I have trouble finding words to describe what we experienced this last weekend in Russia. I feel like the last 72 hours really lasted 3 weeks, that's how many impressions we've had. The first person we saw when we got of the plane confirmed all and I mean all of our preconceived notions about Russia. At the entrance of the gate was a skinny, pale man with a long, grey-green coat and an enormous police cap on. He came right out of a Tintin and the Russians adventure…

 

We literally raced through St. Petersburg with our host and altered between eating and seeing palaces in a very short time until we put our tired bodies down to sleep. We were in Russia!

The next day, the day of our gig. As we drove through the city towards the festival we say St. Petersburg by daylight. A strange collection of grey, concrete buildings, old Ladas and brand-new BMWs. We stopped in front of a big gaunt hotel were the festival was held. Once inside we found a foyer filled with ballerinas, apparently we weren't the only show that day…

 

And then the long wait started. Most Russians speak a little or no English, but everybody was happy to help us to coffee, tangerines and helping us learn a few Russian words that were going to help our gig. Meanwhile we checked out some of the other bands who mainly played hard rock. We almost forgot. Our music is one-of-a-kind…

 

Eventually on stage and after the intro a loud and warm applause from the audience as we started our first song…or not. Something went wrong during the change-over and we had no sound from Elbert's mic. So there we stood, kindly smiling to the audience as they listened to our silence. Thankfully they were very patient and a solution as soon found. We were off!

 

What a party! From the very first note we played the audience was with us, dancing and enjoying themselves, just like we were doing! After this night we were reminded of two things: our music works, even when you don't know what we're singing, and the Spirit speaks every language!

 

After a long session of photo's and selling cd's we were asked to play in 2 churches the next morning before we flew out, which of course we were happy to do, after all, we are musicians.

 

And finally, after a warm goodbye with our host Alex we boarded our plane satisfied. St. Petersburg is no longer a cold grey concrete city to us. St. Petersburg loves us and we love St. Petersburg!

 

And with this extraordinary experience we wake up on Monday morning and get ready to open the main-stage on the Christmas Rock Night next Saturday.

Another adventure? Bring it on!