It was probably because my body was craving "real Siberian heat" – dry and windless – that I didn’t think twice before accepting an offer from my Muscovite friends to visit one of Siberia’s largest cities, Novosibirsk. Incidentally, who could have guessed that after such a cold and rainy June, July in Moscow would be so hot and sunny? But the tickets had already been bought and it would be stupid to return them.
We arrived at the Novosibirsk airport of Tolmachevo on Friday morning, and after a 40-minute bus ride, we wound up at an inexpensive hotel called Ob ($50 per night for a double), located in the center of Novosibirsk beside the river terminal.
The first thing we did was go shopping. Being prepared for 38 degrees Celsius, a regular Novosibirsk summer temperature, we took no warm clothes, and were surprised to feel the chilly air at 16 degrees Celsius. Though I can’t say the local stores impressed us with a praiseworthy variety of clothes, I found a nice pullover from Russian label "Tvoyo" (Yours) with a nice fly pattern. To save time, we decided to buy souvenirs right away. We chose the now rare social-realist photo albums from the 1970s (we bought them second hand, of course),"Amulet" balm with wholesome extracts of Siberian herbs and sugar tablets. The latter drew our attention just because sugar tablets are rarely found in Moscow.
Feeling starved, we stopped by the first eatery that emerged on our way, and it turned out to be the Rock City Cafe, a local version of the Hard Rock Cafe – an inexpensive and good quality fast food (hamburgers and cheeseburgers cost 40 rubles and 65 rubles, respectively). The cafe’s interior featured various rock’n’roll symbols like records and microphones.
Late in the afternoon, we went first to the Gold Gate Club where a hip-hop party was under way. We were lucky to arrive in Novosibirsk right in when the city was hosting the "Year of Kazakhstan in Russia" youth festival, and many of its participants gave concerts at nightclubs around town. Having danced to our satisfaction to the Kazakh hip-hop, we returned to the Rock City Cafe.
We came too late to hear the legendary rock band Agatha Christie, and had no choice but to be content with a local rock band which performed cover versions of various Russian hits. The concert was followed by a cool disco party. Though the cafe’s art-director boasted that Rock City Cafe was made along the lines of the Hard Rock Cafe and London’s Marquee, we came to conclude that it looks more like Moscow’s B2 or Doug & Marty’s Boar House. It’s particularly long bar is very much reminiscent of that at the Boar House.
Having grown tired of rock and taking advice from our Novosibirsk friends, we moved to the club Truba and, to my surprise, I saw DJ Basic, who frequently spins at B2, standing there at the turntable. Truba is a very small and cramped basement nightclub reminiscent of Moscow clubs Tretiy Put and Project O.G.I., and most of its regulars are local highbrows and intellectuals. The local crowd forced us, their guests from the capital, to meet their expectations and climb on stage and teach them a lesson in dancing the Lambada to the sounds of the ’70s. We must have done a good job because we garnered much applause and numerous encore calls.
After we woke up at 2 p.m. the next day we decided to visit the youth musical festival, Kosmodrom, which was taking place on Lenin Square in the city center. Kosmodrom was also held as part of the "Year of Kazakhstan in Russia." Kazakh musicians and bands performed in the first part of the festival, followed by Russian rockers. To be frank, if such a festival had taken place in Moscow, the Kazakh part would have been skipped unfortunately, but there in Novosibirsk, multiculturism was alive and well: It was pleasant to listen to the Kazakh style, which combines modern rhythms with national features. As for me, I particularly liked pop band Myuzikola.
The second part was opened by the rough and energetic punks from the band Zveri, followed by Agatha Christie and B-2 who harvested tons of applause. After all, they are stars, aren’t they? And for us, the Muscovite band Neonavt was a real discovery. We have not heard such a lovely combination of Radiohead and Coldplay before. It was truly impressive.
Giving the organizers their due, I must say the festival was a success. It would be good if similar security measures were taken in Moscow too. A regime reminiscent of wartime was imposed, though without a single sign of rudeness. In terms of scale and lineup, Kosmodrom was only a bit inferior to Muscovite rock festival Nashestviye, which is quite a notable achievement for the provincial Novosibirsk. The organizers now plan to hold such festivals on a yearly basis, and it may happen that in a year or two Kosmodrom would become as prestigious as various rock festivals in the West.
Even thought festival ended late, we decided to crawl into the nightclub Balamut, which is located nearby. Again, we were surprised to discover that the club was almost a copy of our cherished Zeppelin, though kind of a provincial making of it. Upscale, packed with bandits and prostitutes, expensive parking and expensive inside (cover charge is 300 rubles for men and 200 rubles for women). Predictably, the dance floor program was composed of danceable arrangements of Russian pop hits – from Natasha Korolyova’s "Zhyoltye tyulpany" (Yellow Tulips) to Masha Rasputina’s "Roza chainaya" (Tea Rose). Again we, a Muscovite delegation, made the grade. We went all out on the dance floor so that the locals gave way and applauded from the sidelines. I remember how enthusiastically the clubbers waved hands bidding us goodbye when we finally left at 4 a.m.
According to our estimates, Novosibirsk nightlife boasts over 20 nightclubs, bars and casinos which means a visitor would not get bored at night there. Perhaps the only problem with Novosibirsk is its enormously cold winter. If you have the guts to go there in the winter, don’t forget to get appropriately equipped or else you risk being turned into an ice statue in seconds.



Historical facts

. Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia and in the Asian part of the Russian Federation, marked its 110th anniversary this year.
. The city was originally called Novonikolayevsky and was renamed Novosibirsk in 1926.
. In terms of the population growth rate, it scored a record reaching 1 million in less than 70 years. For comparison, the corresponding figures for Chicago, New York and Moscow are 90 years, 250 years and 700 years respectively.
. Over the last 100 years, Novosibirsk developed into the center of industry, science and culture of Siberia, and it well deserves to be called a federation-scale culture center.
. The city boasts about its Opera and Ballet Theater and has the largest art gallery in Siberia. The pearl of the gallery’s funds is a collection of paintings by Nikolai Roerich – a gift from the artist’s son.