METALLICA SHOW S&M 26.04.18

In April 1999, American conductor Michael Kamen recorded with Metallica a unique concert of S & M – Symphony & Metallica. Famous for the whole world rock musicians, together with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, performed 21 songs in front of a crowd of many thousands. Because of the complex arrangements, the show even had to be divided into two days.

Subsequently, for the song The Call of Ktulu, the group together with the conductor received the Grammy Award, and the double concert record became cult. But, what is most surprising in this concert – it became unique literally! In fact, despite the multi-platinum status of the DVD, the band never once decided to repeat this performance. A few years later, Michael Kamen died, and any hope of seeing such a representation has died out. In addition, it was Jason Newsted’s latest recording as a Metallica bass player, and after this release, the world’s most famous rock band plunged into chaos for several years.

In 15 years after the historic concert many would like to repeat the epic show, but the complexity of this grandiose event discourages even professional organizers. As a result of long reflections, creative work on the most complicated material, elaboration of scores, creation of surprising light, stage design, exhausting castings and subsequent numerous rehearsals, a professional team of like-minded people decided to recreate a legendary concert, combine heavy rock and symphony orchestra, breathing new life into classic hits : Nothing Else Matters, Enter Sandman, Master of Puppets …

Artistic director of the project Metallica Show – Viktor Babarikin, Honored Artist of the Republic of Belarus. The orchestra under his management accompanied the performances of world music grandees: Demis Roussos, Sarah Connor, Dmitri Hvorostovsky. But the most interesting for the maestro was the collaboration with the legends of rock – Scorpions. Victor Babarikin is one of the few academic musicians who deeply understands and appreciates hard rock. And when it comes to such complex music as Metallica, without a specialist with experience “on both fronts” is indispensable.

The project Metallica Show passed through dozens of rehearsals in various compositions – from a chamber group to several virtuoso musicians to a large symphony orchestra of 60 people. Persistent work of four arrangers for several months (only several pages with notes of several thousand!), The conductor and rock musicians allowed to verify each note.

The turning point in the formation of the show was the invitation of professional musicians instead of the usual tribute band. The main characters of the evening are heavy performers, known not only in Russia, but also abroad; viewers meet them with unchanged ecstasy. This is not an exaggeration: judging by the reviews, often people prefer the sound of the Metallica Show to Metallica’s concert itself.

Behind several dozen successful concerts in Russia: the show was sold out in Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Ufa, Samara, Togliatti, Sochi, Novosibirsk, Surgut, Chelyabinsk, Perm, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk and other cities. For three years the total number of spectators of the program exceeded 30 thousand people.

The choice of the State Kremlin Palace for such a program is not an exception, but a regularity. After 5000 spectators in the Crocus City Hall the show returned to the heart of the capital, the most prestigious and famous hall in Russia. Six thousand seats, stunning lighting, but most importantly – the sound of incredible purity and power!

The Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra of Moscow “The Russian Philharmonic” is invited to the Kremlin, successfully performing in the largest concert halls around the world. The orchestra conducts more than 100 concerts per season and for 15 years has deservedly won the love of Russians, has become a famous international brand. This is the best Russian orchestra, which equally performs both classical and rock.

At the concert, classical compositions from the S & M album were performed, but the highlight of the show was a few extra hits of Metallica, for which professional arrangers wrote orchestral parts. Itself Metallica did not play them! Despite the complexity, the original two-day concert lasting 2.5 hours will be performed in one evening.

It should be noted that the program was held in English in the traditions of the best international shows, because already in 2018 the project reached the world level: concerts in Paris, Prague, Mexico, Satyago, etc. have already been scheduled.