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Mando DiaoDen Atelier, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
25th August 2019
Mando Diao

With songs like ‘Dance with Somebody’, MANDO DIAO have impressed many fans in the last twenty years. That the Swedish band can still enthuse even after such a long time, they proved in 2017 with their eighth studio album ‘Good Times’. During their summer tour the five guys made a little stop in Luxembourg.

The statistics are an impressive resume of productivity. Since 2002 MANDO DIAO has released seven studio albums that have sold millions of copies worldwide. The album ‘Infruset’ in 2013 was a cultural phenomenon in Sweden, selling 4x platinum, #1 for 17 weeks and the single ‘Infruset’ was on “Svenkstoppen” for 167 weeks with 86 at #1. In their career they have played more than 1,500 concerts in more than 30 countries and have headlined major festivals throughout the world. Their videos have gone viral with tens of millions of views on YouTube. They have released both a B-side and Greatest Hits collections and even an MTV Unplugged album. Many of their contemporary bands have come and gone but MANDO DIAO has continued to reach new heights and re-define popular music. MANDO DIAO is known for its classic rock and roll sound. For them music is a craftwork as they each play several instruments, are producers and songwriters. They started their career drawing heavy influences from rhythm and blues, tHE BEATLES, THE ROLLING STONES and THE KINKS. As they developed they took in more Pop and Dance themes, but have always maintained the energy and attitude of early rock and roll paired with Björn’s unmistakable soulful voice. Constant touring with their energetic performances has established MANDO DIAO as an international headliner.

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Music & Performance
With a few minutes delay the Swedes entered the stage to open immediately with ‘All The Things’ from their current album. How well the Swedes felt on stage was immediately obvious. The interplay of the band caught the eye, but also singer Björn Dixgård, who always brought the rest of the band into focus. The Swedes put a lot of energy into the whole set and you could see the fun and the passionate devotion to the music. The energy of the audience unfortunately didn’t do the band justice. But maybe this was due to the fact that the audience was rather influenced by an older generation. Curse and blessing at the same time: neither annoying crowd or screeching, nor complete concert recordings via smartphone. The mood was still not particularly euphoric towards the end, and unfortunately there was often no singing along or a lot of movement. Singer Björn Dixgård’s voice was perfectly accompanied by the instrument and harmonized impressively. The setlist was well arranged: The songs of the new album were well integrated so that the transitions were quite harmonious. From the old classics like ‘Long Before Rock’n’Roll’ or ‘Gloria’ to new hits like ‘Shake’ or ‘Good Times’ everything was included. Especially striking was the staging of these: Also the new, rather pop sounding songs of the current album sounded much like rocking live!

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MANDO DIAO are really recommended live. Their show is kept simple, but that achieves even more effect. The fact that a lot has changed within the band since the last albums is not noticeable at all and the Swedes have conjured up a good mixture of energy, “joie de vivre” and fun on stage.

Setlist
01. Intro
02. All The Things
03. White Wall
04. Long Before Rock‘n‘Roll
05. You Got Nothing On Me
06. Shake
07. Good Times
08. Sweet Wet Dreams
09. Gloria
10. Forgive Forget
11. Dancing All The Way To Hell
12. He Can’t Control You
13. One Two Three
14. Ochrasy
15. Voices On The Radio
16. Mr Moon
17. Sweet Ride
18. One Last Fire
19. Down In The Past
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20. Black Saturday
21. Dance With Somebody

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 9
Light. 8
Total. 8.3 / 10

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All Pictures by Elena Arens

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