Wakey Wakey Zurich! It's Mando Diao!

On Tuesday night I got to see Mando Diao at Kaufleuten thanks to Mainland Music. The venue was sold out and it was quite packed. Luckily I found a good spot on the balcony. The Swedish lads have been around for ages but I never managed to see them live so I was super excited to cross them off my bucket list.

First up were a German band called RAZZ who reminded me of The New Cities. I liked their music but they couldn’t fully catch my attention. Nevertheless it was a good warm up and the sound suited Mando Diao.

At 8.30 the lights went off and a long intro started. Finally the 5 musicians came on stage and the energy immediately radiated off them. With “San Francisco Bay” and “All the Things” they literally tried to wake us up and Björn the lead singer asked the crowd to come even closer to the stage. So his first words to us were:

Wakey Wakey Zurich!

“Sweet Ride” was next and one of my favourite songs of the night was “Good Times”. I loved the vibe and the good feeling the song transported. It will deffo make my playlist. We were asked to put our hands up and everyone complied. This was the perfect way to get everyone clapping. It looked amazing from the balcony and the Kaufleuten was buzzin’. “All my senses”, “Dancing all the way to hell” and “One two three” followed and by then I knew I should have seen them live sooner. Mando Diao is an absolute force on stage and they are making sure that you will have a good time for around 100 minutes of your day.

The lights were amazing and different for every song. During “Mr. Moon” and “The Band” I looked around the audience and everyone had a smile on their face and were dancing. During “Break Us” only Björn Dixgard and the first Mando Diao member Daniel Haglund were on stage. Together they played this beautiful ballade – moment to just enjoy. Björn’s voice is quite remarkable. It seems like he drinks Whiskey for breakfast to get this beautiful raspy voice.

The three others came back and the rock show continued with “Voices on the radio”, “Watch me now” and “Down in the past”. The guys did an amazing job to include everyone. Even the people on the balcony were involved. Mando Diao created a great atmosphere! Suddenly it felt like Kaufleuten turned the heating on. The warmth was rising from the people below or maybe it was just because Björn took of his shirt? 😉

Before we were all looking for that special girl in the audience we rocked to “You got nothing on me”. And there she was “Gloria” – a huge hit and everyone knew it so we were asked to sing the chorus. So everyone shouted “Gloria” but the rest of the lyrics were quite a mumble which made even the band smile. So here are the lyrics for next time:

So Gloria steps out from the prison
Gloria’s no longer the wasted disco girl
You’ve been dreaming about
Gloria, alone now forever
Gloria, away in the air now
Gloria, she’s no longer your slave, no, no

The Swedes left the stage after they played “Ochrasy” but of course they were brought back thanks to a continuous very loud cheer of the Kaufleuten audience. “Child” was the first encore but obviously they hadn’t played two of their biggest hits yet. So “Shake” was next and literally everybody was shaking their body and singing as loud as they could. During the song Björn went off stage and Jens Siverstedt took the mic. He introduced the bass player Carl-Johan Fogelklou, the drums Patrik Heikipieti – the beast from the north! – and Daniel on the keys.

Björn rejoined the band to sing one last song: “Dance with Somebody”! The energy level rose to the max and I guess this is why Mando Diao plays the smaller clubs. This kind of energy is quite hard to reach in bigger venues. I could see everyone’s hands in the air and we were all singing along. Patrik joined the four musicians in the front and the 5 stood there to orchestrate the Kaufleuten crowd. So the gig ended with a choir of

I’m falling in love with your favorite song
I’m gonna sing it all night long
I’m gonna dance with somebody
Dance with somebody
Dance, dance, dance

I absolutely loved this end to an amazing rock gig. Björn said they were proud to sing in front of us and thanked us for coming out to see them since without us they’d still be a band playing in a garage. These are the kind of artists I want to support with my hard earned money. A Mando Diao Fan is born – I know I’m a bit late to the party but hey better late than never! 😉 Hopefully they’ll be back for some festivals in the summer so I really have to start listening to their newest record “Good Times“.
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