Music Club Scene in St. Petersburg, Russia

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philco
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Music Club Scene in St. Petersburg, Russia

Post by philco »

I just got back from the St. Petersburg, Russia, area where I spent 3 weeks and visited 4 different clubs offering live music. Ludmila, the Russian lady I visited, has a cousin, Vladimir Schumacher, who is a well known drummer in the SPb area and he met us at the Liverpool Club and made sure we got a good table. Beatles and Stones music is a specialty of the club, and the band's bassist was using a Hofner bass. All clubs I visited were small, and the Liverpool Club seats about 60 people and has a separate billiards room with two pool tables. The food was the best of all clubs visited and the tab for two dinners with numerous drinks came to about $40. I visited it two more times during my trip and heard a different band on the second visit. The two bands were quite decent and the singing in English was good considering the players were always Russian. No cover charge. If you buy Russian booze only, this is the best bet for best sound at the lowest cost.

The JFC Jazz Club was my least favorite. Drinks and snacks were the only food offerings. Cover charge for two came to around $10. The band only played two sets and the music stops around 10 PM. We then hit the Liverpool Club to finish the night. Skip this one unless you can't live without jazz. The band was actually quite good, however.

The Jimi Hendrix Club was my second choice for the best club experience. They actually had the best band who were middle aged and obviously very experienced musicians. The food was a bit cheaper but not as good as the Liverpool Club. We also got hit with a small cover charge of less than $5 for two. It is smaller and more crowded than the Liverpool Club, and we needed reservations as it was packed and we got turned away the first time we tried it. We shared a table with two heavy-drinking Russians who were in SPb for an agricultural exhibition, and they were the most gregarious duo in the whole club.

The Corsair Club (spelled KOPKAP in Cyrillic script) had the worst food (my wine was corked) and they also had a small cover charge. The band was doing OK until they invited their friend (who looks like the Russian version of Meat Loaf) to sing. He sang worse than he looked. This club would be OK when "Meat Loaf" isn't around and food isn't high on your list of priorities. Unlike the Jimi Hendrix Club, it has a dance floor and room for dancing. No reservation was needed as it never filled up.

If you like Rock and Blues music and are limited in time and funding, I would rate the Liverpool Club and the Jimi Hendrix Club as the ones you had to see first. SPb is a bustling city with lots of attractions and things to do and see and an excellent metro system. On a summer day, just sitting at a sidewalk cafe on Nevsky Prospekt and watching all the pretty Russian gals walk by is worth your time. Beautiful Russian women are everywhere you look in St. Petersburg. The Beatles obviously had this in mind when they wrote "Back in the USSR". Leave jealous girlfriends at home. Image
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Post by admin »

Thanks for this review. We should refer to you as our roving international reporter.
Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm

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