They’re the Swiss pop-rock duo that are asking Europe to stop throwing (metaphorical) stones. And soon they’ll be heading to Lisbon to begin rehearsals for this year’s contest.
But before they do, ZiBBZ found the time to release a video of themselves performing a live acoustic version of “Stones”.
However, this isn’t just any normal live acoustic set. Stee and Coco put a twist on the regular performances we’ve seen them give at pre-parties across Europe by filming the entire thing in just one take, with their friends handing them instruments as they go along.
The performance begins with the duo receiving a microphone and laying down some base vocals on a looper — perhaps they were inspired after meeting Netta in Israel and Amsterdam. Stee then assembles the drum kit himself. This is after the snare and foot pedal were literally thrown at him (if you’re thankful to see he wasn’t hurt while filming this, just wait until the outtakes at the end!).
After a ukulele-accompanied pre-chorus, the song then continues with Coco using a synthesiser to play while singing. Stee is handed a keyboard to play himself, although at a slightly odd angle.
Finally, as the song reaches its climax, the holi powder that was featured in their official music video makes a return. These two are ready and able to perform no matter what is thrown their way!
This isn’t the first time that the brother-sister pair have performed such one-take performances. Scrolling through their official YouTube channel reveals that they used to record a one-take video each week — and always with an extra twist to the performance.
They previously crashed Swiss ice hockey player Eric Blum’s vacation to sing a cover of “Jordan” with him entirely through Skype. And then there was the time they used an old fashioned Singer sewing machine designed by their dad to power their volca sample and blow up a balloon while performing “Paperplane”.
They even sent electric impulses into fruit and vegetables in order to produce the backing music for a rendition of “UNDUN”.
These two know how to think outside of the box, which leaves us excited for what they might bring to the Eurovision stage!
ZiBBZ Tease Staging Plans
It’s fair to say that ZiBBZ have been fairly busy over the past few weeks, jetting across Europe to perform at nearly every Eurovision pre-party. And just in case we missed any of it, they’ve provided us with a weekly blog so we can get a behind-the-scenes look at their Eurovision adventure.
Before the pre-party circuit though, the duo included a post about their ideas for staging. As soon as they won the Swiss national final they began watching a number of past Eurovision performances to get inspired. This included Francesco Gabbani’s performance from 2017, to which they asked: “..like a dancing monkey! wow. but also – why? :)”.
They conclude that they want to stay true to themselves and their brand by just highlighting the music. They add more about how the performance ideas came about:
We found the perfect show director for this. He comes from the world of Rock’n’Roll and is all.about.the.MUSIC. No flashy stuff. He flew out to LA for what was essentially one day, and we booked a dance studio for that day. All he wanted us to do is to perform the song over and over again and ideas started flowing immediately.
We won‘t reveal too much about what our staging is going to look like but we concluded that we want to highlight the MUSIC. That’s what it’s all about. And we don’t want to distract from that.
Coco and Stee revealed slightly more when we met with them at the London Eurovision Party. They confirm that the stage show in Lisbon will be different to that seen at the Swiss national final.
But this new staging could prove quite dangerous for Coco, as she has been practicing jumping off some form of object whilst wearing heels. Here’s hoping she’s nailed it by the time she arrives in Lisbon so that we don’t have another Sergey Lazarev fall moment during rehearsals!
All will be revealed next Monday 30 April, when ZiBBZ finally take to the Altice Arena stage for their first rehearsal.
So, what do you think of ZiBBZ’s one-take video? Are you excited to see if they can bring some of these outside the box ideas to the Eurovision stage? Let us know in the comments below.
Fantastic video! 🙂
no chance of qualifying again switzerland LOL
Poor Stee.