And he sang “Sansara” with his daughter and Diana Arbenina
Rostov rapper Vasily Vakulenko, better known as Basta, gave the biggest concert in Moscow on Saturday, April 22. 35 thousand fans of the musician’s work gathered at the Olimpiysky sports complex. The 360 concert became an absolute record both for the venue and for Russian performers - before Basta, no Russian artist had ever filled the completely circular Olimpiysky arena.
Photo from Basta's Instagram
During the concert, Basta performed 26 compositions that became hits. The rapper’s performance ended with a joint performance of the new song “Sansara” with Diana Arbenina and the children’s choir. In addition, Vasily Vakulenko brought his eldest daughter Masha onto the stage for the first time, who also sang “Samsara”.
Later on his Instagram, Vasily Vakulenko thanked the organizers and guests of the concert for their support.
“We thank everyone who was with us today - for coming, for the tremendous support, for the emotions and sincerity. Thanks to all those who were unable to attend the concert - we have you, and we will definitely see you at another time and in another place,” Basta wrote on his Instagram.
Let us remind you that this is not the first time that the rapper has broken records for the scale of his concerts. At the celebration of City Day in Rostov, Basta gathered more than 120 thousand fans on Teatralnaya Square.
Just recently, the likelihood that any Russian rapper would win the Olympics was negligible. On at the moment Three people have already achieved this with varying degrees of success: Basta, Timati and Miron. Today we would like to talk about which other Russian rappers could try to collect the Olympic
The huge solo concerts at the Olympic Palace by Timati and Oksimiron have died down. The bar has been met - Timati is leaving the stage for a while (which, of course, does not mean that he will leave the game - he will probably release material in the same way, do business, build his own empire, not the one from scratch, ride the board more and pay more attention to his daughter), Oxy will most likely start working on new material, as was mentioned during a recent presentation with Reebok.
Just recently, the likelihood that any Russian rapper would win the Olympics was negligible. At the moment, three people have already succeeded in this with varying degrees of success (in the sense of varying openness of the stands): Basta, Timati and Miron. Probably, both Basta and Oxy will try to repeat the goal next year, but today we would like to talk about which other Russian rappers could try to conquer Olympus.
L"One
Black Star is great at counting. Money, views, tickets sold – this is where professionals keep track. L"One, in fact, is the most popular artist of the label after Timati, his faithful partner, right hand- and, perhaps, he would have already assembled the Olympic, but the date that L "One wanted, his birthday, was taken. Well, this has its advantages: the more time for preparation.
L"One has a new album planned for next year - however, he recently hinted at the possibility of a reunion with Nel and the revival of Marselle. Will this distract his solo work?
However, L"One easily conquers other large venues - for example, on November 19 he will perform at Crocus City Hall with a symphony orchestra - it should be very cool!
Scriptonite
He said about Black Star - talk about his closest competitor, Gasholder. The head of Gaza is so far the only rapper who has collected a full Olympic, but there is at least one more artist on the label who can aim for something similar.
Almost since the release of “House with Normal Phenomena,” Scriptonite has been on tour, his live shows are getting better, his live performance skills are being honed, and the venues are getting bigger. The impetus for Skrip’s really big tours, as noted above, was the release of “DSNYA”. And this month the rapper should release not just a new album, but a double album! Why not try to assemble the Olympic one in a year?
Max Korzh
We continue to sort through labels: we’ve dealt with Black Star and Gazgolder, which means it’s time to look towards Respect Production. Here the picture is clear - “Casta”, of course, remained strong, travels, performs, released a good album this year, but it is unlikely to become a cult one. “Respect” currently has one truly great artist who has been regularly gathering the biggest venues for many years – Max Korzh. While listening to his latest tracks, there was a feeling that they were made specifically with an emphasis on a huge crowd that would rage under the stage in a slam, but at the same time Max still remains himself. No, no, this is by no means the story when an artist tries to create something at the request of the crowd, when he urgently needs to make a format track for TV, so I’ll write a song about the sky and wings. Just look what happens at his concerts. Isn’t it very easy to imagine something like this at the Olympic Stadium?
Pharaoh
There are rumors that Vladi wanted to sign Farah to Respect a long time ago, seeing great potential in him. You can’t refuse something like this to Vladi – they looked at Korzh! Now it seems like another musician from the people... However, this is not about him. Right now Pharaoh is on tour, and it’s impossible to immediately remember a larger scope for at least this year - initially 50 cities were announced (!!!). Also in 2017, Farah released an excellent mixtape and video, which has already received more than 25 million views. But just recently he was the subject of ridicule, heaps of memes, and he himself was associated primarily with “skr-skr-skr”. However, Gleb withstood the wave of hate (XXXtentasion, study), becoming one of the most touring Russian artists. Is it possible that he will collect the Olympic? It is not a fact that next year, Fara will probably take a smaller venue in 2018, but even a year ago many said that Oxy would not be able to assemble the Olympic.
Guf
Just last Saturday, Guf appeared on stage with Timati in front of more than two tens of thousands of people. I don’t believe that he didn’t like such a crowd and that he didn’t say “but you can do the same.” In the case of Guf, there are certain reservations, several “ifs”.
If Guf keeps the promises he made during the “day of live broadcasts,” first of all regarding new material. If Guf releases a good album next year (in principle, he hasn’t had a bad one yet), inviting famous friends like Timati and Basta, and if he shoots a couple of high-quality videos.
Guf was and remains at the forefront - we say this based on the statistics of news views on our website, any news with Guf collects 5 times more views than others. Add to this the wild hype that follows him everywhere - the tabloids continue to discuss his new girls, diss songs ex-wife, etc., and this is also easily converted into purchased tickets. Let's keep our fingers crossed for Guf so that he has enough passion - he now has plenty of experience and opportunities.
LSP
2017 turned out to be a mixed year for Oleg LSP - probably the strongest album in the group's history was released, and perhaps the best album of this year, which has every chance of becoming a classic. Half of LSP died - Roma the Englishman died, who gave the group much more with his instrumentals than an ordinary beatmaker - he and Oleg had chemistry, in fact, this is a classic ideal composition - a strong MC and a strong beatmaker. In addition, someone, and the Englishman knew how to make a drive - just look, for example, what happened in the Olimpiysky during Oksimiron’s concert on the chorus of the track “Girl Fucked Up”. There are rumors that Oleg wrote an incredibly beautiful song about a friend who left this world; it is likely that a new album may be released in 2018 (although “Tragic City” was waited for 2 years - and nothing). And if there is a hit on the level of the same “Coins” or “Madness” - who knows, perhaps Olympus will submit to him too. LSP, however, already has a Stadium planned for the beginning of the year, so it is likely that the Olympic Stadium will be postponed until 2019.
Who do you think has the greatest chance of making it to the Olympics next year?
Concert rap
Vasily Vakulenko, known as Basta, performed at the capital's Olimpiysky sports complex. Boris Barabanov appreciated the organization of this sold-out concert and sang the rapper’s main hits with 35 thousand spectators.
In itself, the rapper’s performance at the largest indoor arena in Moscow is not a sensation. Vasily Vakulenko made his debut here two years ago. Timati also performed here, and Oksimiron’s concert is planned in the fall. The use of all the stands at the Olympic Stadium was a sensation.
Usually, when they say that a musician “packed the Olympic Stadium,” this means that only half of the stadium was sold out. While the second half is most often closed by a collapsible wall, and 17-18 thousand spectators are allowed into the hall. Sometimes, as at DDT or Zemfira concerts, the stage is moved as far away from the stands as possible, then 25-30 thousand tickets can be sold for the concert. But so far only the organizers of tours of foreign stars like Metallica and Muse have decided to make a round stage and fill the hall as much as possible. According to information from the creative association Gazgolder, which is involved in all of Basta’s projects, 35 thousand people gathered at the Olimpiysky on Saturday.
But selling 35 thousand tickets is half the battle. We also need to make sure that each of the spectators feels comfortable, which means at least not spoiling his mood by having to stand in queues to enter. Otherwise, an unpleasant aftertaste may remain even from the best shows, as was the case after DDT’s recent performance (see Kommersant on March 7).
It is generally accepted among promoters that Olimpiysky has a conservative and intractable management and it is almost impossible to agree with them on a deviation from the rules that have been in force for decades. "Gazgolder" managed not only to gather a maximum of spectators in the hall, but also to open large cargo entrances, which has never happened in the memory of the Kommersant observer. In addition, 150 volunteers who knew the answers to all questions regarding the order of passage and seating in the hall helped the spectators find their way around the Olimpiyskiy. Finally, concession stands with drinks and snacks were set up right on the dance floor. All this would be taken for granted at any similar site in any large European city, but not in Moscow. This is a real breakthrough here.
Basta began the performance with compositions from his latest album "Basta 5". And right away from those that belong to the category of songs “for life”: “I look at the sky”, “Partisan”, “Where we are not”. From time to time, the rapper gives concerts with an orchestra, and they are addressed largely to an adult audience - one that subconsciously recognizes him as the new Leps for those who do not listen to Leps. There was no orchestra at the Olimpiyskiy, but there were quite a few instrumentalists and backing vocalists on stage, which provided a sense of scale and cool. The arrangements included a lot of electric guitars, which surprised those viewers who do not closely follow Basta’s work. It was interesting to watch how these electric guitars sound in Alexander Galich’s song “Devil” and in the new arrangement of “Casting”.
By the middle of the concert, Basta got to the songs in which he usually reveals himself as a master of recitative. Moving towards greater melodiousness and melodiousness, he still has not yet reached that level of voice control that would allow him to build an entire concert on “vocal” material. It is very difficult to create a clear sound in the Olimpiysky sports complex, so Basta pulled out the concert using his own energy. This helped to cope with both the peculiarities of acoustics and the diversity of arrangements.
Perhaps the talent for stylization is Vasily Vakulenko’s main talent. During the concert, he demonstrated an understanding of a wide variety of music - ranging from a Caucasian restaurant ("Mama") to Rage Against The Machine ("Ice"). Such a palette is unlikely to be mastered by any other of our rappers. And it is she who gives Basta the opportunity to address a wide variety of audiences.
At the very end of the concert, Vasily Vakulenko played “Graduation (Medlyachok)” - a song that last year instantly secured him a place on the pop charts and on the waves of “folk” radio stations. The audience selflessly, almost with tears in their eyes, rejoiced at this courtyard composition with a chorus performed in a deliberately orphan timbre. For a second it seemed that this was what Basta did best. And even the final “Sansara,” an impeccable stadium hit, performed by Diana Arbenina and Vasily’s daughter Masha, did not completely dispel this feeling.
He became the first rapper to collect “Olympic”. A year ago, Basta, as part of a traditional birthday concert, played two sold-out shows with an orchestra at the State Kremlin Palace.
It seemed that there was nowhere to grow further, but at the end of last year another performance was announced at the Olimpiysky, in which it was decided to remove the ceilings, opening up a 360-degree all-round view. At first it was planned to gather 25 thousand people, but as a result, on the eve of the concert, a sold-out was announced with a figure of 35 thousand spectators. On a rainy Saturday evening, this figure, admittedly, did not inspire any optimism - many still remember the recent crush at the entrance to the DDT concert. However
Vakulenko, as an organizer, did the obvious - he opened more entrances and organized a meeting of the public with the help of a hundred or so volunteers.
As a result, the concert, which was supposed to start on time - exactly at 19.00 - was still delayed by half an hour, but by this time most of the spectators calmly and comfortably entered inside. Basta's appearance on the stage installed in the center of the hall was arranged with intensity worthy of a decisive boxing match. After a thunderous instrumental introduction, Vakulenko appeared on stage, running across the entire stalls, surrounded by security, and
began the concert with the song “I look at the sky” from last year’s album “Basta 5”, the songs from which the current program is centered around.
This is logical: the fifth album is not only newest work artist, but also the most clear demonstration of his creative ambitions, which are aimed at
assimilation of hip-hop into the fertile soil of rock and art songs.
That is why the first part of the concert was dedicated to semi-acoustic numbers, among which was a hypnotic cover of the song “Native” by the group “Kalinov Most”.
Another thing is that such material assumes a more intimate setting and requires sensitivity from the listener, which is difficult to demand from a crowd of 35 thousand. In this regard, the audience, of course, sang in chorus, but Vakulenko had to achieve the appropriate buildup from the Muscovites, using all his showman skills. At some point on stage again (this has already become a good tradition), a guy who had returned from the army proposed to his chosen one; in the finale, Basta’s daughter Masha came on stage - and this was in addition to the masterful management of a giant choir and lengthy runs around the stage. At the same time, the artist had to deal with the sound both on stage (with the ear monitors turned off) and in the giant bowl of the Olympic Stadium. These difficulties somewhat blurred the impression of the concert and made it largely
the mood of a great sporting feat.
If we try to analyze this success, it turns out that everything rests on the powerful figure of Vakulenko himself, who rushed about under the gaze of everyone on the stage of the Olympic Stadium for two hours. In addition to musical and artistic talents,
Basta managed to earn a colossal credit of trust, becoming a very different people a hero they haven’t had almost since the days of Balabanov’s “Brother.”
With the clear difference that Vakulenko is not the product of a producer or author's genius. Another analogy can be drawn. In 1974, after a young concert at the Theater, music critic Jon Landau wrote the legendary phrase: “I saw the future of rock and roll and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” Let’s not be so arrogant as to make plans for the future, but thanks to Vakulenko, the musical present in this country looks very promising for the first time in the last couple of decades.
