Concert review – Gogol Bordello at the Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg, Oct 3 2009

– review by Eugene Osudar/photos by Becky Peterson

then and now and now and then
this time, last time
this and that time,

WECC was a show
of
unbelievable
ferocity
unleashed
and
unrelenting

and what an audience
the Ukrainian community
out in force
of wonder/lust
and wondering

what
this wandering
Ukrainian living
in New York
City
(Eugene Hutz)
would
do

the 75 year old
retired judges
were part of
the jury

and they/we
us them
me you
our people,

We
loved it

Gogol Bordello

www.myspace.com/gogolbordello

the 7 year olds
and 14 year olds
and the cool
university
alt music hipsters
and the housewives
the babas
and gigis
professionals
and
business owners

Oh you Beautiful
Ukrainians

this time
the Ukrainian community
really didn’t
know.

I spoke
to dozens at the Haydamaky
show eight days before
and none knew

that Gogol Bordello was
coming.

(and where were you
hipster/coolsters?
punks?
alt music fans,
when Haydamaky
played their legendary show,

didn’t you want to see the New!
Music!
thing
from the Ukraine?)

(well, they’ve been around
since the early 90s)

this time
for Gogol Bordello
a larger stage
a larger venue

this time

a new audience
souled out and ready
to believe.

this time

it’s for the cool

the hipsters
the punks
the rockers
the hardcore
metal,heads
and suburbanites

a new cool
audience.
a new year.
a new show.

here’s what happened.

Eugene Hutz
came on stage
and he jumped
and strummed
his acoustic
guitar, he stomped,
romped and sang

not really different

and the band
they did their thing too

moving
strumming
challenging

ah, but the last time

they came on stronger
they came on harder

can you imagine?

they attacked us
without ever
leaving the stage

they were on the edge

at us.

destroying us.

making us believe
what we know,

that Ukrainians
know how to dance
and celebrate
like
no other people,

we’re

The Dancers.

The Celebrants.

the ones who fly!

here’s what happened.
people stood and danced.
people danced and sweated
people danced and
nearly
died!

well, nobody died.
but they could have.
believe me?

here’s what happened!

the first 12 songs
took an hour
only i didn’t think it had
at all.
i looked at my watch
Oh My!
That! was a,n hour
How!
it felt like 20 minutes.

here’s what happened

the people in the second
loge
were all dancing
but i’m told
across the theater
in the other loge
No One Danced

and on the floor,

Security blocked everybody
from coming to the mosh pit
unless you had tickets
from rows 1-5.

there were 12 of us
dancing in our floor
level loge area.

there were dancers
in the balconies

there were dancers
on the floor

so, we danced
on islands
of dance

16 songs

the encore was 20 minutes,
but!
it felt
like 13 minutes

so, all in all
an 85 minute show
felt like
33 minutes

not bad.
i wish every
85 minute
concert
felt like 33 minutes
or even 53 minutes.

i like that the band hung
around the stage
for a few minutes
after the show
and just

danced.

here are the dancers,

Oren Kaplan, guitar
Sergey Ryabtsev, violin
Yury Lemesshev, accordion
Pamela Racine, percussion/dance
Elizabeth Sun, percussion/dance
Thomas Gobena, bass
Pedro Erazo, MC and wrestling mask
Oliver Charles, drums
Eugene Hutz, singer, dancer, guitar

the set,

Ultimate
Sally
Not a Crime
Wonderust King
Mishto
Immigrant Punk
Immigraniada
60 Revolutions
Tribal Connection
lela Pala Tute
Start Wearing Purple
Think Locally F#ck Globally

Illumination
Sulukule
Baro Foro
Undestructable

the next time
Gogol Bordello
comes,

it’ll be the MTS Center.
tickets will be 80$
and there will
be female voices
screaming,

“We Love You,
Eugene!”

the band
will jump
and
run around
and everyone
will swear
they saw the best band
in the world.

and they’ll play
for 105 minutes
and it’ll feel like
71 minutes,
which is
okay.

but i’ll be the 50something
dancing Ukrainian
guy
telling people
about the time
they played the WECC
and 300 mostly Ukrainians
were Really experiencing
the best
band in the world…

don’t forget
i coined the term,

gogogo/gogol bordello!

Gogol Bordello
Oct 3
Burton Cummings
Theater.