ndimh

That's one of my favorite things (and also the scariest, lol) about the HOB here. When everyone's jumping, it's like we're on a trampoline. I remember the first time I went to a concert there, I thought the place was going to collapse because the floor flexes so much. lol

No worries, hon - I wouldn't take the chance either. That sucks that they didn't allow pics!

But maybe someone else was able to sneak some of the Lollipop Girls? ...anyone?

Mandilambi posted a picture of her with the other girls in here (taken backstage). I have one in my pictures (see my sig), but it's not a great one and not too defined or anything.

Why aren't camera's almost never allowed? Does the venue order that or the artist?

I think it's usually the venue that decides it. The House of Blues here is always NO CAMERAS. But both times I've gone there, I've taken a ton of pictures. haha... Stickin' it to the man!

I should be in bed! I have to wake up for class in 6 hours, but I can't stop reading everyone's stories about the show. I can't believe it's already been over 24 hours! lol

Can't wait till he comes back!

I just realized I haven't posted my concert experience so far! It's not that glamorous. I didn't get to be a lollipop girl, but I guess that's a good thing. lol!

Anyway...

I got out of school at noon, went to Taco Bell with my friend then went home (I live downtown). My 2 friends were almost in the city (one was coming from the west 'burbs and one was coming from southern Illinois). Once they got here, we had some time to kill, so we wandered around outside since it was still decent out. We got a couple copies of the RedEye paper to see if Mika was mentioned in it, and there was a picture of him and just a blurb listing the concert. Then we went to eat at Houlihans (sp) since they were hungry. I wasn't that hungry so I just got the lettuce wraps. blah blah blah

We left my building at about 5ish, and I live about an 8 minute walk from the HOB, so it's real convenient! We went right in line (and I'm kicking myself that I forgot to take a picture of the marquee with Mika listed on it!). The weather wasn't THAT bad (I guess I'm used to it!). I was just wearing a hoodie over my shirt and then jeans, and I was fine. My hands were cold. Someone found an earring on the ground and they were passing it up the line to try and find its owner. The girls in front of us refused to pass it up (it's not that gross! jeez), so I went up a few more feet and found some considerate people. (Sorry if that was any of you! haha)

The doors opened around 6 and the guards were telling everyone "NO CAMERAS" and whatnot. Then they separated the line into people over 21 and under 21. We got mad because it seemed like all the minors were getting in before us and would be up front! GRR. I had my camera shoved in my pants by a my crotch . My friend put hers in her purse between the fabric layers, so it was well hidden. Once we got in, they were wanding people down with the metal detector things (good thing my belt had a buckle on it, so they thought that was setting it off, and not my camera!). When I was there in November to see M.I.A., the security was just patting people down a little--so this was completely different. My friend wasn't as lucky. The lady grabbed her purse to look into it, and I guess the camera got pushed out of the pocket, so she had to check it in! Last time when her and I saw Mika, her camera died right before the show started! Poor her!

We got situated in the pit and tried our best to hold our ground. There was a group of kids that formed behind us that wouldn't shut up and their plan to get close to the front. The opening act was alright. I didn't think they fit in with Mika though. Yada yada yada Mika came out. While some beg to differ, I thought the time between Midway State and Mika was short. Maybe because the last concert I saw (M.I.A.) didn't start till nearly 2am! (it was a late night concert that started at like midnight).

At first I was worried that it was going to be the same show as in June, but he redeemed himself. I love his performance wise. I'm a huge Gwen Stefani fan, and the best thing I like her, is the way she performs and treats her fans. And I really feel the same way about Mika. He really delivers and definitely loves his fans. I mean, without us, where would he be? He definitely wouldn't have sold out 2 times in Chicago! The crowd there was great. I've been in some awful GA concert pits full of drunk, obnoxious people. But with Mika, for the most part, everyone stays in their spot and doesn't ransack everyone around them. There was this one really drunk couple by us though that kept pissing us (and everyone around them) off. The guy was the same height and size, if not smaller than the girl he was with. And she kept saying she couldn't see, so he spent probably half of the concert trying to lift her up, she just kept dragging him down. Everyone was yelling at them to stop being stupid.

Other than that, it was another great Mika experience. A great first concert of 2008 for me!!!

Afterwards, we hit the bars and met up with friends, while showing off our cool HOB wristbands. lol

I'm going insane trying to get this link to work! All my other playlist links work fine, but this one is giving me so much trouble.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes if you copy/paste it into the browser it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Any body have any idea what's going on?!!

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0443BE98C12FE45F

I fixed it!!! I forgot to check some little box allowing people that aren't directly on youtube.com to use the link. Crazy.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0443BE98C12FE45F

Keep the comments flooding in. lol

As promised...

MY VIDEOS!!!!

Edited with correct link! http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0443BE98C12FE45F

Enjoy them, guys! Sorry that some of them are all shaky and stuff. Can't blame a guy for not standing still during a concert like that. Plus, the floor at the HOB is always so bouncy during concerts (and last night was no exception!).

The cell phone pics from the show came out real well too! I should have thrown you my camera. lol

Amanda, I totally have you on video skipping out onto stage. I tried to focus in on you (at least I thought it was you... turns out it was), but everyone was jumping around.

I also have half a dozen or so pictures from the end with everyone on stage that I didn't put on facebook. In case some of you were up there, I can upload them. There's one with a girl giving Mika a big hug around his waist.

Alright, all the photos are labeled and everything. Now I have to work on the videos. I have over 700mb to upload to youtube. This is gonna take a while!

So it's been almost 24 hours from the show, but I'm kinda anal about pictures and stuff... but finally

HERE THEY ARE!!!

http://kendall.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003029&l=20967&id=102900006

I'm going to label them all now. ENJOY!!!!

If you have facebook, add me! I've got like 2 Mika friends. lol

I'm almost ready! I'm so sorry this is taking forever and a half. I think I've got ADD--I keep getting distracted. I'm darkening some of my pictures to make them look normal instead of all bright as hell from the lighting they were using there.

Thanks guys! I just realized that my camera can take stills from my videos, so I'm doing that right now. I'm getting close. The suspense is killing you all, I'm sure. lol

Quick question.... what are the names of the non-album songs he played?

I know the Eurythmics cover.

There's the one where it's kinda folky sounding and they're all up in front of the stage using washboards and stuff. I think he played that last time, or maybe it just sounds familiar.

And what's the name of the new one where he goes "do do dodododo do do dododo" at the end. He had everyone singing that at the end.

Thanks for all the welcomes, everyone!

I've been on some pretty unfriendly forums before, but you guys are far from that. Amanada always talked highly of you guys on the No Doubt forum, so I guess she wasn't lying.

I just finished my workout (I made sure to do it today because I didn't get around to it yesterday), so I'm gonna start working on the pictures and videos!

Hey everyone, I'm new here! I've been lurking a lot lately, but decided to join in on the fun.

I went to the show last night and it was amazing! At first I was worried that it would be the same show as when he was here in June, but there were plenty of differences. I loved the "Missionary Man" cover! I loved all his crowd interaction. There aren't too many bands/artists that interact more than a few times during a show. We got plenty of chances to sing along. The best was when he had us all trying to do the "zoo-ba-de-ba-bops" or whatever. I think we surprised him how well we were repeating the long ones (although I trailed off a little. lol)

But anyway, I took a ton of pictures (but they didn't come out so well) and at least one video from each song (not full length or anything). I'm going to uploading the pictures and videos starting in about an hour and I'll be sure to post them on here. (are there any rules/regulations about posting pictures or youtube videos on here, I know some forums are strict about them). I'm uploading the pix to my facebook, so I'll just make a public album to share.

Does anyone know the complete setlist? I think I know all the songs, but I can't remember the orders of a few of them in the middle.

Oh yeah, and I saw mandilambi! I know her from the No Doubt forum, and she's the reason I found this forum.