METALLICA
November 23, 1999.  Madison Square Garden.  New York.

Hey!  What a show!  What a place!  So much energy! So loud!  This time Metallica had an experience with classic music.  The result was the album recorded with Saint Luke Orchestra called "S&M".  "S..." was great, but "...M" did not have anyone to be compared with.  These "masters of puppets" knew "for whom the bells tolled" and "nothing else mattered..."  Great job!  ...One of the best concerts I have ever visited.

Now you can click here and watch the video from this concert:

Antichrist Superstar came down to Earth with his "Guns, God, and Government" tour promoting the new album "Holy Wood"("In The Valley Of Death") for the f**cking "beautiful people" of NYC.  It was the georgious entertainment show with scene decorations changing all the way through and Mr. Rock Star Manson's reincarnations into the King of Death with his crown, the Devil, the 20 meters in height creature, the Dope Show Star, huge crutched monster, etc.  The performance was not without surprices: Manson droped his panties down and showed his ass to the audience.  Imitation Christ Manson and his "disposable teens" created an excellent atmosphere of the "valley of death", but the ideas of his new album are much deeper than that.  "He is not a slave to the world that doesn't give a sh*t." "You say you wanna revolution?"...  I saw Marilyn from about one meter distance looking right into his colored eyes.  "Hey, Mr. Superstar, I'll kill you if I can't have you"... The BEST show!

"The King of Sufferings", legendary Trent Reznor, represented the "Fragility V2.0 Tour" which included all the best sufferable songs ever written by NIN.  Special visual effects made an already exciting surrounding as an unbelievable Show.  The appearence of Marilyn Manson (Trent's close friend) on the stage during the song "Starf**kers Inc." (see the upper right picture taken from that very concert) was a 100% shock for already hot audience.  Manson sang about "The Beautiful People" to the accompaniment of Trent's hard guitar.  Oh!  This was the "perfect drug" show.

An extremely enjoyable concert on a huge stadium.  All Korn "issues" were performed on full of energy and pleasure wave.  These guys were "falling away from themselves" like a "freak on a leash."  Their favourite "what if I should die" from "Blind" sounded like an anthem.  All one could scream about out there was: "KO-O-O-RN!!!!!."

Ha-ha! The "spring has come to New York", too.  It's so exciting to see your soul-brothers, Oleg Skripka and his band, not only in Sumy "Schepkin Theater", Ukraine, but also in the New York downtown night club "Wetlands". Unbelievable, but this picture is taken from that very concert and, basicly, from that very place where I was standing.  Close contact with an audience, plastic and energetic Skripka, freaky Alex Pipa, beautiful Ukrainian rock-n-roll, and just a lot of fun was on the show.

With "uh-ghu" from "Song 2" and a new "tender" album "13", these Englishmen in New York gave the "great escape" for all witnesses of the show.  Taking into consideration that this was my first concert in New York, these "beetlebummers" let me enjoy the time a lot.  Though it is a pleasure to see your favourite britpop band that came from the English "country house", where they usually like to stay.

Nirvana-like guys were creating a hot weather with their "warm machine" and "chemicals between them".  They tried to explain "The Science of Things" (new album performed) for the hot and willing-to-go-crazy audience on the show.  For sure they did their best.

The bad ass of New York, Kid Rock, who mixed hard-rock music with hip-hop and still gets thousands of money for that, had one of those concerts.  I went there with an idea to jumble up in a crowd and that was exactly what I managed to do best.  Warming-up bands "Powerman 2000" (commercial rock) and "DDT" (don't confuse with Russian group) were just as good as Kid Rock.

The spaceship to  Mummy Troll planet started the journey with the first band's accords.  Who would have thought it woud be such a pleasant trip?  Mysterious look of Ilya Lagutenko... bursting and romantic rock music...  hot and friendly surrounding...  Was it really happening or it was a dream?  I remember I managed to clap on the shoulders of "Utekai" star.

She said: "we are very popular in Russia but I am surprised to see so many people on my concert in New York."  She was natural, energetic, and wild.  "Cell-phone talking" audience (that's how I call Russians in New York) wasn't really great.  In Russia this concert would have a much better success and value.  Even though at the end of the concert everyone was screaming out asking Zemfira back to the stage.

If you cannot see GrOb in Russia, it's the best chance to see it in the USA. Yegor Letov was as always philosophical and artistic.  The music atmosphere was meditating and hard-driving.  Great and enjoyable concert!  I did't know there are so many Russian punks in New York.  ..."Eternity smells like oil"...

Again "Wetlands" and another Russian rock star Chizch with his Co.  "The Song About Love" as well as all other lovely songs made, hopefully, all Russian NY audience happy.  I was pretty pleased to drown in the sounds of "kind" rock'n'roll.