Daos Club continued its series of extraordinary concerts with an interesting gig, straight out of far-away Russia. Arkona are in the middle of their tour, but found a free date for a stop in Timișoara.
The club was almost completely full, not just with curious concert-goers, but also with big fans of the band, which had been waiting for this concert for some time, some of them even coming from other cities, despite being a Monday evening.
The band came on stage dressed in traditional costumes, while Masha - the female lead - also had a whole fox skin over her shoulder, which she kept for the whole concert. The whole club lit up from the good music and energy that the band transmitted.
The musicians danced, switched places and came close to the audience, all the while gesticulating and enticing them. Masha jumped all over the place, and when she rested, her hand was almost always raised towards the sky, and her long hair over her face. Looking over their tour dates, it seems incredible how they can sustain such intense concerts, almost night after night, for two whole months.
The Russian folk music alternated with heavy metal riffs, the traditional instruments blended with the modern ones (a perfect instance for this case is the interesting bagpipe-drums duo at the middle of the setlist), while the female voice went from yodels to growls with ease. All in all, it's a beautifully sounding uncanny mix, which defines Arkona's music.
The crowd was as energic as the band, chanting and singing along, dancinc and moshing, and responding to the band's requests, jumping up and down and even forming a small "wall of death". It seemed that Masha was quite impressed with the atmosphere, repeating many times how much she loves it.
I hope that Arkona will honour us with their presence again in the near future. They are a professional band, with a well defined music, who know how to entertain a crowd, maintaing the same energy for a whole concert. While they only sang for more than an hour or so, it didn't feel too short, it felt just right.