If I can’t have you around me

My article, that has been published recently on one czech website, in english...:-)

Those of you who have already heard about this Swedish rock band would agree that they are something really unique in the music scene of nowadays and that they simply can´t be ranked to any of the well-known labels. An Indie band? Maybe. In the first place they are just Mando Diao. A band who´s making music with passion and devotion, the music that they love. A group that is not afraid to experiment.  

Because to pass from the loud, plugged style full of energy to the almost chamber, calm unplugged version and not to lose anything from the perfection, really needs to have a ´fire´. And Mando Diao did it. Not only they didn´t lose their fans from the past, they even gained crowds of new fans who were so captivated by the unplugged side of them that they immediately became ones of these incurable and desperate mandoholics.

Last year in September Mando Diao recorded an album named Above and Beyond in the Mtv Unplugged format. The recording took place in Berlin, with participation of lots of famous personalities. At random let´s name the frontman of the legendary band The Kinks – Ray Davies.  The album was released in December last year and had so much success that Mando Diao decided to go for a purely unplugged tour.

Courageous, you may tell. But this band would probably cease to exist if they kept following the same stereotype and the same rules. The thing that drives them ahead is the change. The courage to take risks. And Mando Diao took the risk with the Unplugged format. How it will end we´ll see for sure at the end of this year. Till now they have played two acoustic concerts in Hamburg and Mannheim with the same success as at their first acoustic concert in Berlin.

But not everything is perfect (as always). Still more and more voices are calling for the ´good old loud Mando Diao´ who would warm it on the stage like no one else. Because these (until recently) five guys are the best live band of the nowadays music scene.

Why am I saying until recently? And here I´m getting to the ´shady´ side of the changes. According to the latest news from their official website mandodiao.com, Samuel Giers is no longer the drummer of Mando Diao. He left Mando Diao after the decision of all members of the band.

Could be Mando Diao still Mando Diao even without one of its members? Let´s hope that the dark predictions stand only the dark predictions and nothing more. And that Mando Diao will not lose anything else that is needed to be still something special among bands whose main idea is: the Independence.