Americana in Donetska

Last Friday I got a text message from my friend Maxim inviting me to the opening ceremony of the new, state of the art Donbass Arena built in Donetsk. I had heard rumors of the show planned to christen it, including the supposed appearance of either Beyonce or Madonna. So I cancelled the other plans I had made and got excited for a show that was purported to be on the scale of an Olympic opening ceremony.

The show was set to begin at 8pm, and we were planning to leave at 6pm. Now, my UGA, Saturday in Athens mind was a little uncomfortable with this schedule, considering we live an hour’s drive from Donetsk. But we arrived in Donetsk at 7, parked in one of those lots that only a person from Donetsk would know about, walked at the appropriate pace while eating sunflower seeds, squeezed through the gates, and arrived at our seats precisely at 8. Needless to say I was impressed.

The stadium is an international affair. The signage around the building is bilingual, English and Russian. Of course, a modern stadium being the American invention that it is, most of the words are simply transliterated, as English words such as ‘arena’ and ‘grand show’ have made their way into the Russian language. The PA announcements were in Russian and British English, which made me grin at times. I can’t decide who butchers the language more, Brits or Southerners. The background music was mundane American ‘80s music.

The show also was polluted with English globalization. The opening number was Queen’s ‘We will rock you’ capped off with ‘We are the champions’. Beyonce of course sang in English, but it was painful to watch her feeble attempts to interact with a Russian speaking Ukrainian crowd with no translation the same as she would a crowd of teenage girls in Atlanta. Needless to say there were some awkward silent moments that were almost as painful as watching an overconfident opening act at the Georgia Theater.

The crowd was dressed in their glamorous post Soviet style. Not uncommon was the leopard print evening gown, and it was a different experience hearing the deafening click of stiletto heels on the concrete stairs of the stadium. The crowd was not left wanting as pop singers danced on the emblematic coal bins representing the entire premise behind the stadium, mining, the region’s strongest industry. Dima Bilan, winner of Eurovision put on a rather powerful performance simply standing in the middle of the pitch. It was pretty awesome to see a guy command an audience without the prop of a stage and distracting pyro. Still not sure if he was actually singing or using a backtrack, but at times that verdict was still out for Beyonce.

The major parties in the Ukrainian government took full advantage of the internationally viewed spectacle, constantly remarking that Ukraine had achieved the best stadium in Europe. And from what I saw they very well could be right. There were moments reminiscent of Bush getting booed at major public events on national television towards the end of his tenure as President. But the polite Ukrainian crowd spared their president’s dignity as they gave him a rather modest, but void of boos, round of applause as he was introduced, despite his single digit approval ratings. However, Yuschenko was rather overshadowed as his rival and probable winner of the upcoming January election Yanukovich received deafening applause before giving his speech in the center of the pitch. Of note was the fact that Yuschenko addressed the crowd in Ukrainian and Yanukovich spoke Russian, but with a heavy Ukrainian dialect.

I was a little upset with myself at how much I enjoyed the Beyonce concert. You gotta hand it to the girl, she’s hot, got a ridiculous voice, and 10 years of music I’ve danced to. I was displeased that I couldn’t get one of her songs out of my head as we walked to McDonald’s after the show, which lasted 3 hours with the full Beyonce concert. So Anna and I sang the Alexander Rybok Eurovision winning tune ‘Fairytale’ which quickly displaced Beyonce. You have to hear the song to understand.

All this combined for a kind of weird experience. I would have never paid a dime to see Beyonce in America. But I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see my compatriot in Ukraine as the country asserted its presence on the global stage. But it was strange to see how much that assertion came at the expense of American and British influence. But Ukraine has showed, with time, it’s well poised to compete with the best of them for its place in the international spotlight.

Well, enough with all the pageantry, I’m ready to watch Shaktar win one for the home crowd.