Burst of emotions explodes in Kyiv

Concert of the Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy was held at the Palace of Sports on February, 18. Rock musicians, who were recently recognized as the best band in the past 20 years as a part of the first annual national ceremony YUNA, presented their fans with two hours of live sound, with nearly two dozens of hits, and all of that was accompanied by a symphony orchestra.

The decision to hold the concert was made by the organizers after in October 2011 Okean Elzy performed at two full house concerts accompanied by an orchestra in Kyiv, Moscow, Minsk, and Saint Petersburg. However, there were very many of those who wanted to hear the legend of Ukrainian rock and they all could not fit into the concert halls. “We first dared to make an experiment with an orchestra in 2002 when we created the program “Tykhy Okean” (The Pacific Ocean). After that we invited classical musicians for joint projects on multiple occasions. At that time we created special arrangements for every song. However, the gist of this very program is to supplement a regular rock sounding of Okean Elzy with a symphony orchestra. In this, so-called, duet neither party will have to adjust to the other and this will only make music more powerful,” Sviatoslav Vakarchuk said.

In general, the program presented by the musicians has no orchestra arrangements. Unlike the above-mentioned “Tykhy Okean” in 2002, musicians did not create any special arrangements. The best songs by Okean Elzy were performed in the usual for the band rock manner and the orchestra played its parts. There also were compositions which were played only by the musicians. Thus, the fans could listen to the live performance that was very close to the studio version.

Songs from all seven albums of the band were included in the concert program. There were also several compositions from Sviatoslav Vakarchuk’s solo album Vnochi (At Night) and Taka, Iak Ty (One like You) included in the program for the first time. The audience cheered the suggested set of songs and generously rewarded the musicians by encoring them three times.

By the way, in the end of the concert it was announced that on April 27 there will be held the second concert of Vakarchuk’s solo project “Brussels.” The tour of music project “Brussels” in the cities of Ukraine and the CIS will be held in the spring of 2012. This is the only opportunity to hear “Brussels” live!