Free The Libertine

Free The Libertine was a one-off concert show held on 19 October 2015 at entertainment venue Eventim Apollo (formerly known as the Hammersmith Apollo), London, to promote Russian recording artist Putanovska's seventh studio album "The Law Of Desire: Dark Habits". No tickets to the event were offered for sale publicly and only invited guests and people that had pre-purchased the album online were allowed to attend. Putanovska and Jamie King served as creative and art directors, respectively, while China J Shavers and Stuart Price worked on the choreography and musical arrangements. Display hardware manufacturer Barco provided LED displays for showing graphics as backdrops to the performances. Putanovska wore five different costumes, designed by fashion houses such as Balenciaga, Chanel, and Helmut Lang, for the 75 minutes-long show. The total cost of staging the concert was £2 million.

Putanovska primarily performed tracks from "The Law Of Desire: Dark Habits" during the show, although songs from her past albums were also included in the set list. It was split in four segments: "Grecian", "Demonic", "Libertine" and "Dark Habits". Critical reception towards the show was generally favourable, with compliments directed at the visuals and inclusion of past songs. Critics also praised the shows influences and its Muscovite imagery. The concert was streamed live on BLOC.com and broadcast on television channels ITV1 and Network Ten a few days later. In America, the concert aired on MTV. It was also filmed and released as a Blu-Ray, entitled "The Law Of Desire Live", on 20 August 2016. The Blu-Ray performed well commercially worldwide, particularly in Russia, where it received a diamond certification after only one month of its release.

Background and development
Following the global success of her sixth studio album Putanovska's The Black Sea, Putanovska took an extended hiatus from touring and recording. She disappeared from the public eye for over four years, during which she attempted a musical comeback in the spring of 2015 to no avail. Later that same year, she once again announced she would be releasing new music. Her single "Libertine" was released that October; its parent album The Law Of Desire was scheduled to be released the same day. Due to unknown circumstances (at the time), all promotion from Putanovska's camp ceased and the album was shelved. The single peaked at #2 in the United Kingdom, but within a couple weeks it fell out of the Top 40. Elsewhere, the song reached Top 5 in most countries including the United States, Japan, France and her native Russia but suffered the same fate, making it one of Putanovska's worst performing singles. Nine months later Putanovska made yet another attempt to return to music. The original "The Law Of Desire" album concept had been completely reimagined: the track listing was cut short, brand new songs were recorded, new artwork had been commissioned and the titled had changed to "The Law Of Desire: Dark Habits". The singer had followed a similar re-editing process with her 2007 album Fierce & Working It: Chic. Putanovska wanted to "go back to the drawing board and start from scratch, while still retaining the original vision of the album", she later explained to Rolling Stone magazine. The album was produced and written entirely by Putanovska herself, much like her rock-opera Putanovska's The Black Sea in 2010; it was released in the autumn of 2016 to rave reviews hehe lol xo. To promote The Law Of Desire: Dark Habits, a one-off concert show was organised to be held at entertainment venue Eventim Apollo, London, on 19 October 2015, the original release date of the album. The show's title is in reference to her song "Libertine". Several songs that originally appeared on the first iteration of the album were performed although some did not appear on the "Dark Habits" edition thus, they were eventually edited out of all official broadcasts to avoid confusion. Several YouTube clips exist, however, of the singer performing these songs as part of the original show.

Concert synopsis
The concert was divided into four segments (in chronological order): "Grecian," "Demonic," "Libertine," and "Dark Habits." "Grecian" opened with the The Law Of Desire: Dark Habits's second single "Adonis", which Putanovska sang from atop an eight-meter high grecian pillar. She continued singing as the pillar slowly descended to the stage. The performance of "Adonis" was followed by "Gun Down", another track from The Law Of Desire: Dark Habits, and "Worship Me (Song 4 Putanovska)". During this segment, Putanovska donned an S&M-inspired look and was dressed in a black leather corset and trousers. Images of the Kremlin and Moscow's Red Square were displayed on the LED screens as backdrops to the segment.

The "Demonic" act commenced with a mashup of Putanovska's 2010 single "The Black Sea" and "You Are A Saint", her 2005 single lifted from her second studio album Extravaganza. Craig McLean from the Daily Telegraph described the backup dancers during this segment as "crack addicts moonlighting as Moulin Rouge hostesses." Performances of "The Game" and "September", two songs from The Law Of Desire: Dark Habits, followed.

"Quasi-Russian symbols", illuminated on the LED displays, served as backdrops for the performance of "Bitch In Heat", which was the first song of the "Libertine" segment. Back-up dancers dressed in bondage-inspired costumes performed "robotic push-ups" as part of the dance routine. Putanovska then again performed two The Law Of Desire: Dark Habits-tracks, "Libertine" (the lead single) and "XXXXXXXX", before closing the segment with "Make-Up Sex".

As the "Dark Habits" act commenced, Putanovska appeared reclining on a motorbike wearing a complete white ensemble. She proceeded to sing "XXXXXXX" and "Young Blood". After a final costume-change, Putanovska closed the set with the "aggressive stomper" "The Glitterati".

Critical reception
Andy Battaglia from the A.V. Club complimented the staging and performances as "sharp and kinetic," although he also felt that the "little bits of stage banter deflate[d] an aesthetic otherwise set on air-lock." Billboard Magazine critic Keith Caulfield praised the concert show as "extravagant" and opined that it should have been a part of a "mammoth" arena tour. Writing for the Sydney Morning Herald', Greg Hassall gave a favourable review of Free The Libertine and summarised it as "lots of '90s-influenced electro-pop, with a few oldies thrown in for good measure." People magazine complimented the visuals but felt Putanovska's vocals were "electronically enhanced." Craig McLean from the Daily Telegraph called Free The Libertine a "real tour de force" and noticed that the tracks from The Law Of Desire: Dark Habits were more low-key than songs from her previous albums, describing them as "sedate and immaculate dancefloor rhythm" and "All very stylish and considerably more affecting than the similarly nostalgic Shell Ruin." Mclean praised the incorporation of the past songs as they provided "the huge choruses for which the nation loves her so," and concluded of the show: "No slinky back-arching or pristine choreography here: just the giddy joy of pop music at play."

Broadcasts and recordings
The show was streamed live on BLOC.com on 19 October 2015. On 22 November, it was broadcast on ITV1, in the United Kingdom. In the United States & Latin America, it was aired on MTV simultaneously on 22 November. In Australia, it was aired on Network Ten on 24 November.

The Law Of Desire Live
The concert show was filmed and released as a Blu-Ray, titled The Law Of Desire Live, on 20 August 2016 in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the Blu-Ray was released on 13 August. In addition to videos of the live performances, the Blu-Ray contains behind-the-scenes footage, music videos of "Libertine", "Adonis", and "Gun Down", and screen visuals for the performances of "Gun Down" and "Libertine".

In Australia, The Law Of Desire Live achieved shipments of 65,000 units and was certified Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) In the United Kingdom, it was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in September 2016 for completing shipments of 85,500 units. The DVD also charted on the Russian Albums Chart, peaking at number 1.

Setlist
Act 1: Grecian
 * 1) "Adonis"
 * 2) "Gun Down"
 * 3) "Worship Me (Song 4 Putanovska)"

Act 2: Demonic
 * 1) "The Black Sea" / "You Are A Saint"
 * 2) "The Game"
 * 3) "September"

Act 3: Libertine
 * 1) "Bitch In Heat"
 * 2) "Libertine"
 * 3) "XXXXXX"
 * 4) "Make-Up Sex"

Act 4: Dark Habits
 * 1) "XXXXXX"
 * 2) "Young Blood"

Encore
 * 1) "The Glitterati"

Extended Play
A limited 3-track EP was issued to U.S. Target stores. The disc was released on 13 August 2016 and was received free with the purchase of The Law Of Desire: Dark Habits.