REPORTS/PICS/VIDS: Mika @ Hammersmith Apollo, London FEB 28 2010

we mark each fan's hand with a progressive number as soon as they arrive at the venue. in this way we succeed in granting a fair position to the fans who go queueing very early. early numbers normally end front row.

oooooh, that makes sense! lol, thanks for making that clear...

i just wish i was going to another gig to get a number!!!!

xx

can i please ask what the number system is please? i don't really understand what it is about, i didn't know about numbers and i'm a little confused!!

xx

If you go early to a Mika gig, you will find that someone will be keeping a list of people as they arrive and allocating a number to them. So if you are the tenth person to arrive in the queue, you will get number 10. The number will be written on your hand. The idea of this is that because you may be queuing for a long time, you can go off for a short break (eg to get a hot drink or go to the toilet) without losing your place in the queue.

You are not supposed to arrive, get a number, and disappear for hours, you are expected to be queuing. It's a system that usually works well, even non-MFCers think it is a good idea and are happy to join in.

But it is your responsibility when you arrive to find out who is looking after the numbers.

Thank you for your beautiful vids .

 

Mika didn't know it was Sariflor, he later asked in the dressing room who it was who he pulled out. We were not recognisable with those masks on . I think she did a good job reacting on it, it must not have been easy, we did not rehearse this . Since we had to leave the stage after it was our turn I had no idea that he had pulled this stunt until I saw the vids.

He didn't know it? What a dangerous situation I guess it was so sudden... omg, I would have been in such a panic in a situation like that

Anyway, one late report from the first Hammersmith gig.

It was nice to be able to queue indoors, even if it was only a little warmer than outside.

Finished up in the third row (there was a lot of shoving from the side ), behind some quite tall people so I couldn't actually see parts of the stage at all. But I was quite please to see we got the big set, so that at last all the projections were clear and made sense.

There were definitely technical hitches (the smoke machine in particular as Mika performed "I (Can't) See You"), but I think most of the crowd didn't seem to notice, they were in the mood to sing along and enjoy themselves.

And Mika enjoyed himself in his trumpet solo

And Mika enjoyed himself in his trumpet solo

 

i loved that solo... deffinately the best i've ever seen and then when he turned to jimmy and martin who were watching him unimpressed...!!

x

a short report from myself too...mainly a stream of emotions

i had never watched a video of this new tour, so i really didn't know what to expect...from the first reports i read i got some controversial impressions of it..so i was even more curious

the queueing part was one of the best for me, i was numer 45 and ended second row...just a bit freezing outside, but i spared myself the morning chill at least!

john was helpful as always, especially when he realizes there's someone who wants to carry the burden of numbering people! so i have to thank tiibet, rose, suzie and others who managed that in that long cold day, kudos to you.

i was involved a bit in the end, and i'm pretty satisfied about the result.

i didn't like eric hassle, sorry. support act is a necessary evil and i only hoped he would end soon! poor guy

the show is beautiful and mika is a great performer, no news about this.

i especially loved him performing in Dr John...i absolutely love this song from now on! perfect interpretation, as a singer and as an actor!

loved the intro to WAG very much and all the passion he puts in singing HE and any other world, one gets never tired of them.

for the first time i felt satisfied of the gig length...i surprised myself thinking 'oh, this gig never ends!' in a positive way...it really fills your soul and body up!

after the gig, we all went in line waiting for him to come out, and it was so cold...but eventually he came and everything went on smoothly. i was waiting almost at the end of the line with very few hopes to greet him, as the car was parked before the spot i was...but they moved it farther, so he came over and we could talk a little tiny bit...last time it was in berlin.

i asked about 'pick up off the floor' and he said he may sing it sooner or later, cause set list is changing along the tour, so i asked if there might be a chance he plays it in Milan...and he said he may try. cross fingers!

he was sweet as always, god bless him and his music!

There were lots of little glitches maybe only apparent to those who had seen other gigs, like having too many BGs and LGs ,so that the music ran out and left poor sariflor stranded still on stage.

But I think Mika improvised his way round most of the problems brilliantly.

And he seemed to be OK at the M&G later (though we had to wait for ages in the cold again).

I don't want to bang on about the number system as lots of people have already but I feel I should add my 2 cents worth.

I thought it was very lovely of the venue to let people with numbers queue inside out of the cold for the last couple of hours. What I feel was bad, was that there were at least 2 MFCers without numbers who arrived at around 6ish who were let in after security had told the people waiting outside in the cold they could not.

This makes me cross. I can understand if people do not want to use the number system but as MFC we sort of take it as a given. MFC using as abusing the system as they see fit makes me angry.

And for Daz. Daz is my friend who I made way back in 2007 at a Mika gig. He obviously doesn't like the number system. He makes me laugh and sometimes makes me cross- but that's friendship. I thought he had a point last night but he didn't express himself in the best way. I guess he had had enough. I cannot speak for him- he has his opinon. I have always gone with the system. The system works well imo apart from London gigs where people queue at stupid o'clock. I arrived at 10.20 and was number 30! How early do I have to get there? Will we be camping out 3 days in advanced next time? I want to enjoy the gig. I had a seated ticket last night. I met friends before hand, had dinner and arrived at 8.45-it was heaven compared to the day before. I don't think numbers are the problem- we are. We are our own worse enemy.

I don't have a solution but I hate London gigs. All I want is to do is enjoy my home gig. Anyway I'm now off to Brighton and praying for a better experience.

don't they start queueing from the morning in other cities jem?

don't they start queueing from the morning in other cities jem?

Yes but not in such big numbers- how early do I have to queue for a gig that starts at 9pm?

don't they start queueing from the morning in other cities jem?

They're a bit more sensible Robi - I think at the other UK gigs the queue generally started around lunchtime. But in London it is stupid. Yesterday there were some people who had been there since 7am

oh don't ask me, never gone there before lunch anyway!

i only arrived before lunch in milan i think, just to help with the queue thing.

london is a big attraction, it's always cheaper to go there than to another place

I think all my vids from Feb 28th are here:

SITM:

Any Other World:

Blue Eyes:

My interpretation:

Love Today:

Touches You:

I See You:

Dr John:

Happy Ending:

We Are Golden:

Toy Boy:

Lollipop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1yCe6XpLGU

Last ones are still processing, so give them time

don't they start queueing from the morning in other cities jem?

I arrived at Newcastle at about 1pm and was number 9. It was nice.

They're a bit more sensible Robi - I think at the other UK gigs the queue generally started around lunchtime. But in London it is stupid. Yesterday there were some people who had been there since 7am

oh

i remember london in 2008...they were queueing earlier, weren't they.

such a idiocy!

Hello MFCers

A small report from me too!

The gig was FANTASTIC!I saw it from the 1st row and it was priceless!I'm so so happy!Mika was amazing and really happy to be "at home". I saw him different from other gigs...London must make him more comfortable!

I didn't see any video before London so it was ALL new for me! He had some technical hitches like someone said before, but the show was absolutely brilliant! I loved Dr John...Touches You ....well...ALL SONGS!!!

I'm so happy that my first London gig was SO AMAZING!!!!

After the gig we waited and he arrived....beautiful as usual...nice and cute with everyone!I gave him a little present (a green superhero) and he watched it "carefully" and he seemed to appreciate!I was happy of course then he signed my ticket and that's all!

Another amazing day as Mika's fan

Here're few pictures I took.

Unfortunately some are bad...but...better than nothing!

Enjoy

http://s574.photobucket.com/albums/ss190/Sarinachan/Mika%20at%20London%20Hammersmith%20Apollo%20Feb%2028th/

some I like here:

not good quality but "interesting" glance

this is so cute!!

oh

i remember london in 2008...they were queueing earlier, weren't they.

such a idiocy!

This is why I hate London gigs.

Anyway i'm off to get a number for Brighton:biggrin2:

This is why I hate London gigs.

Anyway i'm off to get a number for Brighton:biggrin2:

LOL...good luck then!

and enjoy..it's all about fun!

Here's a pic

OMG that's such a sweet pic!

I'm uploading my vids. Love Today is here:

 

 

Sara, you did so well, it was cool. He knew it was you and I'm sure he thought you could handle it.

Mika didn't know it was Sariflor, he later asked in the dressing room who it was who he pulled out. We were not recognisable with those masks on . I think she did a good job reacting on it, it must not have been easy, we did not rehearse this

He may have asked backstage for confirmation, but I think he may have had an idea. Sara's hair is pretty distinct, and let's face it - he's seen her enough times that he could likely recognize her by minor details like body shape, jewelry, etc.

Randomly throwing off the choreography like that is a huge risk, especially in front of a London audience. This is just my hunch, but I don't think Mika would have done that unless he had some confidence that his "victim" was someone who could adapt and go with it.

i asked about 'pick up off the floor' and he said he may sing it sooner or later, cause set list is changing along the tour, so i asked if there might be a chance he plays it in Milan...and he said he may try. cross fingers!

Ooh! That means there's still hope to hear One Foot Boy at the Scandinavian dates.

don't they start queueing from the morning in other cities jem?

Not in parts of North America. In Vancouver, there were four people in the queue at 4pm.

I think all my vids from Feb 28th are here:

 

SITM:

 

Any Other World:

 

Blue Eyes:

 

My interpretation:

 

Love Today:

 

Touches You:

 

I See You:

 

Dr John:

 

Happy Ending:

 

We Are Golden:

 

Toy Boy:

 

Lollipop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1yCe6XpLGU

 

Last ones are still processing, so give them time

Love your vids! They always come out so well.

He may have asked backstage for confirmation, but I think he may have had an idea. Sara's hair is pretty distinct, and let's face it - he's seen her enough times that he could likely recognize her by minor details like body shape, jewelry, etc.

 

Randomly throwing off the choreography like that is a huge risk, especially in front of a London audience. This is just my hunch, but I don't think Mika would have done that unless he had some confidence that his "victim" was someone who could adapt and go with it.

 

Well, I was sure he knew it was Sara. I could easily recognize her and Mika has seen her so many times. It would have been very risky otherwise? At least it sounds a very dangerous situation

He may have asked backstage for confirmation, but I think he may have had an idea. Sara's hair is pretty distinct, and let's face it - he's seen her enough times that he could likely recognize her by minor details like body shape, jewelry, etc.

 

Randomly throwing off the choreography like that is a huge risk, especially in front of a London audience. This is just my hunch, but I don't think Mika would have done that unless he had some confidence that his "victim" was someone who could adapt and go with it.

It definitely wasn't planned. To us it looked more like a case of "Oh s**t, there's somebody still on the stage where I need to be dancing, best get them out of the way asap". There were just too many LGs and BGs for the length of the music - they overran into the song itself. But I thought Sara coped brilliantly.

I think all my vids from Feb 28th are here:

 

SITM:

 

Any Other World:

 

Blue Eyes:

 

My interpretation:

 

Love Today:

 

Touches You:

 

I See You:

 

Dr John:

 

Happy Ending:

 

We Are Golden:

 

Toy Boy:

 

Lollipop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1yCe6XpLGU

 

Last ones are still processing, so give them time

i love you....

It definitely wasn't planned. To us it looked more like a case of "Oh s**t, there's somebody still on the stage where I need to be dancing, best get them out of the way asap". There were just too many LGs and BGs for the length of the music - they overran into the song itself. But I thought Sara coped brilliantly.

Oh yeah it was clearly unplanned, when the marching beat ran out before they'd all finished crossing the stage. I just meant that judging from the vids, I wouldn't be surprised if he took a moment to figure out who the last dancer was before pouncing on her like that - to ensure it was someone he was fairly confident wouldn't just freeze. I mean, if he'd just stayed a little further back for like 10 more seconds, all the dancers would have been out of his way - no pouncing required.

But I agree with you Silver, I also think she did a great job. I can't imagine being on stage -with limited vision from those huge honking masks - and then having Mika drag me to the back of the stage. I'd be thinking "OMG! Now what? What on earth does he want me to do?! This wasn't part of the plan!"

I love that whole intro scene. The combination of the cute LG dresses and sexy BG outfits, contrasted with the evil heads looks so freakin' cool. I wonder if Mika came up with that, or if it was an Es Devlin idea.

I have vids of The March and Lollipop ... so all MFC'ers need not worry ... Oh and I have Sariflor being grabbed by Mika too

the only vid. im worried about atm. is the one from the bar the day before

I think all my vids from Feb 28th are here:

 

SITM:

 

Any Other World:

 

Blue Eyes:

 

My interpretation:

 

Love Today:

 

Touches You:

 

I See You:

 

Dr John:

 

Happy Ending:

 

We Are Golden:

 

Toy Boy:

 

Lollipop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1yCe6XpLGU

 

Last ones are still processing, so give them time

....many thanks!