An evening of fangirling with Maksim & Nikola.

Tonight was mind blowing. It was amazing. It was an assault on my senses. I. Died. And it was awesome.

So the girls and I went for a Фортепианный Концерт at the ММДМ. Basically it was a piano concert in two parts. Никола Мельников(Nikola Melnikov) in the first part of the program, followed by Maksim. Yes, That Maksim. THE MAKSIM. (Even my mom was jealous when she heard about this, LOL.)

To be honest, I was there for Maksim. I didn't know who the other dude was, and by reading the program booklet, I found out he was doing a presentation of his album, #22. Zi tells me he's a rather famous and popular Russian pianist, but frankly speaking, I wasn't expecting too much.

Boy was I in for a shock.

Nikola was amazing. The first song, 635, didn't exactly blow my mind away, but his second song, Inception, was my favourite piece. The third song, Delicatesse, was a complete audio-visual experience for me. I literally had visions in my head, scenes unfolding and images flashing by as he played. I've never experienced something like that, ever. What he had evoked via his music was so strong, I felt utterly compelled to pull out my pen and jot down notations in my program booklet. It was a frenzy. So basically I was scribbling away furiously whenever he paused between pieces, trying to cram my words into the tiny space and jot down what I felt with each song, or what my interpretation was for each piece.

Some pieces were very moving, some were visual, some created stories in my head. But not everything was deep. One piece merely had two words commented beside it: Them fingers! Because seriously, I know he's a pro and all, but his fingers are so light and precise and controlled. No lazy notes, no rushed notes - Zi commented that it felt as though he was "caressing the piano". She's right. He was caressing the piano while creating the most amazing sounds without compromising technique or quality.

The last song on his program(barring the encore) was Together We Are and this was my second favourite piece because of how complex yet intricate it was.

All too soon, it was time for intermission. They made an announcement in Russian, and I immediately got excited because if my Ruskii boleh pakai, i.e. if my comprehension of the Russian language was accurate and correct, there would be an autograph session at the end of it all. Unfortunately, Zi, Elise and YX basically tuned out the announcement because it was in Russian so I couldn't double check with anyone if what I heard was true. Guess we just had to wait for the end of the show to find out. (We were tentatively excited anyway.)

Part two. Maksim.

Let me just say he looks super leng zai in the program book. Totally my type. He came on stage, and I kinda had a brain-melt moment. He was so HOT. And superrrr tall. Like, I've seen his MVs, but I never expected him to be so tall.

His first piece was Nostradamus. The whole hall was silent throughout his first performance, probably because we all just kinda died and went to heaven. From the get go, Maksim grabs you by the heart and blows everything clear out of the water. He is a Performer. With a capital P. He is in your face. Loud, confident, melodramatic. I was equally torn throughout the first piece. Because on the one hand, I wanted to kiss him for the ear orgasm. But on the other hand, I also wanted to slap him because I beh tahan him. He bermacam-macam sangat. Pattern-pattern sangat. He is a Drama Queen. And we love him for it. His performances stand out for that very reason.

I was constantly at the edge of my seat throughout his whole program. I didn't dare to move, I couldn't breathe until he paused. He's so dramatic and amazing. His facial expressions are to die for. I cannot reiterate enough that he. is. a. Performer. He belongs on the stage, he's at home when he's in the spotlight. I'm really impressed by the coordination of the accompaniment too, especially when he cues for the track to be played, but the accompaniment parts only join in somewhere in the middle of the piece. Their timing and precision is quite a feat!

For his encore piece, he played the cartoon theme song from Sonic the Hedgehog. I would willingly watch him perform this over and over again because his facial expressions are absolutely priceless. You know how some musicians feel their music? Maksim feels the music and plays with it too. There's a very playful banter sort of energy throughout his performances.

After the performance, we filed out and collected our coats. After a round of taking pictures, as seen here,

And here,

We got in line for the autograph session. I was mildly panicking at this point, because my program had scribbles on Nikola's page. And then Maksim walked by and we were like EFFFFF He's so damn tall. Like seriously tall. (Side note: he looks a lot older than I expected. Like I know his debut was more than 10 years ago, but I wasn't expecting him to age quite that much. Still hot though. And his eyes. So Blue. OMG. *fans self*)

We finally got to the table, and Maksim signed my program, then it was on to Nikola next to him.

I handed him my booklet, and Nikola picked up his pen.
Then he paused.
I mentally cringed as he tilted his head and signed my program. And then he squinted at my scribbles, looked at me (he's like really young and cute), then asked, "Are these your notes?"

Ahhhhhhh.

I was equal parts mortified and fangirling at the same time. Because. Hellooo. Like. He just gave an amazing performance. And he saw my notes. And asked after it.

So obviously I word vomited on the spot. Blabbering on about how I couldn't help it because he was just so amazing. Basically I went straight to fangirl heaven. He was such a great sport about it.

I ran away after that and met up with the girls, reliving my embarrassment and fangirling over and over again.

After the crowd kinda thinned and the line disappeared, we headed back to try and get a group photo. YX gets all the credit here. She handed my phone to a lady who had a DSLR so we'd have someone who knew how to take pictures for us. Then, she caught Nikola's attention, who then got Maksim, and we quickly got into place for our photo.

The crowd literally parted for us in a semicircle. So that was pretty awesome. The four of us girls stood in front with the two pianists in the back.

So none of us girls are particularly tall. So we're used to standing in the front for pictures. And like all considerate people, we're used to checking behind us to ensure we weren't blocking anyone's faces. Elise and I ended up in the centre, and we both turned back at the same time. All I saw were buttons. I looked up. Where I had expected a head, were Maksim's chest and shoulders. I looked even higher, and Maksim was staring down at us (both Elise and I looked up at him at the same time. It was a funny coincidence) and he had a peculiar expression on his face. I think it was amusement? Because he was literally LOOMING over us. Both Elise and I immediately turned around and looked at the ground while trying to control our laughter. Did I mention most of us were already wearing wedges? Didn't help with the height issue at all. Anyway, we got our pictures. :D

As you can see, Nikola was a head taller than all of us. Maksim is almost comically two whole heads taller than me.

So there. My first real celebrity autograph and picture. (And by real celebrity, I mean a celeb I'm genuinely excited to meet. Sorry Nic Teo and Lin Yu Zhong and Juwita etc.)