April 28th, 2002. Great Britain, London, Ronnie Scotts

Report by Radmila Bannerman

Author: Radmila Bannerman

So Mumiy Troll go acoustic… I was ESPECIALLY looking forward to that concert! I kind of knew what to expect after listening to the Extraordinary Concert over and over in my cd player. But I could not know how much better it would be to actually be there…
So we went to the venue early again, this time it was just myself, Janni and my husband Melvyn. Janni’s boyfriend decided not to join us this time.
I should say that I came prepared to this concert. I brought my favorite CD, Ikra, for Ilia to sign, and also I wanted to get myself noticed by Ilia and hopefully remembered by him. So I made a double sided poster on Saturday night :). One side said 'Malysh, ty menya volnuyesh!’ in Russian (which is a line from Malysh song and can be translated as 'Babe you excite me!’)…. and on the other side I decided to go bold and wrote 'Ilia will you dance with me… please?’… I did not know if I would be brave enough to use this poster but brought it along anyway. You never know with Ilia :)
So this concert was supposed to start a bit earlier than the one on Friday night, at 9 pm. But first everyone had to get in. Security was a lot tougher than at the 100 Club, but also some people (looking like Russian mafia type, plus the old familiar faces — 'male groupies’) were jumping the queue which was NOT nice! We came there first but before we knew it, there was a lot of people in front of us who were not there before. Oh well… They still could not get too far. There was another door inside and once by that door, we had to be taken by a member of staff to a certain table. Jane got there first and was very polite to the guy, so when we joined her (and also 2 other girls from London we met outside), he took us to a really nice table just to the left from the middle of the stage. It was a non-smoking table and I congratulated myself on being health-conscious, it seemed to have brought us extra benefits like a really cool table right by the stage! :)
The atmosphere inside the Ronnie Scott’s club was SO unique! The decorations and design are really nice, and every table had a little red lamp on it, it was the kind of place you wanted to sit down and relax while sipping your martini… AND it was air-conditioned!! I was really anticipating that night’s perfomance. It was a really cool place to play for them.
First some support band came on stage and did like 7 songs. I guess they must have been local guys. They did a good job, but it was not what people came to see and no one was really interested in them… Which was a shame really. I felt sorry for the guys, I don’t even remember their name! Again, most of the audience was Russian. Again, there was Lena bringing more and more people in. Also there was some older English looking people — some of them were talking to Lena. And then there was Ali Maas!! I remember her from last year’s concert. To those who don’t know who she is, well, it was her voice on Morskaya CD — especially you can hear it well on 'Zabavy’ song. Last year at Mean Fiddler club she went up on stage while Ilia was singing Zabavy and backed him up which was mega cool… So she came again. I will go back to that later. From where our table was, we were a bit further from the stage compared to the 100 Club’s concert, but at least we were sitting and there was no way we would be pushed and mobbed, it was not the kind of a venue for something like that. As soon as we came and sat down, the waitress came up and took orders for drinks. How nice!! :) And relaxing! It was going to be a very private concert, almost as comfortable as if we were at home and they were playing in our living room :)…
So the time came for Mumiy Troll to start their concert. They looked happy as usual and Ilia was wearing this really stylish black shirt with butterflies on it and dark denim jeans (that looked really worn) with a chain attached to the belt. There were 2 keys on the chain — I wonder what are they for?? Maybe one of them is the key to his heart?? :)
Ilia looks so damn good now! I absolutely love that hairstyle and that smile. On stage, there was this old looking grand piano (we call it royal in Russian), and I thought Yuri would probably be playing it at some point.
So the guys came up on the stage and some girl from the audience shouted 'Yura, ya zdes’!’ (’Yura (short for Yuri), I’m here!’, which was very funny!! Yuri is a shy kind of guy and I think he felt very flattered by that! Everyone laughed and Ilia said something like 'Yes, indeed, there is a lot of familiar faces here tonight. We will be playing not so loud tonight because last time we all went a bit deaf’. Yes, Ilia, so did we!! :) The first song was Sluchainosti — a perfect choice to start an acoustic concert. Ilia sat on his stool and looked absolutely gorgeous and adorable. Yuri was sitting on a stool next to him, and as last time, Sdwig was on the other side of stage and I could not see him well. And just like last time, Oleg was somewhere behind his drums and not to be seen from where we were…
The second song surprised me — Na Yadi — it is such a heavy rock song, I never thought they could go acoustic with it. But again they proved to be true talent and masters of surprises and did a wonderful job with that song… acoustically!
Then there was 'Nevesta?’… To everyone’s slight disappointment, Ilia sang it in Russian again. I don’t really mind because I think Russian version is better anyway, but at my table I was the only Russian speaking person and it would have been nice for the English people to be able to sing along too…
That is where things started to get interesting, at least for me. I decided to try my poster. I flashed it at Ilia and people at the neighbour tables noticed it first and laughed. At first I showed it the 'Malysh, ty menya volnuyesh!’ side… To my surprise Ilia noticed it, and ACTUALLY came over and leant over to see what I wrote!! He started laughing and made this gesture with his finger (kinda like saying, 'Naughty girl’), and then I showed him the other side of the sign, the 'Will you dance with me’ … and he was laughing even more and at that point I did not care if he would dance with me or not! Well, he did not dance with me that night but I don’t care!! He acknowledged me and it was good enough for me :)…
The next song was called '+28’. I read fan reports from last year’s Crimean tour which was where they first played that song. Crimea is a Black Sea resort in Ukraine… I love that place! It is normally very hot there in the summer. I never heard the song before so was really looking forward to it. Ilia made a little introduction, he said that some people mistakenly think that he wrote that song in Crimea. 'Well, he said, — the song was actually written here, in rainy London — dreaming about warm sunshine’… REALLY?? I really liked the song although did not remember it well. Hopefully it will be featured on the new album! After every song Ilia politely thanked the audience. The atmosphere was great! Both the band and the audience seemed to be really enjoying themselves that night. It felt like heaven.
The next song was everyone’s favorite — Del’finy. This was the first ever song that I heard that I really really liked. Some history — I never used to like Mumiy Troll until I heard Del’finy song! Yes, I am ashamed to admit it, but it was my little brother and my english husband who influenced me to become a Mumiy Trol fan! Cheers to George and Melvyn for that! :)
Aahh… the next song was Utekai! EVERYONE knows this song! So at some point the crowd would kind of take over and sing louder than Ilia! It was really nice, Ilia was enjoying himself so much. Laughing and all. In the end he got carried away and forgot to finish the song, he went on singing the first verse all over again, and laughing at himself.. :) I guess he either likes that song too much, or he liked us singing it, or maybe both :) Then there was Lady Alpine Blue — the name written in english on the playlist, but he still sang it in Russian. I was a bit disappointed, because I was really hoping for the English version. I really like the English one better, maybe because I heard it in english for the first time… My English friends and Melvyn were disappointed by Russian version of that song too…
Now, the next song was a bit of a surprise. I don’t know how many of you know of this song. It is featured on the Extraordinary Concert, it is called 'Kogda Ty Uidyosh’ (When you go away). All I know is that it is a very old song from the 60-s, by some French artist called Jaques Brelle (not sure of how to spell his name, sorry)… And Ilia wrote the translation himself. He said the only time they performed that song was 2 years ago in Moscow, at the Extraordinary Concert. I listen to that CD a lot and really love this song. It is a very powerful song, full of deep emotion. I think it is about a man who really loves a woman, but she does not love him as much as he loves her and he knows that one day she will leave him. He knows she will go, but deep inside he hopes that maybe she will take mercy on him and stay… Oh, this is such a great song!
To me, that was yet another highlight of that concert. I don’t think a lot of people in the audience knew that song, because no one was singing along except for me. I really enjoyed it. Then there was Siamskie Serdca, Ranetka and Vospitannik Upavshey Zvezdy — all the ballads, really lyrical. And then there was another song that I did not expect to hear. I never heard of them performing it live, because it is not an easy song to play live I guess. The song was Sny (Dreams)… They did such a wonderful job with it. Ilia actually sang it not sitting on his chair but standing Some time towards the end of the concert Jane and I decided it was time for Ilia to sign our CD’s. She brought along Ikra CD too, so she got up (she was sitting right next to stage) and asked Ilia to sign them and he did! He knew who he was signing them for too.
The next song was the one he sang on Friday night, the one that was called Romance, but this time he called it 'Laugh the loudest’ (as close as I can get with translation), or 'Smeysya Gromche Vseh’ in Russian … This time he did not have the lyrics written on his arm as he did at the first concert! he must have learned them by then!! :) He actually did a little introduction this time, he said the song was written for russian TV series called 'Azazelle’… I don’t know what it’s about, I’ll have to ask my friends in Ukraine and Russia about it. But some people in the audience must have known because they acknowledged it as he introduced the song.
The next song was Zabavy… and Ilia managed to make it very personal for me. Remember my 'Will you dance with me?’ sign? Well, there is a line in this song that says '…maybe I would have danced with you…’ and as he was singing it, he pointed in my direction! AAAHHH! I was SO flattered!! it was just as good as if he DID dance with me!!
Now… remember Ali Maas? As soon as they started playing the song she went up on stage and it was hard to tell whether it was planned that way or not because Ilia looked really pleasantly surprised! He introduced her with this HUGE grin on his face! It was easy to tell he adores her and she loves him, I mean as friends. He said that this girl’s voice was on Morskaya CD and the crowd cheered :)… So the song was Zabavy. Another one of my absolute favorite songs. There is Ali’s solo part there, in the middle of the song, and as she was doing it, Ilia actually fell on his knees beside her and was watching her with a big smile and admiration in his eyes! It was so cool to watch!!
But then someone had to spoil it, didn’t they? All of sudden, this girl with big red lipstick came on stage, both Ilia and Ali looked a bit shocked. That girl was Russian and very rude. Probably had too many drinks that night, because she kind of pushed Ali out of the way and went straight to Ilia’s and started telling him how exactly she wanted him to pose for a photo with her. He was not too happy about it, but he is too polite, so he did what she wanted. And as if that was not enough, after she got her picture with Ilia, she actually snatched the microphone from Ali’s hands and made her own version of the back vocals. It was SO rude but also very funny… Then, almost at the end of the concert came another surprise — this one Ilia could have not known about, so it was especially nice. The song was Devochka, and Ilia said that this is probably their most international song and this time they would like to offer us an 'unusual’ version of it… Just HOW unusual? The UKRAINIAN one!! I am Ukrainian!! (my main language is still Russian though) I thought that was absolutely cool, just how many surprises can you expect in one night?? He sang it so well, without an accent at all! I guess he must have learnt it well while touring Ukraine last year. I never heard him perform this song in Ukrainian, even in my hometown in 2000. I was so happy, I just had to let him know. All I could think of was to write 'Dyakuyemo’ (thank you in Ukrainian) on the back of Ronnie Scott’s wine list and show it to Ilia. Again, he leant over closer to me to see what I wrote and as he read it, he developed that huge smile again, and started laughing and put his hand on his heart and sang the whole verse facing our table!! He was actually laughing so much at one point that he missed a few lines of the song, which was OK because everyone was singing along anyway! Oh, that was the best part of the best ever concert for me!! THANK YOU ILIA!!!
And so came the last song — Moya Pevitsa — very sad song and it was very sad to let them go. When they did go, people kept chanting Mumiy Troll but they did not come back… We stayed at our table for a while after the concert. I was still in a state of shock (in a good sense of it), and a few minutes later I remembered that there were 4 playlists about! So Jane got one and I got one and then I told Jane that there was another one — by Oleg’s drums so she went and got it too. That one was really cool — with little drawings of guitar, piano etc on it — I guess Ilia must have drawn those. He is very talented :)… As we were getting ready to leave, we saw Ali Maas behind us, with a bottle of Beck’s, talking to some guy. So I came up to her and asked her if we could have a photo taken with her. She was really lovely and did not mind at all.
We also chatted with her for a while. I told her she did a great job with the back vocals on Morskaya and that I remembered her from the last year’s concert. She said a lot of good things about Ilia and one thing I remember was she called him 'a very sweet boy’ :):):) He is, isn’t he!! We thanked Ali and asked her to give Ilia and the band hello from us… and then we left. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we will see Mumiy Troll in London again. These 2 concerts have been the best ones ever and I feel so lucky and blessed to have been there. Mumiy Troll are the best and there is just not enough words to describe how much we love and appreciate them. Thank you, Ilia, Yura, Oleg and Sdwig!! And see you soon!!