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The Brazen Youth deliver passion at Purgatory

Jenna Guiher on April 12, 2024 in Entertainment

Indie folk rock band The Brazen Youth makes music for existential crises, quiet autumn days and those who fear change. The band brought their soulful tunes to Purgatory at the Masquerade on the lively evening of April 4.  

The Brazen Youth is made up of Nic Lussier, Charles Dahlke and Micah Rubin, and they are joined on tour by Mei Semones and John Lisi. Over the last seven years, the band has put out three albums, the most recent being “Eagle, Idaho” that was released in September of 2022.  

Throughout the course of the album, the band explores the theme of tragedy in a hauntingly deep and raw manner. While they were visiting the small town of Eagle, Idaho in 2020, they received the news that Dahlke’s dad had passed away. “Eagle, Idaho” shows the grief-filled journey that the band takes, leaving an awe-inspiring album in its wake.

The show was opened by Atlanta-based alternative indie artist Mallbangs, the stage name of Josh Smith. Their music spanned a wide range of emotions: from the angsty, bizarre “New Face” to the simple, heartfelt “Forget Me Nots.”

Throughout the 30-minute set, it was evident how much Mallbangs cared for their music; they were clearly in a bubble of enjoyment, and the crowd had no choice but to watch in awe.

Mallbangs ended with “Gutter,” and the song’s ending guitar solo was the perfect testament to their charismatic stage presence, as the venue swayed to the final notes.

The Brazen Youth took to the stage not long after, and they kicked off their show with the sweet “Spirit Finds Yours.” The song is the first track on “Eagle, Idaho,” and it opened both the album and the show in a slow, melodic way.  

Lussier sang about a mother who lost her son in a car crash. He asked over and over, “How far will I   go ‘til my spirit finds yours?” His words allude to the omnipresent theme of the album: the looming nature of death, always ready to strike when it is least expected.

As the first song faded out, Lussier greeted the audience, saying that it was their first time in Atlanta since 2017 when they played at the Mammal Gallery. He reiterated the band’s excitement to be there as they continued the rest of their set.

“I’ve Never Killed Anything That Lived” was a standout tune from the night. The song sees the band tapping into their folk, acoustic influences as they take a mellow, simplistic approach to the song. Like many of their songs, it is about the acceptance of change and the sadness that accompanies this process.

The band continued to draw songs from both “Eagle, Idaho”and their earlier work, playing “c0w” and “Burn Slowly.” Much like folk rock bands Mt. Joy and Lord Huron, they utilize the serenity of folk music and pair it with an upbeat, percussive cadence to make an engaging song to witness live.

During “I Love It All,” Lisi traded his bass for a saxophone as he performed a riveting solo. The crowd went wild for him, clapping to the beat of the song and whooping in support of his dynamic saxophone performance.

The Brazen Youth then announced that the next song would be their final one. After a brief discussion onstage of what they should end with, they chose “Changing.” While it is not one of their most popular songs, it was the perfect choice to end on, matching the theme and tempo of the evening.

The song began slowly, as Lussier muttered, “I think I’m changing / Like shaking off this dead skin.” Immediately, the song completely shifted, much like the name suggests. The drums kicked in, and Lussier got down on his knees as he strummed his guitar aggressively along with the song. The crowd’s energy soared as they jumped along with the band.

Lussier repeatedly yelled, “I’m shining through / I’m shining through,” encapsulating the song’s message of finding oneself through the acceptance of change.

The band bowed and left the stage, but the audience quickly started chanting for an encore. The shouts became too much to ignore, and The Brazen Youth returned to the stage, smiling. Dahlke explained that this was their first encore of tour since many of their tour dates were opening for Sarah and the Sundays.

To the crowd’s delight, they played their most popular song “Center of Gravity.” Many concert-goers put their arms around their friends and swayed to the melody. It was a beautiful way to end their set as Lussier whispered the song’s outro into the microphone: “Someday I’ll jump in this car / And I’ll drive to wherever you are / To meet me / To meet you.”

The Brazen Youth’s show at Purgatory at the Masquerade speaks to the power of live music. Their studio recordings can only communicate so much emotion; to experience the Brazen Youth live is to truly understand and embrace the passion behind their music.

The Brazen Youth’s music is currently streaming on Apple Music and Spotify.  

The Brazen Youth Announce 2022 North American Tour Dates

The new tour is set to begin at the end of the year and will pick back up in February of 2022.

The Brazen Youth have announced 2022 tour dates with The Greeting Committee, adding to the already scheduled shows closing out 2021, including sold out shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY and Brighton Music Hall in Allston, MA as the band joins Melt for a short early December run.

The Connecticut based trio just released their new EP Changing, which WNYC's John Schaefer noted for its "emotional heft", drawing focus to the lead off track "Hometown" in particular, which he described as "a grand, slightly bittersweet song".

The single will hit all the harder as many return to old stomping grounds for the holidays, perhaps sleeping bunk beds that offer comfort despite no longer being physically comfortable to fit in. Today the band are also sharing live session videos of EP tracks "Changing" and "I Love It All", recorded at Ashlawn Farm in Lyme, CT.

The new EP Changing is the latest effort from The Brazen Youth, and showcases their continued growth as musicians and songwriters. The songs on Changing are imbued with a warmth and familiarity that draw the listener in. Gently rambling piano lines, clean guitar tones, winsome vocal harmonies, ambient electronic effects and contemplative lyrics that reminisce about childhood bedrooms and the comforts of buttered bread are all part of what makes them special. The EP ruminates on coping with loss, growing up, and shifting human connection -- yet it still somehow holds onto a romantic sense of nostalgia.

DECEMBER 2021 09 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (SOLD OUT) * 10 - Allston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall (SOLD OUT) * 11 - South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground *

FEBRUARY 2022 05 - St. Paul, MN @ Amsterdam + 06 - Chicago, IL @ Subterranean + 08 - Toronto, ON @ Drake Underground + 09 - Washington, DC @ Union Stage + 10 - Brooklyn, NY @ Baby's All Right + 11 - Boston, MA @ Cafe 939 + 12 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe +

* = w/ Melt + = w/ The Greeting Committee

Watch the music video for "Hometown" here:

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The Brazen Youth Concert Setlists & Tour Dates

The brazen youth at pie shop, washington, dc, usa.

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The Brazen Youth at Purgatory @ The Masquerade, Atlanta, GA, USA

• Spirit Finds Yours
• Air Is Water
• If These Wild Winds Are Yours
• I've never killed anything that lived
• You'll Be Forever Nameless (pts. 1&2)
• Burn Slowly/ I Love You
• I Love It All
• Cloud Parade
• Open outside
• Figure in the Field

The Brazen Youth at Gothic Theatre, Englewood, CO, USA

• Center of Gravity

The Brazen Youth at Boulder Theater, Boulder, CO, USA

The brazen youth at playground music + arts festival 2024.

• You'll Be Forever Nameless

The Brazen Youth at The Sinclair, Cambridge, MA, USA

The brazen youth at the broadberry, richmond, va, usa, the brazen youth at recordbar, kansas city, mo, usa, the brazen youth at as220, providence, ri, usa.

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• Center of Gravity ( 6 )
• Hometown ( 6 )
• Figure in the Field ( 5 )
• Spirit Finds Yours ( 4 )
• Changing ( 3 )

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Refuge and Raw Reckoning: The Brazen Youth’s ‘Eagle, Idaho’ Is a Breathtaking Soundtrack to Tragedy, Grief, & Growth

The Brazen Youth dive into their breathtaking and brutally raw triumph of an album ‘Eagle, Idaho,’ a cathartic indie rock reckoning through the depths of tragedy, grief, healing, and connection.

Stream: “spirit finds yours” – the brazen youth.

The album is named after the strange, country-club occupied, suburban town that we mistook for a rural refuge: Eagle, Idaho.

“ S ome go to follow where the feet align, where my spirit finds another howling dog, another muddy lawn… You are backwards, but you’re coming home .” From the moment their third album opens, it’s clear Connecticut’s The Brazen Youth have been thinking deeply about life and death lately: The fragility of presence and the all-consuming nature of absence are ever-present themes in the band’s hauntingly beautiful new music.

“It seems that people often want to fall in love and trek through life’s bitterness and beauty and come out with marks of strength,” the trio share. “But tragedy so often strikes: People die; we lose friends; we’re traumatized. The song, and the album, exist in the complexity of all this. It’s about reckoning with and finding beauty in the tragedy of truth – despite outside violence, fake shine, hollowness of interaction. When we lose our skin and brains and are left with only our spirits, in our purest, most vulnerable forms, who do we become? Maybe just something that wants to be understood.”

Achingly intimate and brutally raw, The Brazen Youth’s Eagle, Idaho is a cathartic indie rock reckoning through the depths of tragedy, grief, healing, and connection. It’s a record of life at its most painful; of our souls at their most exposed. Make no mistake – there is beauty to be found here; but this is the kind of beautiful music that hurts.

You are backwards But you’re coming home Yeah, you’re coming home Thought you’d be gone for good But you fooled us all Yeah, you fooled us all

How far will i go how far will i go ‘til my spirit finds yours i n a glowing ball lighting up us all, she was a mother, b ut she lost her son playing in the yard, h e never made it home but didn’t make it far, c ollided with a car, how far will i go how far will i go ‘til my spirit finds yours laughing without control sounding so dumb without a care in the world… will it even happen at all, – “ spirit finds yours ,” the brazen youth.

Independently released September 16, 2022,  Eagle, Idaho is the breathtaking, mesmerizing, and altogether gut-wrenching third studio album from Lyme, Connecticut indie rock band The Brazen Youth. The trio of Nic Lussier, Charles Dahlke, and Micah Rubin have been steadily carving out their own path in the alternative space for the better part of the past seven years, and if they hadn’t already found their home, they have now: Following 2016’s  The Ever Dying Bristlecone Man and 2018’s Primitive Initiative (and plenty of singles and EPs in-between),  Eagle, Idaho finds The Brazen Youth weaving a warm and wistful reverie of calmly churning guitars, lush, lively vocal harmonies, lilting piano, and turbulent drums. Together, this adds up to a stunning soundtrack that is at once tranquil and volatile – a tender turmoil that sweeps us off our feet. The band describe this album as “a reflection and romanticization of a prior life while coming to an acceptance of imperfect love and naked reality,” and it’s been quite a long time coming.  

“ Eagle, Idaho is a group of songs that come from the past three to four years of life,” Nic Lussier tells  Atwood Magazine . “The themes reflect different moments of difficulty, elation, big changes — such as death, forever closing doors, but always trucking along. We chose the name to pay a tribute to Charlie’s dad, Chip. We all lived with him on a farm for years, and of course Charlie grew up there. A few winters ago, we were taking a few days off from a tour, sort of “glamping” in Eagle when we got a call that Charlie’s dad had died. That moment sort of sums up the range of emotions that exist on the record. For us, the vision is never fully realized until the album gets out into the world. I never really knew what I wanted it to be. To me, it’s more of something to capture who we were in our early-twenties.”

“It’s our best work to date,” bandmate Micah Rubin chimes in. “I think it’s a perfect introduction to how we want to be perceived in ’22 and what we’re going for as we continue on this journey. There is nothing I’d change about this record. Yes, sure, maybe Charlie has upgraded his studio a bit and we could’ve recorded drums with some better mics, but I feel like we really captured something special during the summer of 2020. In my opinion, the album showcases how we have matured over the years as a band. Creating this album had a huge impact on the ways we learned about our friendships with one another.”

My memories working on this record are only fond memories — I loved every bit of the process and feel like these songs really brought us together.

Spent some time away f rom the East Coast I was on the West Coast when It all happened I pulled off at the nearest gas station There an old woman, s poke her wisdom I was frozen And we drove that night Through the Idaho plight Wish I’d quit While I was ahead

Saw a friend in you you saw one inside of me too hope i don’t erase you as i’m throwing out your tissues i’m throwing out your shoes you’re not walking anymore i kept a nice coat there’s one thing left to dress up for, when i come back in the summer up on a hill i’ll give that thirsty lawn it’s ashes you know i will i’ll think of your final summer and your final spring i’ll think of our final encounter your last everything.

Dahlke affectionally calls this album a record of “changing, healing, and growing,” while Rubin considers it one of “impact, transition, and growth.” The two may have slightly differing ways of describing  Eagle, Idaho , but they both unconditionally agree that these songs changed them.

The album title feel into place quite naturally.

“At first, we were thinking about album names in the wrong way,” Rubin recalls. “Thinking things like, “How will this be impactful to others?” and too much of the big picture. I remember going through a lot of different names with Nic and Charlie and finally saying, “guys, let’s reign ourselves in here. I think all we have to do is think of a name that is impactful to us . The name of the album only really needs to hold meaning to us.” And with that, I suggested “Eagle, Idaho” because that was the town we were in when we heard about Charlie’s dad’s passing. What I love about this title is how it commemorates Charlie’s dad and how it holds so much meaning to us, but for others it’s just a random name. Charlie’s dad was also probably one of our biggest supporters when we began our journey as a band. In a lot of ways I feel like it’s our way of thanking him. His heart and soul is just as much a part of the record as ours.”

Someone came today, s omeone came to glisten Woke up in a state o f a different distance Hard to be awake w hen inside this frame When behind this gate b linding all my gazes But I won’t let it out

Standing in your yard, i felt like i was missing you from within every part, i just feel i’ll miss you now, w atch you on the tv, s ee you in the ceiling swaying in the moonbeams, y ou are like a big tree but i won’t tear you down, if i was aware of the open outside of the planets and the cities and the flowers and the bedrooms i’d go away for too long now standing on the outside of a dream but upside down but i’ll turn back around.

A sprawling, expansive, yet impressively cohesive and contained fourteen-track collection, Eagle, Idaho is The Brazen Youth’s most sonically adventurous and experimental, lyrically profound and thought-provoking work to date. Every band member has his own favorite snippets, sounds, and deep cuts within and throughout this poignant triumph.

“Right now, I love “Spirit Finds Yours” and “Who Told You That You Were Naked.” It constantly changes though,” Rubin says. “Both songs came about in an interesting way. I remember Nic sent us the demo of “Spirit Finds Yours” and I wasn’t super into it. Then, he pushed for it and played it for me and Charlie live — just him and acoustic guitar. I was stunned. For “Who Told You That You Were Naked”, Nic and I were sitting in the low lit studio while Charlie was improvising on keys with his back towards me and Nic after a long day of recording. I remember feeling so incredibly calm. It was crazy, though — because Charlie improvised this entire interlude and we didn’t change anything about it. After he finished, Nic and I were just like “dude. That was beautiful.” And we pushed for it to be an interlude after “Saving”, which feels like a beautiful calm to the storm in my opinion.”

“‘C0w’ is my favorite Brazen Youth song,” Dahlke says quite definitively. “My favorite moment in the album is the bridge of ‘Cloud Parade.’ The words, ‘ Eagle, Idaho ‘ are tucked somewhere in there. A lot of my lyrics recall stories of my childhood that I like to revisit. I think all of those I probably hold closest to me — but I’ve always loved the second verse of “Spirit Finds Yours” and the story it tells.”

“I think a lot of Charlie’s lyrics on this album are reflective of memories,” Lussier adds. “I think a lot of mine have more to do with whatever I was experiencing at the time. I like the contrast in that.”

I got a scratchy throat and It’s ‘cause I’ve been smokin’ Back in my old bunk room I won’t have that pass soon No way to get solace Old man dead skipped hospice

You can hold my home down you won’t be my hometown you can hold my home down, back up in that bunk room sister has their saloon american dolls are patrons of the store and i collect old nickels i’m not sure what they’re for, – “ hometown ,” the brazen youth.

From the stirring stillness of album opener “Spirit Finds Yours” and the light acoustic warmth of “If These Wild Winds Are Yours” to the captivating psychedelic infusion “c0w,” the emotionally charged upheaval “1TL2DU4,” the tranquilizing love song “Linger There,” and the cinematic, visceral outpouring “Cloud Parade” (a standout track tucked away just before the album’s end), Eagle, Idaho is, without a doubt, far greater than the sum of its parts. The Brazen Youth peeled back their own humanity to make this gentle giant of an album, and the result is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

“I hope it can help people heal,” Charles Dahlke shares. “The process of creating it was so cathartic for us. I hope it can be that way for our listeners as well.” Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside The Brazen Youth’s Eagle, Idaho with Atwood Magazine as the band goes track-by-track through the music and lyrics of their hauntingly beautiful third album!

:: stream/purchase  The Brazen Youth  here ::

Stream: ‘eagle, idaho’ – the brazen youth, ::  inside  eagle, idaho   ::.

Spirit Finds Yours

“spirit finds yours” introduces the setting of the world that “eagle, idaho” exists in. nic wrote it about a close friend and a small town tragedy. that’s sort of where the album starts., it seems that people often want to fall in love and trek through life’s bitterness and beauty and come out with marks of strength. but tragedy so often strikes: people die; we lose friends; we’re traumatized. the song, and the album, exist in the complexity of all this. the song, and the album, exist in the complexity of all this. it’s about reckoning with and finding beauty in the tragedy of truth – despite outside violence, fake shine, hollowness of interaction. when we lose our skin and brains and are left with only our spirits, in our purest, most vulnerable forms, who do we become maybe just something that wants to be understood., if these wild winds are yours, “if these wild winds are yours” brings in a new scene. it’s rainy, things feel familiar. it exists chronologically to “spirit finds yours”, but it feels like a bit of time has passed by. it expresses discontentment with current circumstances, but optimism about a brighter world to come. nothing is affirmed: everything is still in question, no action has been taken yet..

“So Afraid” is about looking forward to the future with hopefulness. It seems that when big moments emerge in life, being “ready” has more to do with accepting fear, and less to do with actually being prepared. It’s okay to be afraid of change — it doesn’t mean we don’t want change.

Change is the only constant, so we really have no choice but to accept it. this is a simple truth, perhaps even a cliché thing to say — but i think it’s often forgotten. change is beautiful. and in the context of death, growing up, falling in and out of love — it can be really hard to open the door to blinding reality. it makes us stronger, and often, at least for me, it’s the futile things that keep me from understanding what i need to..

Open Outside

“open outside” is about coming to terms with all things external, abstract, and out of our control. it’s the first song to be released of a longer series of singles, all leading to our next album, “eagle, idaho”. we recorded this song, along with the others, on a farm in lyme, ct (where we spent many days in our youth). the album is about just what we felt: romanticizing prior life, accepting imperfect love and naked reality. it’s about missing people. the song was written and recorded during covid-19 quarantine (march 2020), when the outside world was ingrained in fear and fleeting color., c0w is the psychedelic journey of the album. it’s the sunset, the end of part 1. laws of reality fade, and it introduces a more complex, inner-world of color, dreams of nostalgia, and corporate discontentment., one day when we were out on the road, charlie got a call that his father had suddenly passed away. we were in a rustic airbnb in the snowy plains of idaho. we finished our tour, and returned home to a world that was nothing like how we had left it. from this darkness our album emerged. the album is named after the strange, country-club occupied, suburban town that we mistook for a rural refuge: eagle, idaho ., “saving” is the diss-track of eagle, idaho. it emerged from a dark moment in nic’s life – we happened to be on the road at the time. it was a strange and devastating realization that led us to the song., who told you that you were naked, this is the brief reflection of the album. it’s meant to bring forth humility, a moment of peace., linger there, “linger there” is a simple love song. not much complexity in terms of themes. it’s just supposed to be happy, oblivious, care-free., i love it all, “i love it all” follows a sentimental, nostalgic narrative. we wanted to make something that we could drive around to in the fall, and we thought the up-tempo, live-sounding feel would give it just that energy. the guitar and drums were recorded live together in a barn (after many, many takes), and the vocals were recorded over several months of trial and error. this song challenged us, but we worked hard, and we’re incredibly happy with “i love it all” as a finished song. for us, it’ll always paint a picture frozen in time: of our young years; curious, reckless, and uncertain of our paths..

Cloud Parade

“cloud parade” marks a new chapter for us as a band. we wanted to make something hard-hitting, but still vulnerable by pairing big sounding drums with the gentle acoustic, relaying an experience of entering a newfound relationship. the song echoes a sense of excitement of what’s to come while simultaneously exploring our growth as human beings. it’s also about feeling extremely detached from the outside world, but feeling comfortable with that, because another person truly understands you., “hometown” is a glimpse into the exploration of one’s becoming in the wake of tragedy. made from vulnerable and personal accounts from charlie, “hometown” is a story that takes the listener on a journey through lyme: a wooded connecticut shoreline town, and the place that we, the brazen youth, call home., you started loving, “you started loving” is a track that recalls moments of charlie’s dad’s life, particularly the moments toward the end of it. it kind of functions as the epilogue of eagle, idaho. in a lot of ways, it’s detached from the rest of the album. instrumentally, we recorded it all live. the three of us sat in a room together, playing simple instruments: micah on a drum machine, charlie on keys, nic on vocals. we added a few textures later on, but the recorded song is not much more than what we put into ableton that afternoon. it’s funny, too – this version is such a wild contrast from the original arrangement, which was upbeat, with tripled vocals, and a bunch of instruments. something about that version just wasn’t working for us. it wasn’t giving the song what it needed. that day, amid the frustration, charlie went for a drive and came back and said: “scrap it. let’s start over, but let’s make it simple this time.”, we kept all our mistakes. we wanted to make it as human and sincere as possible, simply capturing the moment on that summer afternoon in 2020., connect to the brazen youth on facebook , twitter , instagram, discover new music on atwood magazine, :: stream the brazen youth  ::.

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Puzzling out Moscow for visitors under 30

Navigation games on the streets and conversation clubs in hostels are all part of the fun of figuring out Moscow when you’re young at heart. Source: Press Photo.

Hugging strangers, reciting poetry and looking for bird-shaped graffiti is not usually part of a city tour—but Moscow Game Tour is no ordinary company.

Nikita Bogdanov, 25, founder of the company, says: “It’s not a regular tour, it’s a quest. You interact with Russian people, and you gain more experience.”

Moscow Game Tour is one of a new breed of innovative tours run by and for young people. They are either low-cost or free, and prioritise interacting with locals over traditional sightseeing.

Mr Bogdanov started Moscow Game Tour in 2009 to encourage visitors to explore areas outside the city centre. In the tour, which costs 700 roubles (about $22), participants are “players” and complete challenges that lead them to clues in the shape of a matryoshka doll.

Discovering fairy-tale Moscow

Strolling around the Kremlin

Discovering a glorious corner of paradise

Many tasks involve asking passers-by for directions or trying a Russian phrase. Along the way, players discover interesting features such as a monastery canteen, or a Socialist Realist statue.

Some clues are easier to locate than others. “There was one spot that we absolutely could not find,” says Vera Baranova, 25, who took part in a quest at Tsaritsyno Park in south-east Moscow. “When we asked someone, it turned out that we were actually right on top of it.”

Mr Bogdanov also operates the Moscow Free Tour, which provides an overview of major sites between Kitai Gorod and the Kremlin free of charge. In peak season, this more traditional outing attracts between a dozen and 40 people every day; the Game Tour runs only once or twice a week and usually attracts between five and 10 participants. Convincing visitors to sign up for an unconventional tour can be a challenge. “The Free Tour is more popular because it’s more easily understandable,” Mr Bogdanov says. “For the Game Tour, you need to explain to people what it is.”

Business has picked up as Mr Bogdanov has formed relationships with hotels, major tour agencies including TUI and companies such as Google. This year, he also began receiving support from Moscow’s Committee for Tourism and the Hotel Industry, which has launched a programme called “Moscow Fresh” to support creative tourism.

Moscow Game Tour is one of a new breed of innovative tours run by and for young people. Source: Press Photo.

In addition to the Free Tour and Game Tour, Mr Bogdanov’s company offers daily paid-for tours with a variety of themes. The retro Communist Tour visits central Soviet landmarks, including the Lubyanka (former headquarters of the KGB); the Gulag Museum; a Soviet-style canteen and Eliseevsky, a regal shop on Tverskaya Street considered the grandest store in the Soviet Union (which these days sells imported French yoghurt and other modern luxuries).

Visitors can also venture below ground on the Metro Tour.  The latter stops at some of the most ornate stations in Moscow’s beloved Stalinist metro system, such as the mosaic-adorned Komsomolskaya. In an attempt to supply visitors with information beyond the average pocket guide, the tour recounts little-known facts about the metro, such as how many babies have been born on it.

Alexei Sotskov, 30, was inspired to start Moscow Greeter , a local franchise of the international Greeter network, after giving informal tours to friends. “I have a lot of friends in foreign countries, and when they come to Moscow I show them interesting places. So I thought it would be a great idea to start running a tourist service,” he says.

The greeters are mostly students learning English who take visitors to lesser-known sights, such as the former royal estate Kolomenskoye, as well as exhibitions and sporting events. The greeters not only show the tourists around but they also chat to them. “Greeters talk about their lives, their parents, where they’re from in Moscow, and where they study,” says Mr Sotskov. 

“Traditional guides just give people information they read in a book.”

Valentina Lebedeva, a second-year linguistics student, has been a greeter for two months. “When most people come to Moscow, they visit the Kremlin and everything, but they go back and they still don’t really get how people really live here,” she says.

“Greeters offers tourists a good way to get a real impression of Russia, so that you don’t just visit the usual tourist sights.”

Another unconventional tour company, Lovely Russia , also strives to provide a more engaging experience for tourists. “A lot of the tours I saw being run by tour providers were really boring, just buses with large crowds of 60 year-olds,” says the company’s co-founder Anna Shegurova, 25. “There was not a lot for a younger crowd, a more off-the-beaten-path kind of thing.” Lovely Russia offers a variety of $22 tours in English. Locations include metro stations, Constructivist landmarks and a “Moscow as it is” outing that winds through the city’s side streets. At the end of the tour, guides suggest places where participants can enjoy a beer.

Ms Shegurova says the guides try to show visitors “a different side of Russia”.

“It’s a great city with a really long and interesting history… but you wouldn’t really know unless you have someone with you who’s able to share this history and make it interesting,” she says.

For visitors without a guide, getting around Moscow can still be a challenge. Over the past year,  some English-language signs indicating the locations of historical sights have been put up, but metro and street signs remain in Cyrillic.

Mila, volunteer for 'wow local'

“Coming here, it’s very hard to get orientated,” says Irina Tripapina, 25, the organiser of WowLocal . “We decided to compensate for the lack of information in English by establishing a community of volunteers who are willing to help visitors find their way.” After passing language and navigation tests, WowLocal volunteers are given T-shirts and badges emblazoned with the phrase “Ask Me, I’m Local.” 

“Tourists can meet WowLocal at any part of the city and at any time – even at night in Butovo,” says Ms Tripapina, referring to the suburb south of Moscow.

Since the project started in July, Ms Tripapina says it has recruited about 400 volunteers. She wears her badge every day on her way to work, and says she’s frequently stopped by foreigners asking for directions (as well as Russians looking for the metro).

Occasionally, she fields some more unusual requests: “Once, a guy from Britain asked me where to get a bowl of pelmeni,” she says.

WowLocal also brings together local people and tourists through city navigation games and conversation clubs at hostels. “We bring volunteers together with the travellers, so that they can share with each other,” explains Ms Tripapina.

All rights reserved by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

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Does Taylor Swift's new album The Tortured Poets Department live up to the hype?

Taylor Swift's 11th studio album The Tortured Poets Department is here.

It's twice as long as we expected, after Swift casually released a second part of the album just two hours after the release of the first half.

Less surprising is the news that it's packed with references for Swifties to obsess over, and sees the 34-year-old singer spit venom at a couple of ex-boyfriends while she unpacks the emotions that come with being one of the most popular (and wealthiest) people on the planet.

To help us understand the album's standing from a fan's perspective, we've asked RN Breakfast and Q&A host Patricia Karvelas and ABC News reporters Megan Macdonald, Grace McKinnon and Jessica Riga to unpack their feelings after a weekend of living with this 122-minute collection.

How has The Tortured Poets Department lived up to your expectations so far?

Patricia Karvelas: TTPD has exceeded my expectations, and my expectations were high.

I passionately disagree with the naysayers who suggest Taylor Swift is too prolific and needs to take a break. No one puts Taylor in the corner. She is at her poetic songwriting peak and this album is the melding of the genres she's experimented in to deliver anthem after anthem of angsty, personal, raw storytelling.

I think history will judge this as one of her best albums and her artistry for writing lyrics is exceptional among her contemporaries.

Jessica Riga: I've fallen out of love with Taylor Swift in the past and bounced back, so with every new release I wonder when I might go cold again. But not today.

I prefer her more upbeat stuff, but I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying TTPD overall … but I have a lot of thoughts about the surprise double album, The Anthology.

Megan Macdonald: I had gathered from the visuals in the lead-up that TTPD was going to be an exploration of heartbreak and, as someone who enjoys "sad girl music", I have to say my expectations of TTPD have been well and truly met.

This album includes some of the saddest and most cutting lyrics I've heard from her. What has surprised me is the songs that include lyrics outlining depression and misery being accompanied with some of the most upbeat pop productions I've heard. Do we dance? Do we cry?

Grace McKinnon: Sad girl songs you can still dance to are my jam. This album delivered; it's giving hands in the air crying on the d-floor.

TTPD was exactly what I wanted it to be. It's my favourite albums – Midnights and Folklore – combined.

What's your favourite song on the album so far?

JR: So Long, London is such a stand-out. It was earmarked as soon as the track list was revealed as it's track five, which Swift usually sets aside for her most vulnerable entries.

It's devastating, but I smiled as soon as it started because it's so clever how her voice sounds like church bells ringing as a bride walks up the aisle.

It also has some of the most gut-wrenching lyrics on the album: "You swore that you loved me, but where were the clues?/I died on the altar waitin' for the proof."

MM: At the time of writing. I'm really enjoying But Daddy I Love Him.

Regardless of who it is about, it delivers some of the most cutting lines about the public's opinion and expectations of her personal life.

Some personal favourites include: "All the wine moms are still holdin' out, but f*** 'em, it's over"; and my favourite one to witness people hearing for the first time: "I'm havin' his baby, No, I'm not, but you should see your faces." Priceless.

GM: So High School is my favourite. I'm instantly transported to my teenage bedroom dancing around to early Taylor Swift. I love this grown-up nostalgic nod to young love – it's the reason I replay Taylor's cringe-y teen albums. It's a song you know the words to on the first listen.

PK: This is an unfair question so I'll give you my top three.

My number one is But Daddy I Love Him. I feel like I'm speeding on a highway trapped in a fast car of Swift's unregulated emotions. The build in this song is incredible, the pace anthemic, the lyrics brazen and risky.

I'd rather burn my whole life down Than listen to one more second of all this bitchin' and moanin' I'll tell you something 'bout my good name It's mine alone to disgrace I don't cater to all these vipers dressed in empath's clothing.

Swift takes on the Swifties and I'm here for it. Fake empathy is something I've been waiting to hear called out.

My number two pick is So Long, London which is the perfect break-up song.

My number three pick is Down Bad because it is the perfect pop anthem: It melds pop with heartbreak and those two are always a good mix.

Has anything about the album disappointed you?

JR: I wish she didn't release this as a secret double album, or there was more space given to the 16 tracks on The Tortured Poets Department before Swift dropped The Anthology.

I'm vibing with at least 10 songs on Tortured Poets, and yet nothing is really grabbing me (yet) on The Anthology. In my head, Swift diluted a strong album by releasing too much at once.

Fans slammed The New York Times' review in their Instagram comments because they wrote that the "sharpest" moments of Tortured Poets would have been "even more piercing in the absence of excess". I have to agree.

But the beauty with Swift's discography is that songs begin to resonate at different times, so I might feel differently once more time has passed.

GM: My gut reaction is to say, "CUT IT DOWN!" But after listening through, what would have made it better was time between TTPD albums. Dropping 31 songs on the same day makes it impossible to digest.

I wanted an album, not a novel. I was completely overwhelmed trying to enjoy the music, lyrics, references and themes. Releasing a flood of music at once meant I couldn't search for any songs to anchor to. I wouldn't cut the songs, but more time between albums is needed, please.

MM: When I saw thanK you aIMee (the lowercase and capitalisation is crucial here), I gasped.

I understand these songs were written over a two-year period and may not reflect how she feels now, but considering she mentioned the Kim Kardashian feud in her Time magazine profile not long ago, it appears this topic still angers her.

I don't think she needs to keep reflecting this in her songs. Her work speaks for itself in my opinion. She's on top of her game right now and I think dredging up an old feud isn't necessary.

Who cops it worse: long-term ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn or recent fling Matty Healy?

JR: Is it naive of me to be surprised that Matty Healy has such a big presence on this album? Yes, there are countless references to marriage and babies that can be easily placed into the Joe Alwyn pile, but the album's title track, But Daddy I Love Him and I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) all sound like references to Healy.

When the album dropped Swift wrote, "This period of the author's life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up," so here's hoping we never hear about either of them ever again.

MM: Imagine being Joe Alwyn, realising a short-term relationship following their six years together was what spurred some of her most emotionally complex songs.

I think fans are realising that her relationship with Healy started, potentially on and off, a lot longer ago than many realise. The impact is palpable. I mean, listen to The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived and you will understand.

It's comforting to know that even a star like Swift can't escape the devastation of a situationship or ambiguous romance with a troubled musician.

Swift writing these emotionally complex songs about her relationships is why I enjoy her music so much. You can apply so many of her lyrics to times or people in your own life. I think the focus on the men she writes about can be distracting and isn't often a question that male singer-songwriters deal with.

PK: The decoding games are fun, and she's left us all the clues we desire. But I always hear Swift's lyrics as a reflection of her emotions rather than taking much interest in the men she's writing about.

When she sings about wasted youth, it's relatable for anyone who's invested their 20s in a relationship that goes nowhere, and those tracks are obviously all aimed at her long-term ex Joe Alwyn.

There are a disturbingly high number of songs about Healy and honestly whatever happened in that summer love affair seems completely unhinged, but he must be thanked for all the good material he has provided at the very least.

I'd be embarrassed to be Matty Healy after listening to The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.

GM: Taylor can't tarnish Healy's reputation more than he can himself. Taylor says she knows he is chaos, but her name and reputation are her own to ruin for him.

Meanwhile Joe receives a short funeral and is called a "coward" in loml. Need another nail in the coffin? In How Did It End?, Taylor conducts a "post-mortem" and writes about "death rattle breathing … bereft and reeling, my beloved ghost and me … D-Y-I-N-G".

The Lover house has been burnt down and TTPD is the ashes.

What could have made the album better?

JR: A solid edit, which sounds harsh as the album has only been out for three days. But every artist needs to kill their darlings. If she released more than 30 songs, how many were actually cut in the end?

GM: In songwriting and content sometimes less is more. Give us space to enjoy TTPD before The Anthology release.

PK: This is going to be painful for me to admit but, in the spirit of a good Swift song, I'm going to embrace uncomfortable emotions and reveal that I think the second anthology part of the album needed an edit.

I liked the second part of the album dropping – but some of the songs needed to be omitted. I've said it. That was cathartic.

MM: I feel like this will become evident with more listens, but I believe the album could use some diversity amongst the tracks.

In saying that, Folklore is a favourite of mine, and you could argue the same with that album – so maybe it doesn't matter that we aren't getting a track that rivals Cruel Summer from Lover or Anti-Hero from Midnights. I'm still figuring it out.

What does The Tortured Poets Department tell us about Taylor Swift today?

JR: There's been so much criticism online about how she's (heaven forbid) a 34-year-old woman writing about the same themes as she was when she was younger, but that's the point.

She thought she had it all figured out, marriage and babies seemed closer than ever, and it still fell apart and she's pissed at how easy it is to feel reduced down to nothing and dealing with those same emotions of heartbreak.

MM: It tells me that she's not afraid to write about how she truly feels about being such a famous person. Hearing her critique elements of fame and her fandom across these lyrics made me really proud.

I think this is some of her most mature songwriting, it reflects a woman that has gone through some emotionally complex periods in her life – and obviously some gut-wrenching heartbreak – and what better way to process that pain than to turn it into art?

GM: Her life is her own. She lives in our spotlight but isn't afraid to call out the reciprocal toxic relationship between us.

PK: She is unapologetic about her status as the biggest artist in the world and has moved from girlhood to expressing the angst of a 20- or 30-something woman.

Final thoughts?

JR: I genuinely think this could win Taylor Swift's her fifth Grammy for album of the year. I didn't think Midnights really deserved the honour, but this has a strong chance – and it's going to piss a lot of people off.

PK: Swift is a truly intergenerational artist and continues to be, but it's time to admit that her music speaks to women in their 30s and 40s more than it does the tweens and teens

My own teenage daughter is way more interested in artists like SZA and I think that makes sense. I'm here for an aging Swift coming into her musical prime and rejecting her gatekeepers.

MM: I really hope, after listening, that Swift has an excellent therapist.

The Tortured Poets Department is out now.

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Putin says gunmen who raided Moscow concert hall tried to escape to Ukraine. Kyiv denies involvement

Russia’s Federal Security Service says at least 60 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded in an attack at a Moscow concert hall. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Putin suggests Ukraine was linked to deadly attack on Moscow-area concert hall

At least 133 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded in an attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall. Russian President Vladimir Putin says authorities have arrested four men suspected of carrying out the attack.

In this photo taken from video released by the Investigative Committee of Russia on Saturday, March 23, 2024, firefighter work in the burned concert hall after an attack on the building of the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia. (Investigative Committee of Russia via AP)

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People place flowers and toys by the fence next to the Crocus City Hall, on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Russia’s top state investigative agency says the death toll in the Moscow concert hall attack has risen to over 133. The attack Friday on Crocus City Hall, a sprawling mall and concert venue on Moscow’s western edge, also left many wounded and left the building a smoldering ruin. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

A woman reacts as she place flowers by the fence next to the Crocus City Hall, on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024, following an attack Friday, for which the Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Russian officials say more than 90 people have been killed by assailants who burst into a concert hall and sprayed the crowd with gunfire. (AP Photo/Vitaly Smolnikov)

Bodies of victims are loaded into vehicles at the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024, following an attack Friday, for which the Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Russian officials say more than 60 people have been killed and over 100 injured by assailants who burst into a concert hall and sprayed the crowd with gunfire. (AP Photo)

A massive blaze is seen over the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 22, 2024. Several gunmen have burst into a big concert hall in Moscow and fired automatic weapons at the crowd, injuring an unspecified number of people and setting a massive blaze in an attack days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on the country in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide. (Sergei Vedyashkin/Moscow News Agency via AP)

A view of the burnt Crocus City Hall after an attack, on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Russia’s top state investigative agency says the death toll in the Moscow concert hall attack has risen to over 133. The attack Friday on Crocus City Hall, a sprawling mall and concert venue on Moscow’s western edge, also left many wounded and left the building a smoldering ruin. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

People place flowers by the fence next to the Crocus City Hall, on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Russia’s top state investigative agency says the death toll in the Moscow concert hall attack has risen to over 133. The attack Friday on Crocus City Hall, a sprawling mall and concert venue on Moscow’s western edge, also left many wounded and left the building a smoldering ruin. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on the photo in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that authorities have detained 11 people in the attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed at least 115 people and left the sprawling venue a smoldering ruin. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

People react next to the Crocus City Hall, on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Russia’s top state investigative agency says the death toll in the Moscow concert hall attack has risen to over 133. The attack Friday on Crocus City Hall, a sprawling mall and concert venue on Moscow’s western edge, also left many wounded and left the building a smoldering ruin. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

In this photo taken from video released by Investigative Committee of Russia on Saturday, March 23, 2024, a Kalashnikov assault rifle lies on the ground as Investigators from the Investigative Committee of Russia together with the operational units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB, work the scene after an attack on the building of the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia. Several gunmen burst into a big concert hall in Moscow and fired automatic weapons at the crowd, injuring an unspecified number of people and setting a massive blaze in an apparent terror attack days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on the country in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide. (Investigative Committee of Russia via AP)

People stand at a body of a victim near the burning building of the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 22, 2024. Several gunmen burst into a big concert hall in Moscow and fired automatic weapons at the crowd, injuring an unspecified number of people and setting a massive blaze in an apparent terror attack days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on the country in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide. (AP Photo)

People lineup to donate blood to help victims of the attack in Crocus City Hall, near the Blood Center of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency, in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Over 90 people were killed, including three children, authorities said. (Denis Voronin/Moscow News Agency via AP)

A man places flowers on the fence near the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024, following an attack Friday, for which the Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Over 90 people were killed, including at least three children, authorities said. (AP Photo/Vitaly Smolnikov)

A view of the Crocus City Hall burned after an attack is seen on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Assailants burst into a large concert hall in Moscow on Friday and sprayed the crowd with gunfire, killing and injuring multiple people and setting fire to the venue in a brazen attack just days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on power in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide. (AP Photo/Vitaly Smolnikov)

Bodies of victims are loaded into vehicles at the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024, following an attack Friday, for which the Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Over 90 people were killed authorities said. (AP Photo)

A woman reacts as she comes to place flowers at the fence next to the Crocus City Hall, on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024, following an attack Friday, for which the Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Russian officials say more than 90 people have been killed by assailants who burst into a concert hall and sprayed the crowd with gunfire. (AP Photo/Vitaly Smolnikov)

Traffic on the highway passes a message displayed on a billboard that reads: “We Mourn 03.22.2024" in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024, following an attack Friday, for which the Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Russian officials say more than 90 people have been killed by assailants who burst into a concert hall and sprayed the crowd with gunfire. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

In this photo released by Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Saturday, March 23, 2024, firefighters work in the burned concert hall after an attack on the building of the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)

A woman lights candles at the fence next to the Crocus City Hall, on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, March 23, 2024. Russia’s top state investigative agency says the death toll in the Moscow concert hall attack has risen to over 133. The attack Friday on Crocus City Hall, a sprawling mall and concert venue on Moscow’s western edge, also left many wounded and left the building a smoldering ruin. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

People lay flowers tributes outside of the Russian embassy in Paris, Saturday, March 23, 2024, following an attack Friday on the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow for which the Islamic State group claimed responsibility. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

A Russian Rosguardia (National Guard) servicemen secures an area as a massive blaze seen over the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 22, 2024. Several gunmen have burst into a big concert hall in Moscow and fired automatic weapons at the crowd, injuring an unspecified number of people and setting a massive blaze in an apparent terror attack days after President Vladimir Putin cemented his grip on the country in a highly orchestrated electoral landslide. (AP Photo)

MOSCOW (AP) — The suburban Moscow music hall where gunmen opened fire on concertgoers was a blackened, smoldering ruin Saturday as the death toll in the attack surpassed 130 and Russian authorities arrested four suspects. President Vladimir Putin claimed they were captured while fleeing to Ukraine.

Kyiv strongly denied any involvement in Friday’s assault on the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, and the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate claimed responsibility.

Putin did not mention IS in his speech to the nation, and Kyiv accused him and other Russian politicians of falsely linking Ukraine to the assault to stoke fervor for Russia’s war in Ukraine, which recently entered its third year .

U.S. intelligence officials confirmed the claim by the IS affiliate.

“ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack. There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever,” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.

The U.S. shared information with Russia in early March about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow and issued a public warning to Americans in Russia, Watson said.

Putin said authorities detained a total of 11 people in the attack, which also wounded more than 100. He called it “a bloody, barbaric terrorist act” and said Russian authorities captured the four suspects as they were trying to escape to Ukraine through a “window” prepared for them on the Ukrainian side of the border.

Russian media broadcast videos that apparently showed the detention and interrogation of the suspects, including one who told the cameras he was approached by an unidentified assistant to an Islamic preacher via a messaging app and paid to take part in the raid.

Russian news reports identified the gunmen as citizens of Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia that is predominantly Muslim and borders Afghanistan. Up to 1.5 million Tajiks have worked in Russia and many have Russian citizenship.

Tajikistan’s foreign ministry, which denied initial Russian media reports that mentioned several other Tajiks allegedly involved in the raid, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the arrests.

Many Russian hard-liners called for a crackdown on Tajik migrants, but Putin appeared to reject the idea, saying “no force will be able to sow the poisonous seeds of discord, panic or disunity in our multi-ethnic society.”

He declared Sunday a day of mourning and said additional security measures were imposed throughout Russia.

The number of dead stood at 133, making the attack the deadliest in Russia in years. Authorities said the toll could still rise.

The raid was a major embarrassment for the Russian leader and happened just days after he cemented his grip on the country for another six years in a vote that followed the harshest crackdown on dissent since the Soviet times.

Some commentators on Russian social media questioned how authorities, who have relentlessly suppressed any opposition activities and muzzled independent media, failed to prevent the attack despite the U.S. warnings.

The assault came two weeks after the U.S. Embassy in Moscow issued a notice urging Americans to avoid crowded places in view of “imminent” plans by extremists to target large Moscow gatherings, including concerts. Several other Western embassies repeated the warning. Earlier this week, Putin denounced the warning as an attempt to intimidate Russians.

Investigators on Saturday combed through the charred wreckage of the hall for more victims. Hundreds of people stood in line in Moscow to donate blood and plasma, Russia’s health ministry said.

Putin’s claim that the attackers tried to flee to Ukraine followed comments by Russian lawmakers who pointed the finger at Ukraine immediately after the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy angrily rejected Moscow’s accusations as an attempt by Putin and his lieutenants to shift the blame to Ukraine while treating their own people as “expendables.”

“They are burning our cities — and they are trying to blame Ukraine,” he said in a statement on his messaging app channel. “They torture and rape our people — and they blame them. They drove hundreds of thousands of their terrorists here to fight us on our Ukrainian soil, and they don’t care what happens inside their own country.”

A massive blaze is seen over the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 22, 2024. (Sergei Vedyashkin/Moscow News Agency via AP)

Images shared by Russian state media showed emergency vehicles still gathered outside the ruins of the concert hall, which could hold more than 6,000 people and hosted many big events, including the 2013 Miss Universe beauty pageant that featured Donald Trump .

On Friday, crowds were at the venue for a concert by the Russian rock band Picnic.

Videos posted online showed gunmen in the venue shooting civilians at point-blank range. Russian news reports cited authorities and witnesses as saying the attackers threw explosive devices that started the fire, which eventually consumed the building and caused its roof to collapse.

Dave Primov, who survived the attack, told the AP that the gunmen were “shooting directly into the crowd” in the front rows. He described the chaos in the hall as concertgoers raced to escape: “People began to panic, started to run and collided with each other. Some fell down and others trampled on them.”

After he and others crawled out of the hall into nearby utility rooms, he said he heard pops from small explosives and smelled burning as the attackers set the building ablaze. By the time they got out of the massive building 25 minutes later, it was engulfed in flames.

“Had it been just a little longer, we could simply get stuck there in the fire,” Primov said.

Messages of outrage, shock and support for the victims and their families streamed in from around the world.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that the U.S. condemned the attack and noted that the Islamic State group is a “common terrorist enemy that must be defeated everywhere.”

IS, which lost much of its ground after Russia’s military action in Syria, has long targeted Russia. In a statement posted by the group’s Aamaq news agency, IS’s Afghanistan affiliate said it had attacked a large gathering of “Christians” in Krasnogorsk.

The group issued a new statement Saturday on Aamaq saying the attack was carried out by four men who used automatic rifles, a pistol, knives and firebombs. It said the assailants fired at the crowd and used knives to kill some concertgoers, casting the raid as part of IS’s ongoing war with countries that it says are fighting Islam.

In October 2015, a bomb planted by IS downed a Russian passenger plane over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, most of them Russian vacation-goers returning from Egypt.

The group, which operates mainly in Syria and Iraq but also in Afghanistan and Africa, also has claimed several attacks in Russia’s volatile Caucasus and other regions in the past years. It recruited fighters from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.

Russian Rosguardia (National Guard) servicemen secure an area at the Crocus City Hall on the western edge of Moscow, Russia, on Saturday, March 23, 2024. (Alexander Avilov/Moscow News Agency via AP)

The group’s Afghanistan affiliate is known variously as ISIS-K or IS-K, taking its name from Khorasan Province, a region that covered much of Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia in the Middle Ages.

The affiliate has thousands of fighters who have repeatedly carried out attacks in Afghanistan since the country was seized in 2021 by the Taliban, a group with which they are at bitter odds.

ISIS-K was behind the August 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul airport that left 13 American troops and about 170 Afghans dead during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal. They also claimed responsibility for a bomb attack in Kerman, Iran, in January that killed 95 people at a memorial procession.

On March 7, just hours before the U.S. Embassy warned about imminent attacks, Russia’s top security agency said it had thwarted an attack on a synagogue in Moscow by an IS cell and killed several of its members in the Kaluga region near the Russian capital. A few days before that, Russian authorities said six alleged IS members were killed in a shootout in Ingushetia, in Russia’s Caucasus region.

Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo in Washington and Colleen Long in Wilmington, Delaware, contributed to this report.

Moscow concert hall attack: Why is ISIL targeting Russia?

Deadly attack in Moscow claimed by ISIL affiliate leaves more than 133 people dead and approximately 100 injured.

More than 133 people have been killed and more than 100 others were injured following a brazen attack on concertgoers at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall before a performance by a Soviet-era rock band on Friday.

Assailants dressed in camouflage uniforms opened fire and reportedly threw explosive devices inside the concert venue, which was left in flames with its roof collapsing after the deadly attack.

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At least 115 killed, more than 185 injured in attack on moscow concert hall, more than 130 killed in moscow concert hall attack, ‘heinous, cowardly’: world reacts to attack on moscow concert hall, moscow concert hall attack: what do we know so far.

Eleven people had been detained, including four people directly involved in the armed assault, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Saturday.

ISIL’s Afghan branch – also known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K) – has claimed responsibility for the attack and United States officials have confirmed the authenticity of that claim, according to the Reuters news agency.

Here is what we know about the group and their possible motive for the Moscow attack.

ISIL’s Afghanistan branch

The group remains one of the most active affiliates of ISIL and takes its title from an ancient caliphate in the region that once encompassed areas of Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Turkmenistan.

The group emerged from eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and was made up of breakaway fighters of the Pakistan Taliban and local fighters who pledged allegiance to the late ISIL leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi .

The group has since established a fearsome reputation for acts of brutality.

Murat Aslan, a military analyst and former Turkish army colonel, said ISIL’s Afghanistan affiliate is known for its “radical and tough methodologies”.

“I think their ideology inspires them in terms of selecting targets. First of all, Russia is in Syria and fighting against Daesh [ISIL] like the United States. That means they see such countries as hostile,” Aslan told Al Jazeera.

“They are now in Moscow. Previously they were in Iran, and we will see much more attacks, maybe in other capitals,” he added.

Though its membership in Afghanistan is said to have declined since a peak in about 2018, its fighters still pose one of the greatest threats to the Taliban’s authority in Afghanistan.

Previous attacks by the group

ISKP fighters claimed responsibility for the 2021 attacks outside Kabul airport that left at least 175 civilians dead, killed 13 US soldiers, and many dozens injured.

The ISIL affiliate was previously blamed for carrying out a bloody attack on a maternity ward in Kabul in May 2020 that killed 24 people, including women and infants. In November that same year, the group carried out an attack on Kabul University, killing at least 22 teachers and students.

In September 2022, the group took responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing at the Russian embassy in Kabul.

Last year, Iran blamed the group for two separate attacks on a major shrine in southern Shiraz – the Shah Cheragh – which killed at least 14 people and injured more than 40.

The US claimed that it intercepted communications confirming that the group was preparing to carry out attacks before coordinated suicide bombings in Iran in January this year killed nearly 100 people in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman. ISKP claimed responsibility for the Kerman attacks.

Why is ISIL attacking Russia?

Defence and security analysts say the group has targeted its propaganda at Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent years over the alleged oppression of Muslims by Russia.

“Russian foreign policy has been one big red flag for ISIS [ISIL],” Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Washington-based Wilson Center told Al Jazeera. “The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Russian actions in Chechnya, Moscow’s close relationships with the Syrian and Iranian governments, and especially the military campaigns that Russia has waged against ISIS fighters in Syria and — through Wagner Group mercenaries – in parts of Africa.”

All of that has meant that Moscow has become a focus of ISKP’s “extensive propaganda war,” said Amira Jadoon, assistant professor at Clemson University in South Carolina and co-author of, The Islamic State in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Strategic Alliances and Rivalries.

“Russia’s engagement in the global fight against ISIS and its affiliates, especially through its military operations in Syria and its efforts to establish connections with the Afghan Taliban – ISIS-K’s rival – marks Russia as a key adversary for ISIS/ISIS-K,” Jadoon told Al Jazeera.

Should the Moscow attack be “definitely attributed” to ISKP, Jadoon said, the group hopes to win support and advance “its goal to evolve into a terrorist organisation with global influence” by demonstrating that it can launch attacks within Russian territory.

“ISK [ISKP] has consistently demonstrated its ambition to evolve into a formidable regional entity … By directing its aggression towards nations such as Iran and Russia, ISK not only confronts regional heavyweights but also underscores its political relevance and operational reach on the global stage,” Jadoon said.

Kabir Taneja, a fellow at the Strategic Studies Programme of the Observer Research Foundation – a think tank based in New Delhi, India – told Al Jazeera that Russia is seen by ISIL and its affiliates as “a crusading power against Muslims”.

“Russia has been a target for ISIS and not just ISKP from the beginning,” Taneja, author of the book, The ISIS Peril, said.

“ISKP attacked [the] Russian embassy in Kabul in 2022, and over the months, Russian security agencies have upped their efforts to clamp down on pro-ISIS ecosystems both in Russia and around its borders, specifically Central Asia and the Caucusus,” he said.

In early March, Russia’s Federal Security Service, better known as the FSB, said it had thwarted an ISIL plan to attack a Moscow synagogue.

“The most compelling current motivation for ISIS-K to attack Russia is the Taliban factor. The Taliban is a bitter rival of ISIS, and ISIS views Russia as a friend of the Taliban,” said Kugelman.

Moscow’s close relations with Israel are also anathema to ISIL’s ideology, Taneja said.

“So this friction is not new ideologically, but is so tactically,” he told Al Jazeera.

There’s another factor, too: Largely away from the world’s attention, the armed group has regrouped into a formidable force after setbacks in Syria and Iran.

“ISKP in Afghanistan has grown in strength significantly … and it’s not just ISKP, ISIS in its original regions of operations, Syria and Iraq, also sees [an] uptick in operational capabilities,” Taneja said. Today, he added, it is “ideologically powerful even if not politically, tactically or strategically … that powerful any more”.

That poses a challenge for a distracted world, he said.

“How to combat this is the big question at a time when big power competition and global geopolitical churn has put counterterrorism on the back burner,” Taneja added.

How has ISIL responded?

ISKP social media channels are “jubilant” following the attack on Moscow, said Abdul Basit, a senior associate fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore.

“They are celebrating the attack,” Basit told Al Jazeera, adding that supporters are “translating and recirculating the responsibility claim” issued by the ISIL-linked Amaq News Agency.

Basit said that ISIL’s method of operations involves amplifying a propaganda campaign in advance of large-scale attacks and this had been observed in recent anti-Russian messaging. Such attacks “add to the credibility” of armed groups, Basit explained, which then “increases the scope of their funding, recruitment and propaganda”.

More attacks are possible in Russia and elsewhere, he added, given the key role that ISIL recruits of Central Asian origin – particularly Tajiks – played when the group held territory in Syria. They have now returned to the Central Asia region and their intent to carry out attacks has now materialised in capability, Basit said.

Previous attacks in Russia

Moscow and other Russian cities have been the targets of previous attacks.

In 2002, Chechen fighters took more than 900 people hostage in a Moscow theatre, the Dubrovka, demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya and an end to Russia’s war on the region.

Russian special forces attacked the theatre to end the standoff and 130 people were killed, most suffocated by a gas used by security forces to leave the Chechen fighters unconscious.

The deadliest attack in Russia was the 2004 Beslan school siege which was carried out by members of a Chechen armed group seeking Chechnya’s independence from Russia. The siege killed 334 people, including 186 children.