And he sang "Samsara" with his daughter and Diana Arbenina
Rostov rapper Vasily Vakulenko, better known as Basta, on Saturday, April 22, gave the biggest concert in Moscow. 35,000 fans of the musician's work gathered in the Olimpiysky sports complex. The concert at 360 became an absolute record both for the site and for Russian performers - before Basta, not a single Russian artist had assembled a completely circular arena of the Olimpiyskiy.
Photo from Instagram Basta
During the concert, Basta performed 26 songs 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 for the first time brought his eldest daughter Masha, who also sang "Samsara", to the stage.
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 their tremendous support, for emotions and sincerity. Thanks to all those who could not attend the concert - we have you, and we will definitely see you at another time and place, ”Basta wrote on his Instagram.
Recall that this is not the first time the rapper has broken records for the scale of his concerts. At the celebration of the City Day in Rostov, Basta gathered more than 120 thousand fans on Theater Square.
More recently, the likelihood that any Russian rapper will assemble the Olympic was negligible. On this moment three have already succeeded with varying degrees of success: Basta, Timati and Miron. Today we would like to talk about which other Russian rappers could try to assemble the Olympic
Huge solo concerts died down in the Olympic at Timati and Oksimiron. The bar has been taken - Timati leaves 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 empire, not the one that is from scratch, ride the board more and pay more attention to his daughter), Oxy is likely to get down to new material, as was revealed during a recent presentation with Reebok.
More recently, the likelihood that any Russian rapper will assemble the Olympic was negligible. At the moment, with varying degrees of success (in the sense of different openness of the stands), three have already succeeded: Basta, Timati and Miron. Probably, both Basta and Oxy will try to repeat the bar 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, sold tickets - here professionals keep records. L "One, in fact, the most popular label artist after Timati, his faithful partner, right hand- and, perhaps, the Olympic would have already been assembled by him, but the date that L "One wanted, his birthday, was busy. 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 Nal and the revival of Marselle. Will this distract his solo work?
Nevertheless, L "One conquers other large venues easily - 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 the closest competitor, Gasgolder. The head of Gaza is so far the only rapper who has collected a complete Olympian, but there is at least one other artist on the label who is able to take a swing at this.
Scryptonite has been on tour almost since the release of "House with Normal Phenomena", his live performances are getting better, his live performance skills are honed, the venues are increasing. The impetus for really big tours with Skrip, as noted above, was the release of "DSNYA". And already this month, the rapper should release not just a new album, but a double album! Why not try to assemble the Olympic in a year?
Max cake
We continue to sort through the labels: we figured out Black Star and Gazgolder, which means it's time to look towards Respect Production. Here the picture is clear - "Casta", of course, has remained strong, travels, performs, released a good album this year, but it is unlikely to become a cult. “Respect” currently has one really great artist, who has been regularly collecting the biggest venues for many years - Max Korzh. While listening to his latest tracks, it seemed that they were made on purpose 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 you urgently need to make a format track for TV, then I’ll write a song about the sky and wings. Just look what's going on at his concerts. Isn't it very easy to imagine this in the Olympic?
pharaoh
Rumor has it that Vladi has been wanting to sign Faro for Respect for a long time, seeing great potential in him. You can’t refuse such Vladi - Korzh was considered! Now here seems to be another musician from the people ... However, this is not about him. Right now, Pharaoh is on tour, and it’s impossible to immediately recall a larger scale at least this year – 50 cities (!!!) were originally announced. Also in 2017, Farah released an excellent mixtape and video, which has already gained 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’s not a fact that next year, probably, Farah will take a smaller site in 2018, but even a year ago, many said that Oxy would not be able to assemble the Olympic.
Guf
Just last Saturday, Guf took the 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 it didn’t sound “but you can do the same.” In the case of Guf, there are certain reservations, a few “ifs”.
If Guf keeps the promises that he made during the “day of live broadcasts”, first of all about the new material. If Guf releases a good album next year (he hasn’t had any bad ones, in principle), calling eminent friends like Timati and Basta there, and if he shoots a couple of high-quality videos.
Guf, as he was, remains on the cutting edge - 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 ex-wife, etc., and this is also easily converted into purchased tickets. We keep our fists for Guf so that he has enough fuse - he now has plenty of experience and opportunities.
LSP
2017 turned out to be an ambiguous year for Oleg LSP - probably the strongest album in the history of the group was released, and perhaps the best album of this year, which has every chance of becoming a classic. Half of the LSP was gone - 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 who, but the Englishman knew how to make a drive - just look, for example, what happened in the Olympic during the concert of Oksimiron on the chorus of the track "Girl Pizdets". 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” has been waiting for 2 years - and nothing). And if there is a hit at the level of the same "Coin" or "Madness" - who knows, perhaps Olympus will submit to him. At the beginning of the year, LSP, however, has already planned a Stadium, so it is likely that the Olympic Stadium will be postponed to 2019.
What do you think, who has the greatest chances to assemble the Olympic next year?
rap concert
Vasily Vakulenko, known as Basta, performed at the Olimpiysky sports complex in the capital. Boris Barabanov appreciated the organization of this sold-out concert and sang along with 35 thousand spectators the main hits of the rapper.
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 scheduled for the fall. The sensation was the use of all stands "Olympic".
Usually, when they say that the musician "gathered" Olympiysky "", this means that there was a full house only in half of the stadium. While the second half is most often closed with a collapsible wall, and 17-18 thousand spectators are allowed into the hall. Sometimes, as at the concerts of DDT or Zemfira, the stage is moved as far as possible from the stands, then you can sell 25-30 thousand tickets to the concert. But so far only the organizers of the tour of foreign stars like Metallica and Muse have decided to make a round stage and fill the hall as much as possible. According to the creative association Gazgolder, which deals with all Basta's projects, 35,000 people gathered at the Olimpiyskiy on Saturday.
But selling 35,000 tickets is half the battle. It is also necessary to make sure that each of the spectators feels comfortable, which means at least not to spoil his mood by having to stand in lines at the entrance. Otherwise, an unpleasant aftertaste may remain even from the best shows, as was the case after the recent performance of DDT (see Kommersant on March 7).
Among the promoters, it is generally accepted that conservative and intractable management in Olimpiysky is almost impossible to agree with them on deviating 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 had never happened in the memory of the Kommersant observer. In addition, 150 volunteers helped the spectators find their way around the Olimpiyskiy, who knew the answers to all questions regarding the order of passage and placement in the hall. Finally, shops with drinks and snacks were installed right on the dance floor. All this would be taken for granted at any similar venue in any large European city, but not in Moscow. This is a real breakthrough here.
Basta began his performance with compositions from the latest album "Basta 5". And immediately from those that belong to the category of songs "for life": "I look at the sky", "Partizan", "Where we are not." From time to time, the rapper gives concerts with an orchestra, and they are addressed to a greater extent to an adult audience - one that subconsciously recognizes him as a new Leps for those who do not listen to Leps. There was no orchestra at Olympiysky, but there were enough instrumentalists and backing vocalists on stage to provide a sense of scale and steepness. There were a lot of electric guitars in the arrangements, which surprised those viewers who do not follow Basta's work too much. It was interesting to watch how these electric guitars sound in Alexander Galich's song "Damn" and in the new arrangement of "Casting".
By the middle of the concert, Basta got close to the songs in which he usually reveals himself as a master of recitative. Moving towards greater melodiousness and melody, he still has not yet reached that level of voice control that would allow him to build the entire concerto on "vocal" material. It is very difficult to build a clear sound in the Olimpiysky sports complex, so Basta pulled out the concert at the expense of his own energy. This helped to cope with the peculiarities of acoustics, and with the diversity of arrangements.
Perhaps the talent for stylization is generally the main talent of Vasily Vakulenko. 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 hardly subject to any of our other rappers. And it is she who gives Basta the opportunity to appeal to a very different audience.
At the very end of the concert, Vasily Vakulenko played Graduation (Slow) - 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 composition with a chorus performed in a deliberately orphan timbre. For a second it seemed that this is what Basta does 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 at the Olimpiyskiy was announced, in which it was decided to remove the ceilings, opening a 360-degree all-round view. At first, it was planned to gather 25 thousand people, 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, to be honest, did not inspire any optimism - many still remember the recent crowd at the entrance to the DDT concert. However
Vakulenko, as an organizer, did the obvious - he opened more entrances and organized a meeting for the public with the help of a little over a hundred volunteers.
As a result, the concert, which was supposed to start on time - exactly at 19.00 - nevertheless was delayed for half an hour, but most of the audience calmly and comfortably went inside by this moment. The appearance of Basta on the stage set in the center of the hall was furnished with a heat worthy of a decisive boxing match. After a thunderous instrumental introduction, Vakulenko appeared on the stage, running through the entire stalls, surrounded by guards, and
began the concert with the song "I look at the sky" from last year's album "Basta 5", around the songs from which the current program is focused.
This is logical: the fifth album is not only latest work artist, but also the most obvious demonstration of his creative ambitions, which are aimed at
assimilation of hip-hop into the fertile soil of rock and art song.
That is why the first part of the concert was devoted to semi-acoustic numbers, among which was a hypnotic cover of the song "Native" by the Kalinov Most group.
Another thing is that such material suggests a more intimate atmosphere and requires a sensitivity from the listener, which is difficult to demand from a crowd of 35,000. In this regard, the audience, of course, sang in chorus, but Vakulenko had to achieve the proper buildup from the Muscovites by connecting all his showman skills. At some point, on the stage again (it has already become a good tradition), the guy who came from the army made an offer to his chosen one, in the finale, Basta's daughter Masha went up on stage - and this is in addition to the masterful management of the giant choir and long runs around the stage. In parallel, the artist had to deal with sound both on stage (with the ear monitors turned off) and in the giant Olimpiysky bowl. These difficulties somewhat blurred the impression of the concert and gave it in many respects
the mood of a great sporting feat.
If you try to analyze this success, it turns out that everything depends on the powerful figure of Vakulenko himself, who rushed about for two hours under scrutiny on the Olimpiysky stage. In addition to musical and artistic talents,
Basta managed to earn a colossal credit of trust, becoming a hero for very different people, whom they had not had almost since the days of Balabanov's "Brother".
With the understandable difference that Vakulenko is not the product of a producer or author's genius. Another analogy can be drawn. In 1974, after a concert of the young 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 presumptuous as to think about the future, but thanks to Vakulenko, the musical present in this country for the first time in the last couple of decades looks very promising.
