10.12.2006 Russia (Moscow)

Report by Tom Violence (tatu.us)

Well, I've just made it back from B1. I suppose it was about half full there tonight, but I made it down to the front and didn't spend a great deal of time checking out what was going on behind me.

The atmosphere was fairly relaxed - certainly when compared to the last time I saw them, in St. Petersburg three years ago. The little mistakes - such as Lena starting to sing into the wrong end of the microphone after the instrumental break in Polchasa - came across as sweet rather than sloppy. Which is suppose is part of the difference between a club gig and a slicker arena effort. Such as the much larger SPB gig I was at.

That's not to say there were many mistakes, mind you. The band were as tight as I'd expected they would be. You could tell it was a set list they've been working through for some time now. And it's not as if the girls don't know their way around a stage by now.

For what it's worth, here's what was played. I can remember exactly what songs they did, although I'm certain the order is pretty confused in the middle:

Intro
Lyudi Invalidi
All About Us
Loves Me Not
Sacrifice
Ti Soglasna
Friend or Foe
Chto Ne Hvatayet
Obezyanka Nol
Cosmos (Outer Space)
Gomenasai
Novaya Model
Show Me Love
How Soon is Now?
Polchasa
Nas Ne Dogonyat
Ne Ver, Ne Boysya
Ya Soshla S Uma

Encore:
All About Us (again...)

The crowd response, in the main, was warm, rather than fiery. I slipped away from the front row when Nas Ne Dogonyat was starting, wanting to jump around a bit to it. I found myself more or less the only person trying to do so. Limp arm-waving was the best most other people were giving. Maybe I was the only one who perceived seeing t.A.T.u. as being at a rock show, rather than something in the region of a Westlife matine.

But, hell, on the whole it was top. Also, I was about the only person in my section of the crowd who could successfully sing along with the verses, as well as the choruses, of the English language songs. I suppose performers are drawn to the most responsive members of the crowd, so I ended up on the receiving end of fantastic amounts of eye-contact from the girls. I'm sure I was there for the music, but the memory of Yulia Volkova wearing only underwear and a smile, singing straight at me, is honestly what's going to last.

Yes. I should compose myself. But that can really wait until the morning.

By the way, I'm about the only person in the universe who doesn't have a digital camera, so there'll be no pictures from me, sadly. But I hope I've managed to say something half-interesting about the evening.

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