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superstar

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superstar last won the day on May 4 2015

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  • Birthday 11/10/1950

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    I was NOT a male nanny

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    classickira

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    austin, tx, usa
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    cat wrangler

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  1. Okay I wrote a very long gig report. These help me remember the show so I apologize in advance about all the stupid details included. I just want to remember this night forever ya know Here goes: -- The MFC special group made the whole experience so perfect. While we were waiting outside the venue Andy came around and hung out while the film guy (Adam) got some footage. I was happy that Andy feels comfortable to spend some time around us like that. MFC treats Mika and his people with respect 🫶 Entry into the venue was calm and relaxed and it was actually magical walking into the dark, empty arena. So quiet and the only light was from the beams of a long line of guards showing us the way to the front. We got to see the "behind the scenes" setup which mainly involved a poor team of guys struggling to get the white sheet over the big cage for like 15 minutes 😂Then they shut the curtain and waiting began! Something must have gone differently than past Bercy shows because it seemed like the GA Floor entry wasn't absolutely insane. Everyone walked calmly and there was no pushing. Venue gets an A+ from me! DJ did a great job of warming up the crowd. I was surprised at how empty the venue still was when she left the stage around 8:10... but then I remembered that French dinner time doesn't start until 7pm! By the time Mika took the stage things were filled up. The show begins with a thrumming low bass ... a team swirls around the cage and throws of the sheet to reveal... the fire bird! The man himself! Myself and Veronika who was next to me were screaming our heads off. The setlist was extensive and the show was long so I won't go song by song but rather provide some impressions. I was so excited to hear the new songs that I really wasn't looking forward to the "classics" (Grace Kelly, Relax etc) but I was surprised by how much of a highlight those songs were for me. Mika has added to the arrangements, gets the crowd involved creatively, and still captures the magic of the original performance. I don't know if Love Today will ever be a highlight song for me but it was so fun seeing the fans on stage and the whole crowd going crazy. Mika is such an athlete! He did the iconic Mika jump during Relax like 6 times 😂 And he was SPRINTING around the stage and dancing the whole time while belting it out. Seriously the energy level was unreal and the crowd reflected it right back. His dancing is so silly. I am grateful Mika never really learned how to dance in a normal way ... and that he has created an audience and a show that's safe enough for him to move however he wants with no self consciousness. This is also what I love about his music. Mika is always making music for himself and sharing it with us. He isn't trying to write an album that will sell or be popular. He's building his own world and inviting us into it. This makes his shows (and our relationship with him as an artist) feel intimate and real. Like we're in the WAG bedroom and we're all making it a dance party! There was a lot of talking between songs and I hope someone can translate because I understand like 5% of it... He really leaned into the audience participation on this tour. Big Girl he jumped into the crowd and made his way to the big van structure which was about halfway through the crowd, then hopped up on there to keep performing in his yellow suit. Happy Ending and Underwater we had a singing part. Mika is also constantly engaging with fans in a personal way. He's pointing at people, he's holding up a heart and it really feels like he's looking at you, seeing you, and recognizing you. I am 100% convinced he saw me and knew me and knew that I came from the US and remembers me even though this is obviously farfetched 😂 He doesn't need to interact with the crowd in such an intimate way -- the show would be just as impressive -- but he does it and that makes it so special. He has such love and respect for the fans and we are so lucky to have him. During Moi Andy et Paris, the crowd lit up with the rainbow in each section stretching around the arena. I think it took Mika about 30 seconds at least to recognize it, and he was so overcome when he did that he stopped singing and covered his mouth. The visual was so powerful and beautiful. It was fun experiencing songs that are really popular here and really hitting with the crowd that don't get a similar reaction in the US. Underwater is such a big hit here and Elle Me Dit brought down the house-- two very different energies but it was cool to be among the crowd where everyone knew these songs. I've never felt that before! Another big difference from a US tour: the production! The stage elements and motion, Mika's SEVEN suits (seriously, how does he change clothes that fast??), the pyrotechnics and the confetti cannon! We were so close to the fireworks that we could feel the heat whenever they went off and were momentarily blinded. The experience was immersive and over the top! When he ran out wearing the glitter suit I remember thinking "Mika is so extra for this" and then something else would happen 😅. The whole experience was So Extra! But Extra Mika is something we can all get behind. I kept thinking about Mika circa 2008 and what his shows were like then. T-shirt/Converse era Mika drumming during Love Today and playing covers because he didn't have enough music to fill a set. And thinking about how he's built a career that enables him to take that artistic vision and bring it to life. He is consistently making great music and giving us fans an incredible window into his world. I'm so happy to have been a part of this journey ❤️ This is the only show I'll see on this tour and probably the only show I'll see in Europe for a very long time. It would be easy to feel disappointed because I'd love to experience the whole thing again. But I am so grateful that I got to be there in Bercy. The show was perfect. It's a huge stage and Mika hit every note. Au revoir er bon soir! Kira, out!!
  2. AMAZING NIGHT! I counted 20 songs including twinkle twinkle little star 😉 which was part of the Grace Kelly intro. And it seemed like Big Girl, Love Today and Happy Ending were all 15 mins long!!! A show like none I've ever seen. He gave us so much and the audience absolutely ate up every last drop. He could barely leave the stage at the end .... he was just soaking it all up ... Seriously so perfect and amazing. I will post a longer report sometime soon 💜
  3. Haven't seen Mika since 2019 He happens to be in Paris when I am. Going to this gig!!!! Hope to see MFC there!
  4. So much love to Mika and his whole family. Devastating to hear this. What a strong, beautiful relationship they shared with us over the years.
  5. This video does a great job of showing just how bad the lighting was at this venue
  6. Who's coming to NYC T5? I will be buying a couple tickets, hope I can make it! Mika hasn't been to Terminal 5 since 2008 ......... !!!
  7. I'll be at this show - living in Boston now! Maybe I'll be the only one ... ? HOB is a great venue IF YOU GET FLOOR TICKETS! The balcony is tricky, you basically need to get right up against the balcony to have a good view. There are beams that block the way, and it's hard to get the right spot. So floor is my recommendation.
  8. The video is so much like the actual NYC show... adorable, and very very backlit 😄
  9. So many happy Mexican fans! At last!! Can't wait for the reports!
  10. Apologies for the late report! Lots of travel (and a work day) between Mika night and now. But it was another wonderful night with Mika in Los Angeles. Let's go through it! Venue was incredible: my friend compared it to Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona, which doesn't miss the mark too much! It's got intricate moulding on every surface, and the ceilings in the music hall are vaulted. Over-the-top in a very "Mika" way. Indy and I snuck to the front row for Kiesza (since it was a seated gig, there were some empty seats up front). This was her best night yet! She was very comfortable on stage, and seemed thrilled to have familiar faces up front. We knew all the words to her songs by now. At a seated show, the stage is much lower since they expect the audience to be seated. We all were seated for Kiesza's acoustic set. I don't know why we were so worried that everyone would be sitting for Mika … because after the band came on, then Mika skipped out onto stage, everyone leapt to their feet immediately. Of course! Ice Cream sounded great, but during Dear Jealousy was when I noticed the cold. Mika's nose was a bit stuffed up, and you could hear it when he sang or said "m" or "n." Poor Mika! In Relax, some fans from the rows further back rushed up to be close to the stage. This was a bit annoying, especially for folks up front whose view was blocked -- but I think Mika got a kick out of the visceral reaction that some fans had to the songs. During Big Girl, he put on his jacket again (some songs deserve jackets!). He gave an intro about how we're all going to a place…a place that is now closed … but if we all close our eyes, we'll be transported there. And then he ran right off the stage and skipped into the audience! Big Girl is such a party and everyone was dancing. At one point, Mika climbed up on the seats right in front of us, and put his hand on the man in the row ahead to balance as he sang! I didn't get any photos of this but it was a magical moment. He was RIGHT THERE! Lollipop was a total treat. He gave the same monologue about how his mom should have warned him about the BOY next door. The two men in the row in front of us turned to each other and high fived!! Another "pro" of the seated show--it's a lot easier to experience what other fans are feeling, especially those at their first show! Mika's openness is clearly resonating with his audience, and I'm glad he feels comfortable to share that with us. Highlight of the show was hands down acapella Happy Ending. We couldn't believe that he sang with no mic, in this huge theatre, with a cold-- and sounded amazing. Unlike SF no one was screaming; the hall was completely quiet. This moment is what everyone was talking about when I was standing in the lobby after the show. He must know how impressive his voice is, and how much of a gift it is to hear it unfiltered. It seemed like everyone who walked out of the show was gushing about this moment. He did Blue, too. I think this was the first point in the night when he acknowledged the cold. He said something along the lines of "this song is very tricky to sing, doubly so when you are sick, so please go easy on me." And we did. Again, the theater was absolutely quiet. So quiet that Mika actually had to signal his pianist to turn the volume down. And his voice did crack a couple times. But wow, the best way to experience this song is sitting with thousands of others in rapt attention. It's just beautiful--and something I will miss most about this tour. About halfway through the night his hair was crazy, all flat on the top and sticking out to the sides. When he came back for the encore he had combed it down. Beautiful! Despite being sick, Mika never ran out of steam. At the very end of the night, when everyone was partying to "Stay High," I couldn't believe how powerful his voice still sounded! Still hitting all the high notes. So thankful. As we walked out, I spotted Perez Hilton waiting for Mika after the show! They must have had a backstage meetup. We milled about in the lobby for a while, then tracked everyone down at the back stage door, which was all the way through a parking lot and around the back of the venue. There weren't too many people waiting, maybe about 30-40. We did stand around and chat for a while (nice to have a chance to say goodbye to all the friends we've made on this tour!). A couple big trucks pulled up to load out the equipment. Then a staff member at the venue came outside and said "Mika's not going to come out! No way! Go home!" We all kind of laughed at this because we knew it wasn't true. Then just like that, the big black SUV pulled up, and the manager popped out. He formed us into a straight line. And Mika appeared Indy and I had nothing for him to sign, and he seemed a little confused when we just thanked him over and over again. Very star-struck! I will kick myself about this until the next tour -- think of something more meaningful to say! -- and I know this because I had a dream about seeing Mika and being tongue-tied again last night! Haha! But I am glad we got to express how much we appreciated this whole tour and all the time he's spent with the fans along the way. P.M.D. is real. We slept about three hours between the gig and our flights, and I have pretty much had Mika's music (new and old!) on loop since then. It's been such a long time, and these shows have felt like a way for me to reconnect with so much of this music that I'd lost track of in the intervening years. So many beautiful songs, and so many friends to discuss them with. Thank you to everyone (merci beaucoup!) we met along the way. And to Mika most of all. Hope to see you all before too long!
  11. Buckle up, this is going to be a long one. After the New York show I told everyone I'd be happy with just that -- the show was amazing, the songs were fresh and creative, Mika was beautiful. It was lucky that I could see him a couple more times on this tour, but just that one show would have been enough for me. I was so, so wrong. San Francisco (my 12th time seeing Mika) may very well have been the best concert ever. I was jetlagged. We queued for a while—starting at 1:30pm or so. No one saw Mika go into the venue, even though we watched the band trickle in and saw them unloading equipment. A couple jaunts by the open venue door let us hear soundcheck, but we weren’t sure: is it just Max in there, singing Tiny Love? Is that why no one’s singing the ‘my name is Michael Holbrook’ line? Or is Mika inside and somehow escaped notice of the dozen of us who had been there all afternoon? Getting into the venue was smooth. Though the queue line wrapped all the way down the block and around a parking lot, they loaded people in slowly, in an orderly fashion (nothing like New York!). 77red and I found ourselves on the piano side of the stage, at the barrier. Venue had a much smaller stage than Brooklyn Steel, and was overall more compact. They had chandeliers hanging I enjoyed the Kiesza set more tonight. She seemed more at ease than in New York, and noticed some of the front row French fans who had been to all the shows – she called them “the groupies”! We sang along to her songs which she seemed to get a kick out of, and the crowd was enthusiastic about her performance of Hideaway. Listen: it was all great up to this point, but something was different when the band came out and the intro was playing. The venue was electric. And it just exploded when Mika skipped out to Ice Cream. He was smiling very visibly, so happy and energetic. Jealousy was fantastic tonight. He intro’d with the jealous bastard line then launched into it. Something I noticed especially tonight was the harmonizing with the band. Relax was a good way to loosen up the crowd. Max cracked me up—this was the only song where he came to the front of the stage to accompany Mika and he strutted up like he was a little bird. He and Mika synced up for the Relax jump (you can see this in the photo above!) which was awesome. After TOOL, Mika told us about his day which seemed to explain his good mood. It was actually pretty funny, the keyboardist was playing some accompaniment and Mika told him to stop because the story was so incredibly stupid. He said he woke up in an absolutely rotten mood (like his mother and grandmother and great-grandmothers) and tried to use his phone but was out of data! He walked out to get a coffee, and asked the barista how to get to the Fillmore. Barista said “that’s an area” and walked away. Mika tried again – asked someone if he could catch a cab on the street. They said “catch a Lyft?” – obviously, not possible, no data! So finally Mika walked up to someone who looked like a nice lady, and asked her how to get to the Fillmore, the venue. She said she wasn’t sure, then walked over to a friend, ostensibly to ask for directions. Mika said he stood there for about four minutes, fully expecting her to come back and tell him how to get to the venue, only to finally realize…she just went and had another conversation. He was extremely pissed off and ended up walking an hour and twenty minutes to the venue! Here’s our explanation for why no one saw him walk in! Rather than pulling up in a car, he just walked right in, before everyone! He said he arrived before the band, and had one of his “best ever dancing moments” on the empty Fillmore floor. And he had to do it again …. That’s when Big Girl started and Mika with his long legs just stepped over the barrier and into the crowd. He walked all the way to the middle of the floor and the entire place went nuts. He had taken his jacket off but put it back on before Big Girl, and before he told this whole story. Said something along the lines of, “some songs deserve a jacket.” Just cracked me up that the song that deserved a jacket… was Big Girl. Blue is an amazing song. Even tonight, Mika’s voice broke a bit (he mentioned after the show he is getting a cold) but being so close I was in awe of the vocal performance. He is doing things on this song that I’ve never heard him do. Blue absolutely quiets the venue—this happened in Brooklyn too—it’s a short, tender song but everyone shuts up and listens to it in awe. We’re so lucky to see it on this tour. It’s slow, and very challenging. I don’t know how many subsequent tours he will perform it. Feeling blessed. The transition from Blue to Underwater is brilliant—it’s a slow song to a slow song, but the crowd reacted so well to Underwater. I love that song but didn’t expect that it would get such a loud cheer from everyone. Next up was Lollipop. Mika told us a story about how the Fillmore venue creates a poster for any artist that sells the venue out. Back in 2007, they created him a poster for selling out … that was a hand holding a huge lollipop. And for tonight’s show, they created him a poster … that was a huge banana split with dolloped cherries and big ice cream bars. He talked about being a grumpy old man, sitting in his grumpy old chair, looking at these posters hanging on his wall with his grandchildren … and having to say that his crowning achievements were all documented by penis imagery. The whole crowd was in stitches at this point – and Mika added on that society will probably be in a place by then that his grandkid probably wouldn’t care at all. Tonight even more than New York it was fun to watch the band chemistry. Mika had a ton of energy and was playing piano longer, or breaking off a song to monologue, and it was fun to watch the band make eye contact with each other to stay in sync. This was especially apparent in Lollipop – they started off with the piano battle as usual and then Mika just stopped playing and started talking. The band were looking around and trying to guess when to actually start the song. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a performance of Popular Song more than this. The whole crowd was belting out the “la-la’s” even before the first verse, and that blew Mika away. He kept having the crowd take it over because we were so loud. Tomorrow had no intro as he did in New York. He just launched right into it. Indy and I have been looking forward to this song since we heard it Friday. I was trying not to expect that he would play it (since he skipped it in Montreal) but when it started we just went gaga. The verses. The chorus. The crowd was actually tentative at first but by the second verse the spell was cast. This song is one for the ages. Indy and I were jumping and yelling IN THE BACKSET OF MY VINTAGE BENZ at every chorus, it was perfect. Happy Ending. No mic. NO MIC. Nuff said. During Love Today, he laid his whole body down on the stage and as the band started playing, yelled out “Can you hear that?? That’s my big heart beating.” I cannot stress enough how jubilant Mika seemed at this show. He had us all close our eyes and “dance like no one is watching, and,” if I heard right, “scream like it’s your last shower on earth.” And the crowd did, we did we did! This whole venue seemed to know all his songs, up and down the albums. Much more than New York this was noticeable. Also noticeable – Mika never went offstage to change into a T-shirt. Did he forget! Did he not need to? After the encore, he and the band came back on. He had put the tee on at that point, but forgot to tuck it in, so he made a big show of doing it on stage. In the Grace Kelly intro, he did his knock bit, and then identified an audience member who he thought had a sexy voice. He kept trying to get this one guy to answer his knocking, the audience totally didn’t get it, and everyone kept screaming when he knocked. And we screamed even more when he finally gave up and said “I want to talk to you …” Unlike in New York, Mika didn’t cuddle or grind on his band mates during any of the songs, but he did introduce everyone during the bows. He just yelled everyone’s names – they all left the stage, and he stayed out smiling and waving for a while. Just overcome. Such a beautiful moment. After the show, they gave out posters and apples to everyone who was leaving. A big crowd of use congregated, and the venue set up some barricades for folks to wait behind. Mika’s manager came out and said “we’re going to bring Mika out” (so funny – like he’s an animal!) and said no selfies, just autographs. Mika walked out with his dorky backpack and his dimples looking like an absolute doll. He probably spent 30 minutes making sure to speak with every single person, sign every poster, and answer every question. So, so gracious and patient. Indy and I got to thank him for tonight. I tried to ask if he thought it was the best gig ever, and he looked me in the eye and said “I loved it.” He apologized for having been away for so long—I know he doesn’t remember that we saw him in this same city 10 years ago, but it kind of felt like it. He also told us he noticed us going wild during Tomorrow. We said, of course! It’s an amazing song. So thankful for our kind-hearted and infinitely talented pop star. This show left me so empty and so, so full. Mike4life13! I'll upload some photos/videos in a bit.
  12. Electric energy in Brooklyn tonight! Mika is so comfortable in his skin and in his songs, and he shared that with us tonight. Some thoughts in no particular order: In the intro, there is a recording of Mika talking all about love: how love created the universe, and lit up the sun, and how the sun created all of us with its yellow light. During this recording the band is all on stage waiting, and you don't see Mika at all, and then he just runs on all at once! Red! Suit! Frilly! Shirt! CURLS!!! And Velcro Shoes???? Dear Jealousy was the second song he played (I think) -- beforehand, he talked for a bit about he hasn't been on tour in four years, and he is starting something new. To start something new, you have to start with new music, and this song was acknowledging something new...basically, how he is a "jealous bastard." 😂 Crowd reaction was great, it felt like everyone around me was either familiar with the song or caught on really quickly. The venue itself had great sound, high ceilings, and a very wide stage that meant a lot of people could get close. Mika did a good job of walking back and forth and giving energy to every corner of the room. Mika was really hamming it up, saying "this song is for my aunties..." he named all of the aunties, some of whom were here tonight, and his mother. Then he said "you'll see why I'll be getting 56 slaps in the face when you find out what song this is" -- then launched into Big Girl. The gig was also RECORDED, which was at first apparent because of the team with the huge camera who walked around filming for most of the concert. Mika also mentioned the name of an accomplished sound engineer who reached out to him about turning a show on this tour into a live album. Mika was saying he's never dropped a live album before! So this was the show that's going to be mixed into an album. When we were leaving the venue, they opened up the side door and you could see into what looked like all the sound engineers mixing right there. Setlist was almost the same as last night, with the omission of Sanremo Lots of LICM songs tonight, followed by TOOL. Plus all the new stuff! Funny, because I think those were the two albums he toured most on in the U.S. so it makes sense to stick within those tracklists. Sofia (not sure of MFC handle) gave Mika a cool jacket (I have photos below) with embroidery and patches that were relevant to the tour. He put it on and it fit perfectly! The renditions of the older songs are some of the best I've seen. Lollipop and Love Today really stand out. Lollipop, they start with a bit of a dueling pianos soundfest that resolves into what the crowd eventually recognizes as Lollipop. He had a spiel beforehand about how his mom told him to avoid the girl next door, but she didn't need to worry about the girl next door...it was the boy next door! Love Today he had the balcony and the floor wave at each other, then told us all to close our eyes and dance our hearts out because no one cares how you look. Encore was GK and a Tiny Love reprise that ended with Mika riffing off the theme of getting and staying high on a tiny love. He said "stay high!" as the last message before he went off stage. The new tracks were great, though the sound made Blue a little difficult to understand. Technically it is a very challenging song, and Mika sings most of it solo with very basic accompaniment. Very cool to see it live, and I'm looking foward to hearing it a couple more times. TOMORROW is a CLASSIC already, the chorus is so catchy and cleverly timed -- it's just doing what Mika does best: clever lyrics, interesting melody, timing that's a little different. He gave us the intro, that this song is about being "15 cm" away from someone in the back of an old Mercedes Benz and making a mistake that you may or may not regret. Pink is the color of sin. Especially when you grow up as a Catholic boy -- because pink is also the color of passion. He used this intro to talk about Origin of Love. This kind of comment is touching to see as a fan who has followed him for so long. He's so much more comfortable in his own skin and sexuality, and open in expressing that. One of the great joys of following Mika over the years is seeing him grow and process this part of his identity through music, and being able to process alongside him. He's come a long way. Show ended around 10:30pm, Mika came out around 11:30pm to sign. There was a big crowd and he must have spent about 20 minutes talking, taking photos, and autographing with everyone. He really made his way around the crowd and took time to talk to those who were at the front. Several times during the concert, he had mentioned how he hasn't been here in four years. So it seems he's making the time to get to know his fans over here. We are lucky! Some photos:
  13. I don't think that this is the first time OMS has been performed live But wow, the portuguese guitar (at least in the restaurant version) is so wonderful!
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