Christine

He wouldn't have had a French accent as a child. He would have learned English from his American parents which is why he has a slight American accent even now. We had an MFCer in a similar situation except that he remained in Paris until he was 17 or 18 and he had no trace of a French accent when speaking English. If I was going to guess on some kind of subversive motivation it would be to say f*ck you to the British media. At least that's what I would have said in 2012. I don't think he cares anymore and the real issue is he's just being self-indulgent as Camille says. I think a song like OOL is also totally self indulgent and there's not much reason to have a song like that on the setlist when he has pretty much jettisoned the entire TBWKTM album even though it was more successful than TOOL everywhere except possibly Italy. What you were saying about the German in Zurich, I don't find it hurtful or a betrayal exactly and I have no illusions that Mika is not spending the vast majority of his time being a non-English artist. He is in Italy or France 90+% of his working time and I accepted it long ago. What I'm not going to accept (ie keep travelling around to gigs at great expense or buying French and Italian editions of albums) is that on the ONE day out of 365 or 1000 that he is actually in New York or London he can't indulge the audience instead of himself. That he can't be fully present and we can't have him back as an English artist for ONE BLOODY DAY. In New York he's tweeting about X Factor. In London he's singing French songs in lieu of old favourites. English speakers bought these albums by the millions and all we ask for is ONE BLOODY DAY that he puts his Italian and French business on hold. He was in Paris the night before. He was in Italy the next day. Why can't he cater to English fans for one night out of 3 entire years? Anyway rhetorical question obviously since you are right he does not care.

I am sure BBB will be long forgotten everywhere by the time he performs in the UK again. But I expect it will be replaced by yet another lame Doriand song. I now know that I can't go anywhere without having these songs I refuse to buy rammed down my throat and since I do not want to spend a gig in the toilets or heckling Mika I am just going to stay home.

Because it didn't go over well in New York either. If you are Dutch or Korean Mika is already a foreign language artist, to us he is not. When I first discovered Mika I had no idea that he even spoke French and, despite his later propaganda where he claimed he "always wanted to make French music", it was almost 5 years before he expressed any interest at all in making non English music. For many years and two albums he was a British artist singing English music and London is his home gig. Why is it so absurd to expect him to sing Rain (or any one of a dozen popular English songs) instead of a song that is not on any of his albums because even the record company has deemed it is not for UK audiences? He bends over backwards to cater to local people everywhere except his home gig. And he knows they are not open to it. He prefaced the song by explaining some of the words and promising it was the only French song he would do. Why? If you know they don't know the song and will not understand it and are going to balk at the idea of multiple French songs during a gig then why go down that route? What is the point?

I was well and truly bored at the Montreal gig this summer, something I never thought possible. But the sad reality for me now is that unless Mika starts collaborating with some great French pop songwriters instead of Doriand then a large chunk of any setlist catering to a French market is going to bore me. It is not my taste in music and bears no resemblance at all to Mika's other songs regardless of the language. (Blame it on the Weather is a case in point.) I am very happy that the London setlist added a couple of the new songs that I really love and he dumped Billy Brown, but BBB should have also gotten the axe. From the fan's perspective the point of the gig is to hear your favourite songs and from the artist's perspective the point is to support the album. This serves neither purpose in English markets aside from perhaps Toronto and Vancouver where the French editions of the albums are available.

Of course. I went to see Carmen at the Royal Opera House the following night and it goes without saying that the music is absolutely spectacular. To be honest I enjoyed it more than Mika's gig. Because Boum Boum Boum is total rubbish in comparison. With the exception of EMD, Mika's French songs are not relevant contemporary pop like Stromae or Coeur de Pirate or Christine and the Queens. The fact that they do not do well as singles in France should be the first indication that pop music fans in English speaking markets are not going to like them as much as his UK singles either. This gig isn't for MFCers, it was for 1500 British fans. And come on, no one in such an audience is going to be dissatisfied if he plays a single that they know versus one they've never heard of, cannot buy and do not understand. In New York the audience clearly did not have any familiarity with the song at all and it sucked all the energy out of the room whereas they went absolutely mad for Popular, WAG and even Last Party. To imagine that the audience could have gone away dissatisfied for not hearing a song they didn't know existed and they didn't connect with at all is ridiculous. Perhaps that was not the case in London, as I said I went to the toilets. But I tend to side with Jemma and everyone else who complained about it since I was standing sidestage in NYC and saw how BBB went over with an English audience versus the reception it received in Montreal where he got a deafening ovation instead of bored looks. But the songs have already been withdrawn for the UK. They are not available on UK albums. Why would you remove popular songs from your setlist to add one that is inaccessible to the audience in every sense of the word? To "please himself"? If Mika is just there for that purpose he should give me my £48 back since he is having such a great time at my expense. Oh gosh I feel your pain. That happened to me at Sadlers Wells. He was knelt down so thankfully not obstructing my view but because his legs were on the floor I was terrified of stepping on them and had to stand a metre back while everyone else in the front row was pressed against the stage, jumping, dancing, etc.

I had an absolutely wonderful few days in London. I haven't been to a full Mika gig in Europe in almost 6 years so it was a chance to see some I hadn't seen in many years or those who became fans more recently. Thanks to Deb for organizing Smollenskys. The mojitos appealed to me far more than Citizens so we ended up closing the place down (they kicked us out not long before Mika's set started!) I was a few rows back but it was so small it didn't matter and the best part was I was on the aisle so my view was totally unobstructed. I have been avoiding all gig reports, pics and videos since the start of the tour so I could get a fresh perspective but it seems like a wasted effort since there was no set I was very happy to hear Good Wife and Promiseland however so that was fab. Other highlights for me were Underwater, Last Party, NPIH and I found OMS especially good this time around. Probably because Max's voice works better with Mika's falsetto than anyone else that has ever done backing vocals. I was almost wincing with the off mic bit of Happy Ending it started off so shaky but Mika quickly reined it in and it finished off stunning. With regards to Boum Boum Boum or any French song, let's talk about Promiseland instead. Why have we all been clamouring for this song? I'll tell you why I wanted to hear it. Because I knew it would be a massive hit with the audience, particularly with an English one. And it is for that reason I do not want to go to a gig in the UK and hear a song that has never been released there and that no one in the audience will understand and therefore connect with. If it was still 2007 and Mika needed to do covers to fill out a set because he doesn't have enough songs then fine. But where are other UK singles like Rain and Blame it on the Girls? Why sacrifice that for something that is not going to strike the same chord with the audience and can't even be purchased in the UK? It is ridiculous to me. As soon as it started I went to the toilet since it did not work in Brooklyn and I didn't even enjoy it in Montreal. From all the complaints I heard afterwards I think I didn't miss much. Mika bends over backwards to cater to foreign markets and local audiences. He has gone so far as to learn an entire language to that end. But he performs in the UK once every 3 years and for some reason that I cannot fathom, expresses zero cultural sensitivity and desire to connect with the audience on their own level the way he does in every other country. I don't understand it. It is bad enough that I had to go to the UK and get an English CD from a German fan because there are none available in Canada but while I am at the gig I am still subjected to a French single in lieu of many UK singles and favourites missing from the setlist. It's absurd to compare that experience to the experience of non English speakers listening to English music. Mika didn't come out with French songs for 4 years. I didn't sign up to be a fan of a French artist and neither did the other 8 million people who bought LICM and TBWKTM. Anyway... I do not think that was Mika's granny rocking out in the box seats but whoever she was she was sure having a good time. I noticed Yasmine was very excited when everyone held up the buildings, stars, etc. and took lots of photos (or maybe video). I am glad it was such a success for everyone who planned it and participated. And obviously the flags were a big hit too. Unless Mika comes to Toronto again I think it will be my last gig for a very long time so I am glad so many people I wanted to see turned up and I had an unforgettable time all weekend. From an Oscar Wilde play to Carmen at the ROH and of course Mika, from shopping in Chelsea to a ride on a ferris wheel to hanging out at the Facebook offices, along with plenty of meals and gossip and laughter. It was simply brilliant. Thanks to all I had the pleasure to speak to or even just share the energy at the Adelphi theatre

London - I have a pair in stalls row N close to centre, together. PM if interested.

London - I have a pair in stalls row N close to centre, together. PM if interested.

It's part of the Royal Mail group so you can just drop off packages at the post office.

Exactly, totally arhythmic and monotonous. It's awful. The appeal of rap is the rhythm, the phrasing, the expression. Fedez only changes his "expression" by raising the volume of his voice. Which is unfortunate because he seems to have a very clear and rich voice. Maybe it helps to know Italian but there is nothing appealing here if you do not understand the lyrics.

Is this actually some Como symphony and this is their home venue? I just assumed they were assembling a bunch of musicians for this anyway since I would have thought an existing symphony is not going to be conducted by someone from Montreal. Is Como even large enough to support a symphony?

I think the entire purpose of the Como gig is to broadcast it on Sky to promote the new edition of the album. I don't think Mika went around looking for sponsors so he could subsidize the cost of the concert. If he was trying to make money directly from the concert or even seriously interested in performing for his fans he could have chosen a far larger venue. This whole thing is a promo stunt IMO and I wouldn't be surprised if half the tickets have gone to VIPs etc. Mika has played many venues this size and I've never seen tickets this scarce and selling for 1600 euro. I've been around for virtually all of Mika's touring career and have never known it to be impossible for so many hard core fans to get their hands on tickets to a public gig.

They have a children's menu in the restaurant so I'm sure it's fine. The website says you can get a child's meal for free with a paid adult meal before 7 pm on weekends. Maybe you can email them to verify. Yes I think Deb just wanted a general idea of how many so that there would be a big enough space.

Well the disaster part is certainly accurate wow. This is the worst rapping I have ever heard in my life. It just sounds like arythmic and tonally flat babbling. I was afraid all of Fedez's music was this bad and in fact all Italian rap but I have checked out some of his other songs and the rapping and the blend with the featured singers is far better in some of his other songs. I like Mika's parts though and wish he'd done something like with with Pharrell (and others) that would have produced a better end result on the whole. Mika likes Kanye and I can't believe he is so tone-deaf when it comes to rap that he doesn't know this rapping is terrible. It would be great if Mika does a sans Fedez version but I hope the mix is similar and doesn't sound dated like much of NPIH.

I think my tickets are coming by way of San Francisco so not sure there will be enough time. Does anyone in the UK know why they have this weird ticketing procedure? I have never encountered this in North America, not even in the early 1980s. Why don't they just issue tickets the minute they are purchased? Why do they have to "wait for the tickets to arrive" as if they are being pressed in gold by the Royal Mint and not just printed off of any old printer? Even if they are still stuck back 3 decades ago when you couldn't email tickets or show them from your phone, there is still no reason that I can fathom why the tickets are not printed and shipped immediately.

That's what I said, until he cancelled 2 gigs in London. It sounds like it's just a cold though and he's getting some rest so hopefully he'll be good to go next week.

Didn't he say something along the lines of wanting to do this kind of thing in 10 years time? I just heard something vaguely, not sure where it came from. I would be surprised if he did more symphonic shows now. This one is obviously just for a TV show/promo for the re-released album. If the motivation was to allow fans to enjoy the symphony shows then it wouldn't be in such a tiny theatre, especially in Italy where they easily could have sold thousands of tickets.

London October 18 - Have one spare stalls ticket, row N, fairly close to centre. PM if interested. EDIT - SOLD

Have one spare stalls ticket, row N, fairly close to centre. PM if interested. EDIT - SOLD

Is there a trailer for this yet? I can only find the English one on YouTube.

This appeals to me a lot more than Montreal because it's a proper theatre instead of a bright sterile auditorium. And it won't be -25°C I don't fancy staying in Europe another 4 days though so I'll have to miss this as well. Good luck to everyone trying to get tickets. I know it's going to be stressful but hang in there, these things always work out in the end.

Nothing formal has been arranged but we have been talking about going for drinks a couple of hours before the gig. This is a large pub and it's right behind the theatre. http://www.theporterhouse.ie/bars-london-coventgarden.php Keep checking the thread. I'm sure lots of people will be getting together at some point.

This is not a "venue" though, it's the driveway of a casino in Monte Carlo. And they put a dance floor in the front and gave people passes - with the obvious intention that people would dance. Why would anyone queue for 12 hours to go onto a dance floor? This makes no sense to me and I'm a Mika fan for heaven's sake. Why would staff at a casino have imagined that people would do this? Obviously a casino is not looking to attract younger patrons since they are in the business of gambling. Mika is not One Direction and I wouldn't expect anyone in Monte Carlo to anticipate fans travelling from Italy or even Paris to turn up to stand in the front row of this event. Especially when there was no front row but a dance floor. As an aside, in my experience the security at venues have little to no familiarity with the artist (unless it is a massive show like Rihanna), muchless have researched how nuts their fans are. The manager of the Brooklyn venue in May for example didn't even know who Mika was. They are a dance club and treated it like a dance club event. Just like I'm sure this casino treated it like entertainment for their casino. The bottom line is that shows like this are corporate events where Mika is the hired entertainment. They are not Mika gigs. And if fans don't like how it's organized I guess they should hire Mika themselves and organize it any way they want!

Yes, ha, very Irish. Not to be confused with the tapas bar right next to the venue named The Porter

There is a whole casino "circuit" in North America where artists tour all the casinos (they are forced to play a casino in rural Ontario in order to get a spot in Vegas for example). But they have purpose built venues inside the casinos, especially since the whole idea is to get people in there to gamble.