LadyDot Review: Klischée Gig Report

Report From The Klischée Gig In Mendrisio (Switzerland)

Close your eyes and try to remember what you have been dreaming about lately. What have you been waiting for? Me, apart from dreaming about reducing the interest rate on my house loan (haha!), for a very long time I wanted to go to a Klischée gig. Really, I talked about it non-stop. This dream was shared with me by my husband, Michał, who also loves this band.

In March, I reviewed on the Electro Swing Thing blog one of the songs that Klischée remixed – it was ‘Pressure’, which is performed in the original by the band Marina & The Kats (you can read the review HERE). At the time, I wrote that one of my greatest desires was to go to a Klischée gig, as I loved their songs and admired their incredible talent.

Even then, I didn’t believe that in three months’ time it would all become a reality. And now, I will give you my report of this gig. I am very excited and I hope you are too!

A Little Turbulence That Led Us To Mendrisio

Forgive me, but I have to mention our Eurotrip once again, as it is really crucial to the story going forward. :) We really wanted to go to Portugal. Thanks to a conversation on Instagram with Klischée, I found out that they would be playing a gig on 1 July in Biel/Bienne. Everything was falling into place for us – we figured we’d have two more days to get back to Poland after the gig (as our holiday was coming to an end on 3 July) when we returned from Portugal.

However, about halfway through the Eurotrip we changed our plans – we were very tired and I didn’t want to spend most of the time travelling. I went to the Klischée website and saw that they would be playing in Mendrisio, which is in the south of Switzerland, very close to the Italian border, on 25 June. We took this as a good sign – we would have more time to go back to Poland, so we could spend some more time with our family.

Before I go on to report on the gig, let me tell you an interesting fact: Klischée were very surprised that we came to Mendrisio – after all, we were supposed to meet at the gig a week later! I later understood what this surprise was due to, but I will tell you more about that later in the report.

Like A Swiss watch

The gig started evenly at midnight. In Poland, and perhaps also in other countries, there is a saying that “everything runs like a Swiss watch” (everything is well planned, always on time). This proved to be true here one hundred per cent! Before the guys took to the stage, thanks to the electrifying visuals, I had the feeling that this fantastic electricity was sweeping through my whole body. It was wonderful.

It got even better with every minute. Not only thanks to the music, which I will tell you about in a moment. Klischée created a complete show: with brilliant graphic visuals, light and smoke effects (the stage looked like it was on fire, wow!) and fantastic dancing (Willy, Domi and Benji are not only great artists, but also dancers – you’ll see that when you go to one of their gigs! :)). However, I noticed that someone at this show was just missing….

When I later watched the videos of the Biel/Bienne gig, I already knew I wasn’t wrong. There was no Kili in Mendrisio. And a week later, not only did he appear at the gig, but also a trombonist and a guest vocalist. I was a little sad that a confluence of events prevented me from being able to go to Biel/Bienne. However, I have no regrets, as Klischée proved to me that even with a smaller line-up they can rock an audience, encourage them to play together and make this an event I will not forget for the rest of my life.

Music That Doesn’t Stop Resounding In My Ears….

This performance was one big energetic bomb. The band played their biggest musical bangers, such as ‘Come with Me’, ‘Bad Things’, ‘Get This (Bang Bang)’, ‘Le Wéekend’, ‘Tin Tin’, ‘Mais Non’ in two versions… I could go on and on! There were also some brilliant remixes, namely ‘By Your Side’, ‘Pressure’ and ‘Bella Ciao’.

To my surprise, Klischée also played some covers, which were simply outstanding. I have never heard such a well-played version of “It Don’t Mean a Thing” and one of my favourite songs, i.e. “Just the Two of Us” (Michał and I were supposed to dance the first dance at our wedding to this song, seriously! :)).

What captivated me? Everything! Domi and Benji, who cared so much about every sound, every melody, every mix. They were jumping all the time and you could see they were soaking up all that energy from the audience. Willy, who enchants and delights with his fantastic voice. From whom you simply cannot take your eyes off when he dances. And, of course, Christian, who is an outstanding saxophonist whose skills make the stage instantly that much sunnier. He told me that he has been playing the saxophone for over 30 years, wow!

P.S. the master of light, Christian, I haven’t forgotten you either! How fantastically you built up the tension with this amazing play of light delighted and captivated us. Bravo!

I recorded quite a few videos during the gig. Some of them are not suitable for publication – I was singing so loudly that I was drowning out Willy! :)

‘Tell Me About The Groupies And The Crazy Afterparties’!

You already know how impressed I was by the gig. However, what happened right afterwards totally exceeded my wildest expectations. Okay, I rather expected the guys to take a souvenir photo with me. But it certainly didn’t occur to me that we would be so warmly welcomed (P.S. Swiss beer is really very good, but you absolutely must come to Poland and try our beer.

Poland is famous, among other things, for its huge hops crop! :)). Among other things, I talked to Willy about the album “Bend the Rules”, which I love (and which I wasn’t fully convinced about after listening to the songs for the first time – I had to play it several times to love it so much).

Apparently this album wasn’t appreciated by many people, so I very, very much encourage you to give this album another listen – and I guarantee you’ll definitely find something there for you. That’s how I discovered ‘Du pays des couleurs’ – it’s been one of my favourite songs ever since. I have also included it in my list of ‘Top 10 Electro Swing hits’ – even though it is not pure Electro Swing. You can read the review at this link: HERE!

P.S. You are probably wondering where I got the title for this part of the text. It’s a quote from the song ‘Come with Me’ (from the album ‘Bend the Rules’, of course). Don’t get me wrong, there is absolutely no hidden message here, it’s just that the title really suited me here, haha! :)

Music That Makes You Feel Better – The Best Gift You Can Get

Willy was shocked that I knew all the lyrics to Klischée‘s songs. Let me clarify right away: no, I absolutely do not learn them by heart. That’s just the way I am – I listen to a song several times and just memorise everything immediately. Good music expressly reaches my heart and stays there for a very long time. :)

A little while later Domi came up to us and asked: “Do you already have our album? Because if not, we’d like to give it to you as a gift”. This was a huge surprise for me – I was totally not expecting it. I got a wonderful dedication and autographs from the guys. When I arrived after my trip to my hometown, Lublin, I played the album to my mum (we were making “pierogi”, a popular Polish dish). She couldn’t stop dancing, she was simply delighted! She told me: “now I just understand why you love Electro Swing so much”. I can’t remember the last time I was so happy!

Thanks to me, Klischée’s music has already reached a lot of my friends. Some can no longer imagine a party without songs like ‘Bad Things’, ‘Swing It Like Roger’, ‘Tin Tin’ or ‘Du pays des couleurs’, of course. Sometimes I feel I have my own little mission – to show people how wonderful, colourful and multidimensional Electro Swing is. And with the help of Klischée’s music, their support and the wonderful words I heard during this fantastic gig, this is easier than I could have imagined.

Written & reviewed by LadyDot (Ja, Wizeruk) Date: 2022-07-25

Bio – LadyDot

Anna (LadyDot) was born in ’94, but always felt she came from the Golden Twenties. “Polka” in Polish means “girl from Poland”, so she’s “Polka in polka dots”. She loves vintage style and spontaneous travels around Europe. But her greatest love (apart from her husband) is of course music, especially Electro Swing.

On her own Blog www.jawizeruk.pl she writes about various music genres. She is a copywriter, so writing is her strong point. Anna likes singing (not only in the shower!) and cooking (especially Italian and Hungarian cuisine).