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I attended the Shows when they were in Siberia, as far as I remember in
1995.
We went in Barnaul with a company and then attended the show in Novosibirsk.
We moved to Barnaul just because there was a rumour that Hammill was invited
especially to play in Barnaul (and it turned out truth) and the Novosibirsk
shows were organized just to improve the image of their organizers so they
then will be canceled for some reason. Where did such a rumour came from -
we didn't know but believed in it, because the organ izer was the
Organization Committee of Interweek - an organization registered by some
legal address in a department in KGB, and we were so naive to believe that
normal people won't deal with such organizations.
But the concerts were played here, there, and even on Mayovka itself. But
the atmosphere was absolutely different.
Barnaul show was attended by all connoisseurs and fans from Siberia (the
rumour about the rest concerts being fiction spread very well around) who
were very glad about canceling of the first part of the show – the
warming-up band (“Mission-Anticyclon” – have never heard it), they called
Hammill for encore twice (Nic Hobbs – a guy from an English band, who often
visits our rockers – induced him for the second encore). The second encore
was “Ophelia”…
But in Novosibirsk Hammill participated in some combined concert and was
No.3: the first one was faceless hard-rock band, the second false folkers
with pseudo Eskimo or Chukchi image. The acoustics of the venue was awful
and didn’t allow it to be called ‘a hall’ – a soviet-time cinema building as
it is. Most of listeners were painty girls who didn’t care who is there on
stage and in what language does he sing – broken Russian, t he Chukchi
language or English – it didn’t impede them to sort out their relationships.
Plus there was seven or eight dozens of listeners who stand right in front
of the stage to be able to see and to hear anything. Of course, there were
no “Ophelia” for them. The secrecy level was on strictly highest level: none
(except the staff) was allowed to get closer to PH, although Jackson was
calmly walking in the corridor after the concert because no one knew him!!!
So we had no concurrent and talked for a while with him and with Stewart
Gordon – in Barnaul we spoke with Hammill only, other musicians didn’t came
out to people.
I didn’t attend the third Siberian show because couldn’t imagine that
Hammill & Co would play for the same people during the even more combined
concert, plus it should take place in the open air How did it last under
rain I don’t know.
The most impressive thing after the first concert was the emotional
fullness. It seems to You ‘Where are those Mike and Suzy? Twenty five years
passed!’ But he sings as if they said goodbye to each other just yesterday.
Although some “practicized and memorized” performance hurt a little…
I would attend his show anyway if he would arrive here. But it didn’t
happen. Sponsors didn’t invest money to those KGB-organizers. Cannot
reproach or blame them.
Irina Mirzuitova
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