enigma

I am very old and therefore very very wise and I have - after many years of in-depth study - concluded that all outdoor festivals are, in fact, sh*t. This is based on the fact that most festivals involve either much wading about knee-deep in mud, or expiring in heat and being unable to get out from the middle to get a drink, or standing for hours in the freezing cold, or standing for hours in the pouring rain, or putting up with drunk or stoned people all around, or queuing for ages to go into a toilet which stinks so bad a gas-mask should be compulsory. All that, and you end up watching on the screen because basically you are so far away you can't actually see anything.

Voted for Tah Dah and Step With Me. Would have voted Popular Song, the original album version, but have gone right off it since he messed about with it and ruined it! Stardust is catchy but nothing particularly special IMO, and LYWID can get annoying after too many listens so I don't think it would have done him any favours in the long run had it been a single.

You found a cheap hotel? I couldn't see anything that was cheap!

It's gone up then since I booked it! You should see the price of the better hotels near the gig - they were extortionate even back when I was trying to find something. Maybe I could smuggle you into the room!

I just looked it up, it's called the Kyriad, in Bourges Sud, if you decide to go!

I'm not sure I'd trust a Mika calendar. Days might turn in to weeks, and months into years

Me! Bought my ticket a while back. But it's obviously a very popular festival. Look at the hotels nearby and you'll see they are all full . I have booked some crappy looking place (name escapes me right now) about 3 miles away so god only knows how I'm going to get back to it after the gig. In my usual fashion, I will worry about it when I get there! Which reminds me, I haven't actually booked any means of getting there yet either

I don't think it's anything to do with the camp thing, the gay thing, the fact that singer-songwriters might be out of fashion, the fact that Radio One aren't playing his stuff, etc. I think when Mika was voted Sound Of 2007, he was a very well-deserved winner, and that part of the reason he won was because he was so different from anything else around. Initially, he lived up to the promise he showed, and he had a huge ready-made market to tap into - discerning people who really appreciated the good songwriting, lyrics, musicianship, etc., but also his uniqueness, and the fact that he put two fingers up to what might be the fashion of the moment, and did his own thing. And the reason he could do that was because he had a massive amount of creativity and talent. The fact that he has now clearly tried to "fit in" with what is considered current, and has collaborated with "the right people", only means he has to some extent dumbed down and lost the one thing that set him apart - BEING SUPER-TALENTED AND DIFFERENT. I just wish he'd get back to being belligerent and pig-headed and carving out his own path, rather than following the well-trodden path of a thousand other (IMO inferior) artists. I'm not suggesting for one minute that he should have made a third album exactly like the first two, I just don't feel there's been a progression, more a REgression due to him being influenced by, and listening to, other people's ideas. He doesn't need to collaborate with anyone. His own ideas and creations are better than any of them - after all, one of the best songs he's ever written was Over My Shoulder and that was back in about 1066!

HAPPY 2013 EVERYONE! Hopefully it will live up to everyone's expectations Unfortunately the BBC News, whilst talking about HAIM being voted as "The Sound of 2013", mentioned several previous winners who have gone on to achieve great things (Adele etc.). I was just thinking " hey, they haven't included Mika" - and then they did... as being a previous winner who had sadly not lived up to the early promise he showed... Oops.

O. M. G. Mika. This is truly appalling teeny pap. You are capable of SO much more. Please. Forget collaborations. Forget endless remixes and versions. Remember you said you would always "chase a good melody"? Well, just please write some good songs with good melodies and sing them yourself.

Luckily, with more than 300,000 followers and probably thousands of tweets a day, I don't imagine Mika reads the comments either

Agree almost totally with you! Despite what others have put on Twitter etc., this was NOT one of his best, primarily because of his voice problems, I think. It didn't look like he was enjoying the gig that much - maybe he was feeling really rubbish - but the sparkle wasn't there, and I think part of that is because there's no cohesion within the new band. Like you, I am also implementing my new gig policy of arriving five minutes before he goes on stage (SO much more civilised than queueing all day, darlings!) and managed to get a perfect spot at the side, where there was a great view and loads of space. Starting with USML was quite an off-the-wall choice for a London gig, maybe it shouldn't have been first, but it's hard to see where else in the set it would have fitted. But as I love the song, I'm happy he did it :-) As I wrote briefly at the end of the "Before The Show" thread (before this thread was open), Lola, EMD and Celebrate can be dumped, never to be heard again, IMO! And actually I would add WAG to that list too - from where I was standing, it really didn't work as the final song. Popular I like on the album, and it could work great live too if done with a girl vocalist (come back, Imma!) but it seriously doesn't work with a choir! I'd love to hear Step With Me and Tah Dah... I really enjoyed the gig, partly because it's been so long since I saw him, and partly because seeing him live is a pleasant experience for me after my disappointment with the album with all its electronic voice alteration, lazy remixes of substandard songs, and the shock of hearing what he did to the previously beautiful Overrated. I just hope he gets his voice problems sorted out for the future. Oh, and PS: Hideous shoes, Mika!

It's not so much that (the familiarity thing), it's just that I feel they're a bit faceless, and don't add anything particularly amazing musically...

Ah, this is why I love gigs at the Roundhouse - already home with a nice hot cup of tea and some toast! If there was ever any doubt as to why Glasgow's been cancelled, believe me, it's nothing to do with ticket sales - it IS his voice. Poor guy, he was really struggling tonight, and to be honest probably shouldn't have been singing at all because it must have done his throat no good at all. God only knows how he's going to get through Manchester, and it's a good thing he only has a couple more shows till he has a lengthy break - his throat clearly needs it. Loved most of the show though - if he could just dump Lola, EMD and Celebrate (and substitute them with Tah Dah and Step With Me), and change back to the old band, it would have been perfect!

SO sorry for everyone who was attending this :hug love: The sad thing is that cancelling shows, for whatever reason, makes people a bit nervous about booking tickets, travel, hotels etc. for future gigs. As an artist who relies so heavily on his voice being in tip-top condition, obviously the best way forward from his point of view would be if the tours were scheduled with more breaks. Not just the odd day off between gigs (which isn't ever really a day off because it's usually spent travelling or doing bits of promo) but maybe two weeks on one week off, or a stipulation of no back to back gigs. However it's a hugely expensive way of touring because you need to retain your band and crew, and obviously if you're far from home, you still have hotels and per diems to pay out and no gig money coming in for the days off. It only really works for an artist who's selling out massive venues where the income from bums-on-seats at huge shows is sufficient to pay for the luxury of days off. Sadly, income from gigs at venues the size of the Roundhouse or Manchester Ritz is not going to provide for that luxury. So the solution is....

Got a mental picture of Mika in a vast brightly lit bingo hall, surrounded by old biddies in cardigans, shouting "House". Or maybe "Casa".

Yes! Someone from here messaged me several times, but I haven't heard back in the last couple of days, so I don't think they want it now! EDITED 4TH DEC: MY SPARE TICKET HAS NOW FOUND A LOVING HOME!

I have one spare ticket available for Roundhouse gig. PM me if interested!

A circus doctor? What exactly is that?

I have put the CD back on the shelf as I find most of it utterly dull, and I doubt I will never listen to it again. However, I have created a 7-track mini-album (Origin Of Love, Karen, L'Amour Dans Le Mauvais Temps, Un Soleil Mal Lune, Tah Dah, and the original acoustic version of Overrated) which I'm very pleased with and which I will listen to with a sigh of relief as it proves my favourite artist can still write proper music when he puts his mind to it...

Amazingly, you only have to sell 10,000 - 15,000 CDs (or downloads) to make it to the no. 1 spot in the UK these days so I think the sales figures are kind of irrelevant. (Fifteen years ago, you had to sell about 350,000!)

I was very late listening to the album as I was on holiday when it was delivered and have only recently got back and spent a lot of time listening many times. I'm not remotely surprised it didn't chart well (not that the charts are any indication of what's good, just of what's popular, and those two things are often a million miles apart!). But... IMO he has completely lost his direction, and it really ISN'T a very good album. I was so hoping I'd like it more when I heard the whole album (as opposed to odd songs and snippets) but I don't, and TBH I simply wouldn't have bothered getting it had I not been a massive fan of his previous work. I'm hopeful that this is just a blip and in future he will get back to writing glorious music once more.

Posting it to you tomorrow! Have a great time!

ROUBAIX TICKET - FREE TO GOOD HOME! I can't go to Roubaix gig now (got to work - boo ) so I have a spare ticket. It's Jardin section, Row 7, seat 31 - really good ticket. Would love for an MFCer to give it a good home. I don't want any money for it. I have the actual ticket here and could post it this week, or after 23rd October (away in between those dates!). Will also put this in Roubaix gig thread. PM me if interested. Ticket no longer available, it's gone to a happy MFCer!

I can't go to this gig now (got to work - boo ) so I have a spare ticket. It's Jardin section, Row 7, seat 31 - really good ticket. Would love for an MFCer to give it a good home. I don't want any money for it. I have the actual ticket here and could post it this week, or after 23rd October (away in between those dates!). Will also put this in extra ticket thread. PM me if interested.