If there were any other English people in the club that night, they were keeping a low profile as the event was dominated by grizzly looking Russian bikers with big tats and bottles of vodka on the tables and very, very glamourous young Russian women (which coincidentallly pretty much sums up the band).

And it would be hard to say which of these groups loved Crossroadz more. Each down home solid rockin' blues tune was greeted by calls of encouragement from the lads and gyrating dance bliss from the women. And did they rock, hell yes. Especially when the core band was joined by their young harmonica star -- whose interplay with lead man Sergei Voronov was one of the highlights of the gig.

So they could play a bit but did they feel it, profoundly 'yes' again to that question. Anyone who's been behind what used to the iron curtain knows that the blues is pretty much the only sensible response to much of everday life there over the past quarter of a century.

So a good night with an unusual crowd for the 100 club but I wonder how much further Crossroadz can go with their cover-dominated material at least outside of the former Soviet Union. On the other hand, progress is not everything.

Link: Website in English
--Image by the author--