...Makes me want to rock out.

Last week, there was a concert in Zaqatala. It was a pretty big deal -- singers were coming up from Baku, even. And it was pretty much the first concert I'd heard of since I got here, I was pretty stoked.















The rest of the town seemed to be, too. By 5, there was getting to be a good crowd in the soccer stadium -- the concert wouldn't go on until about 7.
















Security was pretty tight. There was a pretty big police presence -- I counted at least 40, scattered on the high ground around the arena.















There were soldiers, too, forming two cordons to break up the crowd, which swelled to a good thousand people by the time the show started. One cordon stood between the rows of plastic chairs arranged for the local dignitaries, the other just broke up the crowd.















There were folk dancers for Novruz, the spring holiday; instead of just one opener band, half a dozen people came out to sing one song each, interspersed by two folks talking about Novruz and what it meant.

And then we rocked out.

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