- New Moscow venue 20:12 celebrated its official opening earlier this year with Stacey Pullen as a guest. On the night of the following Friday, the place was ruled by Americans again. East Coast duo Voices of Black were the first to appear behind the decks, after which Wolf + Lamb co-founder Gadi Mizrahi drove the party to its climax. Unfortunately, the climax could have been (and deserved to be) much better—the club was almost deserted by the time he'd concluded his set.
Upon its opening, 20:12 has occupied an empty niche in Moscow nightlife. The most popular quality music venues start the show quite late—don't expect the warm-up at ARMA17 to finish earlier than 3:00 AM, and Krysha Mira is usually more or less empty till 4 AM. At 20:12, the headliner starts to play not long after midnight, so, subsequently, the event can be regarded either as a pre-party by those who relocate somewhere else later or as a full-scale night out for those who don't want to stay up too late.
Voices of Black started the party with a quality house set, playing to a packed bar. There was not enough space to dance properly, and the air was almost too hot to breathe. The only fault I could find with the duo was their overt modesty. With their eyes glued to the decks, they didn't establish much (apart from musical) contact with the audience. In this tale they were definitely playing the Lamb's part. The Wolf, Gadi Mizrahi, put on his headphones on at 3 AM. At this very moment, though, the crowd started dissolving. Mizrahi, unlike his predecessors, appeared to be 100 percent confident—the party couldn't become a shipwreck with such a brave captain, surely? But it did. People were hurrying to other parties or even to home to sleep without understanding that the best was yet to come. Mizrahi went on to work with more vocals, taking the set into attractive pop territory, yet the crowd went on leaving. Finally Voices of Black closed the night by performing a couple of songs live, which was some of the most fascinating stuff I've heard in the city in a while. Unfortunately for them, there were only a few people left to see it.