CRUACHAN visited moscow for the third time in just over a year. One can say the band has already built up a small but dedicated local fanbase. This is entirely understandable, since the band plays fairly cheerful and pleasant folk metal (folk with a Celtic accent), which is somewhat unusual in that the main vocals are female. This was not always the case, however — the band's first album was released back in 1995, with the vocal parts and almost all instrumental parts performed by Keith Fay, the band's leader to this day. That album constitutes decent pagan metal, though the recording quality is simply appalling.
From 2000 onward the band was reborn in its current form — female vocals, with Keith himself contributing only backing vocals on certain songs. Since then the band has recorded four albums, and it was on the eve of the release of the fourth that the latest mini-tour took place.
As part of this visit the band gave no fewer than three concerts in the capital, one of which was acoustic, and also answered journalists' questions at a press conference.
My brief account concerns the concert at the Apelsin club, which closed the band's stay. The turnout that day was, frankly, modest; nevertheless the atmosphere in the club was quite cosy.
The support act for the Irish band was TROLL GNET YEL. TGY gave their 11th or 12th moscow concert of 2006! After a sold-out show at Tochka two years earlier, the band visits moscow steadily once a month to once every six weeks, especially since Kostya and his companions have a very considerable fanbase there. Remarkably, the band was performing with session drummer and violinist; at the end of the set Kostya Troll thanked them and noted that the musicians had learned the repertoire in just two rehearsals. In the middle of the concert he also announced that the band's vocalist and flautist Dzhyetra was celebrating her birthday, which was greeted very loudly and warmly by the hall, whereupon he added "well, we'll congratulate you properly at home." The band performed their best-of for approximately 45 minutes, then left the stage and spent most of the CRUACHAN set in the audience.
A little more time passed, people drew closer to the stage, and ultimately the crowd turned out to be not so small after all, especially considering the band was performing for the third time in a week. Then the musicians — barefoot and painted with blue paint — came on stage... and played. The guitars sounded as a contrast to TGY; the Irish play quite heavy music, yet a sense of fun and spirit is present as well. On the second song the female vocalist appeared, dressed in a long pale gown. For the next hour and a half six people performed wonderful, energetic songs, occasionally alternating them with ballads. The portly musician by the name of John Ryan Will alternated between banjo, violin, and other instruments. He also decided midway through the concert to show off his knowledge of the local language, and he managed this rather well — especially when he loudly and repeatedly declared that everything was very good, in the uncensored version. Keith effectively fronted the entire concert, announcing new songs, commenting on them, engaging with the audience, standing to the right of the vocalist. As for Karen herself, she performed brilliantly — vocally there is nothing to fault her on, and she engaged with the audience excellently. The low Apelsin stage is helpful in this regard.
The band performed three songs from the new album, three from The Middle Kingdom of 2000, and even one instrumental from the very first release (which opened the concert). The main emphasis was on the albums Folk-Lore and Pagan from 2002 and 2004 respectively — material most familiar to the audience and considerably successful. On a number of songs Keith sang in pure clean vocals, several more he sang in a rougher voice, and on one composition he delivered the parts in growling.
The concert lasted approximately an hour and a half; after a brief break one of the most successful songs from the 2004 album was performed as an encore — the epic and sombre "Viking Slayer", its final phrase sung in Keith's growl, and the band left the stage.
A wonderful, very positive concert, an excellent performance from both bands. I think the Irish will return on many more occasions. The one drawback — the absolutely unacceptable behaviour of the security. One person who had simply climbed onto the stage (not even intending to stage-dive) received a punch in the face from a security guard. That was rather wild. But as is well known, responsible and professional security is a rarity, unfortunately... In all other respects the concert was simply superb, though I will be honest: I still prefer the band in their studio form; something of the magic disappears live.
Report by Alan
Special thanks to Anna Gavrilova and Promo End for the accreditation provided
Setlist: Maeve's March Bloody Sunday Celtica (Voice Of The Morrigan) Ard Ri Na Heirann The Brown Bull Of Cooley Ossian's Return Is Fuair An Chroi Children Of Lir Pagan Some Say The Devil Is Dead Ride On The Rocky Road To Dublin Michael Collins The Great Hunter Wild Rover The Middle Kingdom The Gael
— encore — Viking Slayer