There's something almost endearing about the whole show- possibly it's just the sheer intimacy of it, possibly, as vocalist and general madman Ilya Lagutenko informs us towards the end, it's because the venue is the very same one that Mumiy Troll played their first English show fifteen years ago, following the release of Morskaya.
It's probably not a coincidence, then, that most of the songs on their setlist come from that very album- picking up a battered acoustic guitar, Ilya says, in English: "this is an old Russian lullaby" before launching into the opening verse of Utekai.
Delfiny and Vladivostok 2000 follow, the latter sung so loudly by the crowd that the band struggle to make themselves heard above the screams of "uhodim, uhodim, uhodim...". Ilya is the raconteur, telling anecdotes to roars of laughter from the audience, finally pulling on stage the person responsible for the backing vocals on their 1997 album during a reprise of Zabavy.
Mumiy Troll, after almost twenty years, are one of Russia's most famous rock exports, and, after tonight, I'm certain that most can see why.
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