To be perfectly honest , I had an idea of the Capital of Russian Federation, but the four days we spent there was exceeded all my expectations. My friend Koris (who I went with to play) was already spinning there in August, and he was telling me nothing but good things about our promoter, Vladimir. He was damn right about him.

Arrived on the 30th of December, a day befroe New Years Eve. I caused some surprise with my (very) rusty Russian knowledge, when I was a kid I had to learn "the language" at school: we've been part of the eastern block, we jst had to there was no question.
When we didn't had to anymore, I started focusing on English, and thought I never wil use it ever again in my life. I was completely shocked whenI found out after more than a decade of not using it at all, my never-been-that-good Russian vocabulary started to come back heavily causing alot of laughter amongst the locals. Especially reading russian was pretty easy. It was a great surprise, they've never seen an international dj who could read Russian.



Our hotel, Baltschug Kempinski was just across the river from the Famous Red Square / Kreml combo, it was about 8 minutes walk to go there.
On the very first time we used the elevator, we bumped to Demis Roussos, the legendary greek singer. Bodyguard in the lobby, long limousine outside.



On the first night, we went to a "Kortschma" (pub) to drink "bootleg" vodka (made from different kinds of vodka, very strong) with cucumber. We got pretty drunk, but not drunk enough to be able to drink it with local favourite, "garlic root in pork fat"... Awww!
We've had great russian food (can't remember what it was we were way too drunk).



On the last day of the year we went a bit around the Red Square area. It wasn't the -9 that made us feel miserable, but the wind, what makes Moscow winter horrible. My jacket's hoodie was on my head permanently, I looked a bit like Kenny, and at least I didn't have "MIR" space station falling on my head...
Ok, I took it off for this pic made at the door of Lenin's Tomb.



At early in the afternoon there was a considerably huge amount of people waiting for something at Red Square (according to reports in the evening it was around 700.000). We never knew what they've been waiting for, we had to go to the venue, a sport complex, with and indoor ice skating ring providing the dancefloor. This time there was no ice on it, and it was so huge, about two and a half thousand people could fill it to 80%.
The party was great, even though it was a little bit odd to listen to the Russian National Anthem at midnight with champagne in my hand. Back in the communist era if someone was telling me I will do this once, I've surely laughed. How strange...



The party was great, after playing we headed straight back to Red Square to see how it is like, but we left very fast. That cold is not for humans, and we saw people without hats, proper jackets celebrating new year. A technician was falling off of a 3 meters high stage's backline in front of our eyes, and we were the only ones who asked him if he's fine. He was standing up real fast, and we saw he was so drunk I'm surprised he could even say "No probljem"...

The first of Jan was a very quiet day, we didn't really came out of the hotel, after sleeping for a long long time.

The last day we used the famous Moscow "metropoliten" (underground) to get to the site of the Lomonosov University. Damn, that place is huge!
Our plane started at 8 in the evening, so we had plenty of time to get to the airport. We were sitting 1.5 hours in the plane before taking off, but apart from that, our trip back was completely peaceful.

Vlad told me I have to go back sometime early summer.
Can't wait...

Happy New Year Everyone!

Tags: moscow, gig

I've never had the chance to play in Estonia. so I was extremely happy when I got this request from my friend Alex, to play in Club Central Point in Tallin. I spent about 25 hours in there, but it was so good, if I'll have a chance I'll go back for sure.



As there's no straight flights from Budapest to the Estonian capital, I had to go to Prague first to get a plane to Tallin. The weather was much warmer there than in Hungary (I was expected terrible cold, winds and the like)
The old town look s amazing. On one of the small streets, I saw something that really made me feel warm inside. A Depeche Mode "Baar"!!! When I first saw the sign of the place it made me curious, as the rose from DM's "Violator" album cover was lighting proudly in the semi dark.
It couldn't be a coincidence, there was Depeche Mode in the air...



DM pictures everywhere, some of them proves the band actually been hanging out here some time ago. Martin Gore seemed to enjoy himself a lot on the pics. Depeche Mode concert video on the screen, the carpet has the same rose as the door sign, most likely custom made for the bar. Hats off to the owners from a Depeche Fan. I I was living in Tallin, you could find me there often.



Club Central Point isn't big, but surely close to everything. The sound was great, everyone was enthusiastic, really into the music. It was a night to remember for sure. Everyone knewthe other clubbers, they asked me to play such old tracks or remixes of mine, I don't usually play on gigs, but they wanted to hear those as well, so it was a really special night.
Thanks Alex, hope we can repeat it.

Tags: estonia, tallin, gig