Youth and Summer: HSE’s Open Air Music Event

On May 25, festival goers enjoyed music outdoors at the design factory ‘Flacon’ as part of HSE’s music festival. The festival has been running for 15 years. This year’s celebrations were carried out in style, and, for the first time, outside.

An MTV host is circulating the venue with a microphone, interviewing guests. Twenty metres away, a student media representative is filming the goings-on. In the crowd next to the stage, festival goers form a circle for a jam. A security guard not far away watches on and bops up and down to the beat of the music. Very soon, they will be joined by the staff who will also begin to jump around to popular tunes by the Ukrainian rock group ‘Nerves’.

The first HSE music festival took place in 2003. In the early days, these festivals tended to be held in small clubs and were targeted at those who love to see rock music live. For years, the format remained the same: four student groups and a popular headlining act. However, this year, it was different. For the first time, it was held outside at the ‘Flacon’ design factory. Furthermore, HSE students from ‘Ingroup StS’ organized the festival completely independently of the university.

Ukrainian outfit ‘Nerves’ (Ru: Нервы) was the headlining act for 2018 and it's no secret that the majority of festival goers bought their tickets just to see them. The popularity of the group reached a peak in 2012, when most of today’s university students were still at school. Any good music festival relies on emotional vocals and lyrical texts that bring back memories for the audience, and this time, it was no different.

Before the sun set, four young Moscow groups performed on stage. The buzz created by ODZ was accompanied by a cozy, homecoming atmosphere as they warmly greeted their fans. MSU band ‘Piosiki’ (Ru: Пёсики) raised the energy levels even further with their music and stage presence.

Next was the group ‘I Thought it Was Love’ (Ru: Думал, что любовь) with a ​​calm and romantic set, familiar to everyone in the audience. During the last track, there was a spontaneous dance battle, the winner of which received an old-school cassette with the songs of the band. A beatboxer wowed the crowd for 10 minutes with his vocal performance. The last group before the headlining act was AMEN 78, playing apocalyptic rock with folk elements. They also took the opportunity to present their new EP.

Ten in the evening. The moment everyone had been waiting for. The crowd begins to chant ‘Nerves! Nerves!’ The musicians walk out on stage to greet their audience. Without further ado, they launched into one of their popular hits – ‘Too In Love’. The band gave a magical performance, involving each and every audience member. What’s more, there was not a single person who didn’t sing along to their well-known songs.

When they began to play the hit ‘I Want to Return to My May’, the crowd sang so loudly that they drowned out the band. Indeed, this May has been a memorable one - a May of good music, of summery evenings in Moscow and of being a part of something special. The student community gathered in one place to sing their favorite songs. It turned out to be a celebration of youth and summer.

Author: Sergey Travkin, 2nd-year bachelor's  student in Advertising and Public Relations

Photo: Daria Ozoglu, 1st-year master's student in Integrated Communications