Chris talked about pirates and a ghost in St. Petersburg she laughed so much in this amazing and innocent way that only children can do... So when Chris inspired us to sing “la la la” she began singing with so many emotions and joy... But then we had to stop, as Chris began singing the next part of the song. And when he got back to “la la la” once again, the girl began singing with Chris. But this time he sang these words alone, the hall was silent, as it was just a part of the song, so she began singing and then rapidly stopped. I looked at her, looked in her eyes and saw so much fear and embarrassment there... So I took her by the hand and told that she was amazing and could sing whenever she wants... and she continued singing... She was really lovely... During the whole concert she wanted to clap all the time, as she was so excited, but was so embarrassed and hesitated. And, well, from time to time I was clapping together with her, when almost no one clapped in order to encourage and help her... And that helped... And, well, to my absolute delight during the second part of the concert when Chris was singing “Those Were The Days”, she and her girlfriend sitting behind us stood up and began dancing! Oh, it was so lovely to look at this child’s joy. And Chris was so happy to see that and was smiling all the time looking at these dancing girls! The next song was “My Heart’s Surrender”. It was so wonderful to listen to it! I will always be impressed how Chris sings this song. With so much love, so much pain, so much hope, and so much from his heart... “Moonfleet Bay” and “The Storm” were the next songs. And so much joy and energy was going from Chris’s heart when he was singing them, it was really fantastic! And the audience was really impressed, lots of emotions were in the people’s hearts! However, the people didn’t show that too much keeping all the feelings inside of them... And I was really delighted by Chris who saw it all, smiled at it, and continued singing the songs with lots of joy and love, and a very open heart... Chris got lots of flowers during the show, and these were not just the flowers, these were extremely beautiful and huge bunches of flowers from lots of girls. And there was also a man who presented Chris with a very big and beautiful bunch of red roses. I remember this man from the previous concerts, where he presented Chris with beautiful roses as well... This man was really amazing, he sat not far away from me, and I saw such a respect in his eyes when he was looking at Chris... The last song in the first part was “The Leader” trilogy. And the people were so much impressed by it. There were no movies during it, but Chris sang it with so many emotions, with so much pain and so much from his heart that everybody was really moved... And listening to this song I couldn’t fight with tears and a great pain in the heart... The second part began with “The Road To Freedom”. “The Words I Love You” was the next song. And there was so much joy and energy in it! Then Chris told us the story about Rome and Leonardo da Vinci and sang “Why Mona Lisa Smiled”. I have never heard Chris singing this song in such an amazing way... He sat on an amplifier system standing at the edge of a stage, and was so close to us... He was singing with so many emotions, such a delight, and such an open heart, that it was really very moving... “Leningrad” was the next song. Chris sang it in a very touching way, with so much love and pain that everyone in the hall was thrilled... And after this song the whole hall stood up and was clapping and clapping and clapping... “People Of The World” was the next song, after which the solo part began. “Carry Me” and “Where Peaceful Waters Flow” were the first songs in this part. And then Chris said that he had a Russian song to sing... Actually he meant “Those Were The Days”, but the people began asking for “Natasha Dance”. And although there was no a piano, Chris sang a part of it playing a guitar! And that was really fantastic! After it Chris sang “Those Were The Days”, and there was such a delight in the hall when Chris was singing this song! Then Chris introduced the band and sang “Moonlight and Vodka”. “The Lady In Red” walk around the audience was the next. And the people were so excited! Lots of people stood up and were following Chris during all his way in the hall. That was really amazing! After that the dancing part began. “Africa” and “Everywhere I Go” were the first songs in this part. Chris even didn’t have to tell the people to stand up and to come up to the stage, as lots of people were standing there already! I saw it for the first time in Russia! Usually people sat, hesitated, and Chris always had to tell us that now we may stand up and dance. And not only were there lots of people dancing in front of the stage this time, but the whole hall stood up and was dancing! Well, standing there, in front of the stage I was really delighted! I have never seen such a dancing part! I can’t even say that people were high on emotion, because they were much more than high on emotion! I can’t find the words to describe that what was going on in the hall and in front of the stage! Joy, happiness, energy, love, outburst of emotions! God, I will never forget this... Well, Chris really performed a miracle! He made the Russian people overcome their inner barrier, and be themselves, and show what they feel inside! “Don’t Pay The Ferryman”, “Say Goodbye To It All” and “High On Emotion” were the next songs. The audience was really excited! Something really incredible was going on in front of the stage! After one of the songs somebody presented Chris with flowers and asked for an autograph, and Chris signed... And then lots of people began moving to the stage asking for an autograph too. And Chris smiled, postponed the beginning of the next song a little bit, and gave some autographs. And during the next song when there were little breaks between the words, he came to the edge of the stage and continued giving the autographs. The audience was in delight! At the end of the concert Chris sang “The Lady In Red” for the second time telling us that we were such a fantastic audience! He was going to sing “The Moonfleet Finale” after it, but the people began asking for the “The Snows Of New York”. And Chris smiled, looked at us, then at the boys from the band, and sang it! Oh my God, that was really amazing! “The Moonfleet Finale” was the next song. It was really one of the most amazing concerts I have ever seen! And once again I was so much impressed by Chris’s love and respect to the people, his kindness and open heart, his ability to give and to share, that made it possible to make this concert be a real miracle! Thank you very much for reading my review! I really hope that you liked it. Kind regards, Anna Dolgikh