Almost on time, he is suddenly on the stage in the small Posthof of the Deutsches Museum. We know from interviews that Nino Mandl, who calls himself “Nino from Vienna” as an artist, likes excess and actually likes to fill the space for airs and graces that his status as one of the biggest indie pop names in Austria allows. He then immediately announces that it is actually “a small miracle” that the evening is taking place: because he has only just recovered from poisoning, “sort of like food poisoning”. Probably self-inflicted. He looks lightly tanned and extremely healthy: written all over his face like the pale, emaciated Nino used to be, an excessive lifestyle is no longer for him.
The evening is also a miracle because two bandmates dropped out. But a replacement was quickly found: Nino and guitarist Raphael Sas are joined this evening by Thomas Pronai on bass guitar and David Wukitsevits on drums. Pronai produced the new album “Eiszeit”, from which a lot will be played this evening. The album is more rock-heavy than most of the last few years. The songs alternate between rock and indie pop, the lyrics deliver the two things that good lyrics simply have to do: empathize with suffering on the one hand – in the moments when life is “tough” and love in the end is always just that a “sweet fight” as in the song “Lucky Charm”. And on the other hand it can be rousingly euphoric like the refrain verses of “Rendezvous”. Nino sings the new numbers and some classics such as the “Praterlied” in a dialect that is just so subtle that you can understand everything. Especially with the long Viennese syllables of many words, the strong, clear voice surprises you, which is better than in the recordings on this evening.
Music is also performed despite the lack of joint rehearsals and poisoning. Except for an intoxicating drum solo, the performance remains as unobtrusive and unexcited as the polished anecdotes with which Nino entertains his audience. Performing as if by the way, the Nino undeniably masters this discipline.