"Lyapis Trubetskoy" performs in Smalensk (photo, video)

The "Lyapises" concert in Smalensk is one of those concerts which start long before the first accords are played on the stage. The "black lists", the forcible emigration, the criminal harassment, allegedly started against Syarhei Mikhalok, the wild success in Russia and the total ignorance by the Belarusian radio and television... For many Belarusian, the final stage of the long way to Smalensk started on March 3 at the parking places where touristic buses waited for them.

Smalensk meets us with the knee-depth puddles. If one screams "Long Live Belarus!" in the city center, he will definitely hear "Long Live Forever!" in response.

The concert has started nearly on time. Syarhei Mikhalok with moustache, looking unbelievably like an attenuated Freddie Mercury, recites poems and talks to the audience about freedom and the upcoming spring. The "Lyapises" have played their programs "Merry Pictures" and "Kultprosvet" almost totally within 2 hours. They haven't forgotten also about their greatest hits from earlier albums "Capital" and "Manifest", and have recalled their youth in the new song called "Lyapis Crew".

Smalensk youngsters say that they haven't seen anything of the kind in their city before. The "Lyapises" have rocked although the sound in the cultural center "Hubernski" hasn't been the best one. However, sound is not everything. The viewers have walked out of the concert hall totally exhausted. The Belarusian slammers have even broken the ceiling and dragged a guard from the stage to make him slam in the crowd for a while during the song "Belarus Freedom".

Euroradio suddenly notices a person in this uncountable crowd, who is standing still looking in front of himself. Naturally, we approach him.

"When I got to this live concert, I saw something else from a distance. This is what life is! — says he. — Mikhalok says what he wants to say to us. I felt really ashamed that I cannot do this as well. I don't have my own creativity. I am an entrepreneur, I cannot express myself the way he does. And he made me want to cry by his songs. I turned away, looked away from the stage, at the screen - and felt better".

Syarhei Mikhalok's main weapon is his fantastic sincerity, which he conveys to the audience. He makes you believe in his ideas once and forever. The "Lyapises" are real rock stars, but they remain very simple in communication. "Please don't take offence", — says guitar player Ryslan Uladyka when he refuses to give an interview. It is difficult to expect such noble behaviour from the musicians who became stars back in 2000s.

The "Lyapises" before the concert. Ruslan Uladyka - to the right.

Ruslan Uladyka at the concert

Euroradio, as always, managed to get backstage. We shook hands with the musicians before they went onstage, and then we asked them to sign the most dear things which we had with us.