On October 29, 2011 Lviv witnessed a grand opening of a new Lviv Arena stadium.

For several thousands of viewers the ceremony started with a quest mission of “finding a stadium entrance”. Not all the entrances were in operation, moreover, numerous stewards and even more numerous police officers advised on going in different directions. You had to watch your step at all times, and generally stay very cautious, as the territories, adjacent to the stadium weren’t properly lit, the roads hadn’t been laid, and the potholes hadn’t been mended. And at the very stadium the hole in the roof had simply got covered with a dozen square meters of white construction netting.

Now, on to more pleasant things. Several thousands of volunteers created a breathtaking dancing show with fire, luminous special effects and wonderful music. After the dancing, huge screens lit up with a “soviet documentary”-style video, the gist of which could be rendered briefly as “former government is doo-doo, while this one is goody-goody”, which resulted in digital Victor Yanukovych getting a cold shoulder in the form boo-ing and whistling.

The participants of the next episode, on the contrary, received a much warmer welcome. The “newsreel” was followed by a parade of outstanding sportsmen, FC “Karpaty Lviv” players, world and Olympic champions, including such stars as Kulchytskyi, Lykhachov, Paves, Vaida, Yurchyshyn, Bal, Kotelnyk, Petrov, and many others. When all the sportsmen gathered on stage, two little kids cut the ribbon and thus opened the stadium.

Later on, Ruslana appeared on stage with a new song, followed by a quite long spectacle of balloon-reptiles and a lady with two tiger heads for breasts. After a 10 minute-long holdup, there arrived Anastacia, a American singer, whose pictures we won’t be able to show you, since the organizers limited the picture-taking time to the very first 60 seconds of the concert. That’s why here we post the photos of the fireworks, which show that, paraphrasing a prominent writer, a bright and colorful future is in store for both the stadium and the Ukrainians.

Photos by Roman Baluk, Taras Chaikivskyi
Text by Yarema Dukh

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