concert #60: mando diao @ gasometer

2024-02-16 22:35:16

noise and smoke: mando diao were in the gasometer!

It was Monday evening and I went to the gasometer with extremely ambivalent feelings. On the one hand I was looking forward to “mando diao”, on the other hand I actually wanted to stay at home on the couch because I was incredibly tired. Anyway – I was already there and just looked at the merchandise stand before the concert and I was about to buy a poster. But just before that: I couldn’t buy a poster with my ambivalent feelings – what if the evening developed in a negative direction and I then also had a souvenir poster? I couldn’t take that risk.

At some point it started with the support act “shelterboy“And I was torn about him too and didn’t really know how to find him. In some way I thought he was cool, but in some way I didn’t. I just wasn’t sure. However, I was sure that the stage lights illuminated him to his advantage and created an atmosphere that he could really be happy about. It’s not every day that you get such great light!

Admittedly, I looked at the setlist in advance, somehow I wanted to be on the lookout and know that at least a few favorite songs would be played. Actually, I always prefer to let myself be surprised and carried away by the mood, but when the feelings are ambivalent, security is the better idea.

In any case, at some point they stumbled “mando diao“ onto the stage and shone with groomed hairstyles and patent leather shoes. With lots of good humor, they not only tried to push themselves, but also to convey their state of mind to the entire audience. But somehow the mood in the room didn’t really want to boil over, the reason: the audience. In fact, there were a lot of talkative, drunk and pompous individuals in the crowd, destroying other people’s concert experience.

When the songs “Ochrasy” and “Long before Rock’n’Roll” played in special versions including hats, I was actually hoping for a homely atmosphere or a crackling feeling in the air. But I was able to get rid of that too – the gasometer was simply too big for the desired ambience.

I looked for a place throughout the concert where I could linger without overhearing other people’s conversations. At some point I thought, right at the front, where a friend was, there wouldn’t be any gossip and you would be able to see well. and well, then the fog came. And this fog was so heavy that sometimes you couldn’t even really see the band from the front rows.

In the third part of the setlist a few more hits finally followed and I was able to tune out the gossiping audience for a short while. The hits were real hits, including poses and a naked torso! Apart from that, the light was always quite good and illuminated the group very atmospherically.

In the encore part, the band gave it their all again and tried very hard to encourage even the last people gossiping to sing – since the visitors already had their mouths open, it finally made sense. Almost at the end, during the song “Dance with Somebody,” the group also called for people to kneel down and jump up together with “Mando Diao” and celebrate the moment. and that worked well – but unfortunately much too late. How nice would such interactions have been from time to time throughout the concert?

The song “Love Last Forever” ended the performance and I headed straight home. I really wanted to go to sleep and sort out the ambivalent feelings!