On their twentieth anniversary, the “Beasts” staged a stadium karaoke

Three hours before the start of the action, Roma Zver goes to the press to pose against the backdrop of an impressive arena and share his thoughts about what is happening. He is dressed in a shirt with prints in the form of large roses, a black skirt and pointy, maximally rock and roll mules. Self-confidence and narcissism are an important part of the rock star image, but at the same time, Roman is clearly not shy about expressing his excitement. Anniversary concerts are traditionally a headache in the sense that they have to try to embrace the immensity. In such a situation, the set list, of course, is born in pain.

“There are many albums, many songs, everything will not fit,” the singer says in an interview with MK. — We tried to choose both fan songs and those that we like. It turned out a little bit from each album, but in general a lot. ”

“Beasts” started in a situation where the music business was largely dependent on radio and television, but even in the days of such backward promotion technologies, the group shot almost instantly. By their second album “Districts-Quarters” Roma Zver and Co. were already stadium artists to the delight of the fans and much to the displeasure of music critics. By the standards of the latter, “Beasts” were considered pop Galima and all their stadium rock games were designated as a big misunderstanding. It is noteworthy that the criticized themselves, despite their youth, kept a wise calmness.

“We didn’t have time for scandals, we plowed like horses, didn’t get out of the tour,” Roman recalls. – Young fervent, nothing at all, just give the stage and go. And in order to approach someone and sort it out like a man … If you approach someone, it means you are offended, but I don’t take offense at anyone. Well, someone said something, wrote somewhere. Do not hold a grudge against a person because he gave out some nasty things about us. It’s his problem after all, not mine.”

Songs that seem to be composed in a neighboring yard and performed by the guys from there can be the shortest path to success, but it is quite difficult to compose such constantly. Rockers, despite their infantilism, also grow up, broaden their horizons, and this invariably leads to the fact that they begin to put their thoughts into more cunning musical forms.

Even before Roman played Mike Naumenko in Kirill Serebrennikov’s film “Summer” (for the soundtrack to the film, the musician received a separate award at the Cannes Film Festival), the music of the “Beasts” became less festive, and in a voice that seemed specially created to whisper indecent girls suggestions, bitter smiles appeared and sometimes even reflection.

Albums released after 2015 are filled with music not quite stadium scale, but the total number of hits still keep the group in the clip of the touring giants. And the band’s frontman doesn’t see it as the dull routine of a popular artist.

“Now stadium concerts are chic, luck and happiness,” Roman notes. – Stadium rock is over, young artists cannot hold such a large audience. They simply won’t pull two and a half hours of live singing and high-quality sound. And now I’m not talking about those who jump to the soundtrack, shouting “raise your hands”, in general, they work as an animator. Even among those who play live, not all of them will raise the stadium. We missed you very much, we didn’t play for two years because of the pandemic. So let’s get high and nervous of course. At such concerts, what you worry about the most is whether you have enough strength to live, to pump it to the end, not to be blown away at some point. Spoiler: they lived, pumped up, did not get blown away.

How it looked

Not monumental, but quite large. Five people on the stage, three screens plus two large stadium scoreboards also used for projections. Apparently the main idea of ​​the show was a noisy fraternization of artists and the crowd, so the complex video art was sacrificed to close-ups of rock stars, and shots with a cheering audience.

The musicians took the stage after an energetic set from MTV legend and now successful DJ Alexander Anatolyevich. Between the first “For You” and the final “Everything That Concerns You” two-plus hours of guitar frenzy, deafening fan choirs, black leather, animal prints, spectacular rock and roll poses with dancing sauce and dozens of thousand selfies.

At the sight of a huge number of phones in the stalls, Roman gallantly thanks the audience for the fact that she manages not only to shoot, but also to respond to the songs. But then he himself follows the lead of a modern whim called “you need to take a picture.” After the performance of “Tram”, the frontman takes a short break and addresses the audience: “I’m a photographer, will you let me take a beautiful photo? To do this, I would like to use the resources of the batteries of your phones.

The huge arena is lit up with tens of thousands of lights and we can assume that the photo really turned out beautiful. The fan-made special effect stretches over two songs performed almost acoustically. “Speak” to the keyboard and “Walk” to the guitar sounded very intimate, and if this whole flashlight thing was invented in an attempt to turn a stadium show into an apartment house at least for a while, then the game was worth the batteries.

However, you can’t hold the stadium on acoustics, which the members of the “Beasts” of course know about. “Just Such Strong Love” and “Stronger Drinks” quickly return the audience to a hysterical tone, and the false finale after “See you soon” drowns in demands for the continuation of the banquet.

The continuation stretches over two encores, during which “Districts-Quarters”, “Rain-Pistols”, “Remember Me”, “Everything That Concerns You” sound, fireworks shoot, fan vocal cords are brought to final uselessness. Roman goes to the podium, opens a bottle of champagne, generously sprinkles foam on those who are closer, takes a sip and gives the rest to the fan zone. A royal touch, especially considering that nothing stronger than non-alcoholic beer is offered in stadiums.

pros

That evening, love reigned in the arena, which makes any concert an event. Girls of all ages once again proved their status as the main engine of the rock and roll process. So it was with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, as well as with Kino and Mumiy Troll. It is possible that “Beasts” in terms of general desire are close to the record, at least in the latest Russian rock history. It is especially touching to observe the continuity of generations. There were quite a few girls in the fan zone and in the stands, to whom the “animal mania” was probably transmitted with mother’s milk.

Minuses

The sound evoked associations with the economy class. The very same action, as it was on the show of Basta, the group “Hands Up!”, Grigory Leps, was perceived as not quite a stadium. Still, we have not yet forgotten what a big concert is in the international sense. If you take a large area, then show tricks. At least not original, such as the second scene. Well, or surprise with sound. Of course, one can assume that the karaoke concept assumed a large audience participation and it was not planned to drown it out. As a result, fragile but strong female shoulders and sonorous voices in some situations turned out to be saving.

Party Phrase

“It’s good that you are here, it’s good that we are here!” – said Roman at the beginning of the show. It must be admitted that now the most innocent conclusions are perceived as caustic sarcasm. Oh times…