Last weekend I was in Russia for a couple of gigs, in St. Petersburg. When I was first asked I had some doubts, but I went along with it. The visa application process was not fun, there was plenty to do and it took a few weeks, what with chopping and changing the dates, but got done in the end. Finally, for various reasons I ended up travelling on my own, which was also a source of anxiety, though I’ve travelled most of the world alone. But it was just because it was Russia; a typical cliché. Anyway, after getting through the various checkpoints at the airport I met up with Sergey, the driver I’d booked online. I had quite a conversation with him the evening before on Whats App, we exchanged selfies, but it turned out he couldn’t actually speak a word of English. Not that it mattered. Sign language worked and when we reached his car, he used his phone to translate spoken words to script. This was no backwater.
A 35 minute drive later we were at the Baby Lemonade Hostel. For those that don’t know their Syd Barrett, the hostel is named after one of Syd’s songs, the first song on his second solo album “Barrett”. All the rooms are different, newly renovated and each has an album theme. For example, Ziggy Stardust, See Emily Play, Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds, Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper’s, Dark Side of the Moon etc. The Ziggy room was stunning, though they’re all good and all painted by artist Maria (Masha). And the desk in the reception area is a pink replica of Battersea power station in London (Pink Floyd’s “Animals”). The flying pig will be added in a week or so. Madcap, the owner of the hostel (and designer of all the rooms), is hoping for like-minded guests, meaning people interested in both good music and the philosophical mind-set from the 60s and 70s.
When I arrived “in the evening, sun going down”, the reception area was still a building site and we were supposed to play there the following day, but that ended up being postponed for two days. The Saturday night gig, though, was at a bar in a fairly large adjacent room. Between 50 and 100 guests were expected, but about 150 turned up, which filled the room. They were attentive, sat or stood through 90 minutes of music and thanked us afterwards with hugs and hand-shakes. I even got to sign a couple of arms.
I last visited St. Petersburg in 1993, when it was more or less a lawless city and run by the mafia. My travelling companion and I were instructed by the travel company to “dress down” if we went out, wear no jewelry or watches and keep a close eye out for pickpockets and the like. But now it feels like any big city, with the exception of the unique architecture and significant museums, which definitely need a visit. The Hermitage Museum, currently with an exhibition of Dutch masters (Gerrit Dou!) and the New Museum of Modern Art where there’s even a mini-exhibition of Annie Leibovitz photographs, are both well worth seeing. And the buildings themselves are works of art. I could easily have spent another couple of hours wandering around the Museum of Political History, but an Armenian lunch and the airport called.
In the last four or five years a new revolution has taken place in St Petersburg and the town is bouncing. According to Madcap, 30 or more bars and restaurants are opening (or closing) every month and there’s now quite a cool nightlife in this city of 6.5 million, if you count the sound of the suburbs. There’ll be a repeat visit for sure.