SunshineGirl

I haven't posted on here for, like, AGES! But this news has brought me out of the woodwork! In a nutshell, personally I have no problem with Mika and the band members parting ways. I am assuming that they have parted on completely amicable terms and not due to anything underhand on the part of Mika or due to a 'falling out'. Mika is a solo artist who happened to hire a group of musicians/singers as backing. He is NOT (i) an integral member of a group/band who is now deciding to ditch his band to follow his own aims/career OR (ii) a 'frontman/lead singer' of a group who the band can/could decide to sack (for whatever reason) - in both instances leaving the future of this entity called a 'group' or 'band' in jeopardy and uncertainty. My point is just that Mika is, and always will be, a free agent who as a solo artist can hire who he wants to help him do his job best as he sees fit at any given time in his developing career. If, as seems to be implied, this is a new direction, then I trust his judgement to decide to hire/surround himself with other/new personnel who will fit in with this. I'm really looking forward to this new phase! Think it's time for a change. For me it's always just been about Mika - much as I like Cherisse, Imma, Jimmy etc as individuals, I have only ever been interested in Mika at gigs etc - the band members to me are incidental tbh. I do, however, think this news announcement could've been handled better though....

Just listened to the song again and I agree totally with lollipop_monkey. I go back to what I said in my earlier post - this song sounds wrong with Ida's rather precise, cold operatic voice - it's just not right for the song. Makes it sound like a Disney/West End song rather than a "real" love song/duet. I'm not sure I like the lyrics - they're rather cliche and cheesy but given that that is the case, as the song stands, I think it needed to go the whole hog and have a female voice that kind of 'goes' with that (if it remains a duet) - ie a more raw, emotional voice (as I said in my previous post). That would make it an unashamedly melodramatic ballad (which is what the current lyrics suggest afterall) a la Jennifer Warnes/Joe Cocker style!! At the moment, with Ida's operatic voice it's a 'mish-mash', it's got an identity crisis, not knowing what it's trying to be, IYKWIM, and that makes it insincere and unbelievable. It needs more real emotion (other than just singing emotive words), a looser style, more sincerity - otherwise it's Disney - not adult at all.

Don't like Ida's voice AT ALL in this song - she has a very clean, pure but cold, emotionless voice and honestly, if you're going to sing a duet (love song) to someone, you've got to at least TRY and sound like you mean it when you sing to the other person and look into their eyes etc lol!! I didn't feel that either Mika or Ida meant the lyrics when they sang it - I know they may not actually be 'in lurve' but they have to create the illusion when singing a love song together! The song has potential, but I hope he finds another singer who 'gels' with him better vocally (etc!) - the restrained operatic voice is not what's needed here, it needs a more raw emotional style and sound. I hope he also changes the title of the song because it's really not very inspiring as it stands.... Will be interesting to see how this song pans out in the end...

Thank you all so much for these pictures and vids, which are fantastic! Glad you had a great time at the gig!

Was hoping one of his New Year's resolutions for 2011 would be to tweet more often and write blogs and record vlogs again!! (Well, no harm in hoping was there LOL?!)

I know that the chances are he's already decided upon a name for his new puppy (maybe from our list, who knows lol!), but could the name I suggested the other day be added if possible, please, which is AMBER. Thank you!!

Very last minute - I've already suggested some names to him via twitter but my faves of the ones I came up with are Bessie (Bess for short), Poppy (already on the list) and the one I thought of today, which I think I now like best, Amber. Don't know why I didn't think of that name (Amber) earlier - when I was a child we had a cross labrador/ridgeback retriever with that name and she was gorgeous. Also, his puppy is the right kind of colour being golden! Looking forward to hearing what name he's decided upon and to see some pics of him with her!!

Hi Petra ale: We paid £65.00 each for our tickets (seated), but there may have been some slightly cheaper ones for her shows (also there were some a LOT more expensive too!!). Honestly, if you ever get the chance to see her live, do!! You won't regret it! She puts so much into her shows.

Saw Lady Gaga in Manchester at MEN Arena on 3/6/10. I, and rest of family, were already fans of hers, but honestly, seeing her live at her Monster Ball, we were blown away by the show and her! As Mika would say, her show was 'immense'! The tickets were expensive but so worth it. I'm already thinking about saving up to go and see her again in November/December in London! As for the 'Alejandro' video, I absolutely love the song and the video doesn't disappoint! It's fabulous.

Just watched the vid on the Radio 2 website - he looks so well and relaxed!! And he's wearing that stripey Breton shirt which I just LOVE seeing him wear He really looks uber-cute and he is just the most adorable guest for any interviewer, especially when he's in such a good mood as he plainly is in this interview. The camera shows the reactions of the audience at times to what he's saying etc, and they all seem to be smiling and responding to him really well! So glad I saw this vid - thanks to Rak1 for the heads-up that a vid would be available, otherwise I'd never have known about it! (But I gather that it's not viewable by everyone across the world - is there any techy-wizard type person who'd be able to download it so's that others who are blocked from watching it on the R2 website can see it too?? Sorry, I don't know how to do that myself! )

That was me! It was lovely to meet you and chat with you too in the queue! Sumiko2 and I both looked for you when we got inside the building - neither of us had realised that you hadn't been able to get inside at the same time as us and were therefore still outside; we'd thought you'd joined another queue by one of the other doors! Hope to meet you again at another show in the future! Well, my here's my report - first off, I thought Erik Hassle was really good, so it made the wait for Mika less painful! I was lucky to have got to the second row just in front of where Mika's piano was on the stage, can't complain, was worth the long wait in the cold, lol! When he finally came on, the cold and the sore feet/back seemed to just evaporate, I just felt euphoric. Being so bloody short, if I hadn't got that close to the front, I'd only have seen people's backs so it was fantastic to see him and so close too! This was my first time at one of his gigs on this tour (and won't be seeing him again for a few months now) so it was really exciting to see this new set and hear him singing his new stuff live, amongst the old favourites! He said at one point that there was a technical issue but TBH I hadn't noticed anything wrong - maybe those who've seen the show several times would've been able to have picked up on it, but otherwise I don't think it was that obvious (or maybe I'm just not very observant!?) I felt that his voice was really good, which after so many shows, is impressive. He seemed 'fresh' and in really good (even high?) spirits too which was lovely. He also interacted/chatted with the audience a lot I thought (don't know how this compares with other shows at other venues??). I was pleasantly surprised at how long the set lasted. The band were great - loved Cherisse's big hair and Imma's lovely dress and also her colourful net skirt she changed into later. I would love to have been able to dance more - when standing, there really isn't the room to do anything too 'expansive' (which I'd forgotten until we got inside the auditorium and remembered of course people are standing very close to each other), not without accidentally punching/taking out the eye/stomping on the feet etc of anyone in the vicinity LOL! So just had to hold arms up waving, jump up and down a bit and tried to be 'restrained' but I really desperately just wanted to 'let go'!! I hung around outside until about 11.15 but then got paranoid about catching my bus and getting to my hotel so decided to leave. I knew I'd regret this decision and, boy, do I regret it or what???? Why, oh why did I do that?! I'd been so looking forward to having the chance to 'meet' or at least see him outside the venue at this show, but then I just panicked about getting to the bloody hotel...I need my brain examining. Oh well, I'll have to save this opportunity for another time... All in all, the show was amazing (although TBH I'm not totally convinced about the need for the masks, interesting as they are, on the BG's and LG's...) - wasn't expecting anything less of course, but nevertheless, it's good when expectations are met (and exceeded!). Been listening to Mika this evening VERY LOUDLY, lol, to relive my fantastic time last night. Can't wait to see him again!

Oh God, the weather forecast for Sunday in the south is looking pretty grim - looks like rain and LOTS of it! Bring raincoats and brollies folks!

Most definitely, lol!! Btw, I've mentionned this before a few times, but not had any takers - just to let people know that I have a Family Room booked at the Battersea Travelodge, with just me in it at the mo, so if anyone needs accommodation on the Sunday night, let me know, you'd be very welcome. I don't want any contribution toward the cost of the room, it was only £12.00 or something anyway!

Thanks, Jazzy. Leaving for Liverpool shortly, not sure if the place I'm staying in has wi-fi so may not be able to get on-line over next couple of days. So... I may see some/all of you guys at Sheffield on Thursday if the miracle I'm praying for happens, but I may not! In case I don't get there, have a great time everyone, I'll be thinking of you!

Thanks for your responses guys. Yes, Jazzy is right, I bought the ticket from viagogo who sell as third parties, they have to contact the seller and let them know they've sold the ticket, then the seller posts the ticket out directly to the buyer. As they can't even get hold of the bloody seller to tell him he's sold the ticket they can't fulfill the transaction, at least at the moment. I'm praying that in the next few hours they do manage to get hold of him/her and the ticket can be sent to me by special courier or something to ensure I get it in time, but it's really in the lap of the Gods at the moment. I guess I always knew that buying a ticket so late this way (ie thru' a 3rd party agent) was a bit risky (time-wise if nothing else). I've phoned the O2 at Sheffield to see if by any chance they had the odd ticket left, but no, nothing. I've now got one of those tension headaches - ****, this is just a nightmare.

Am in state of panic as ticket hasn't been sent yet and, worse than that, the email I've received states that they (the agents) haven't managed to even make contact with the vendor, let alone get it sent out to me. It's really not looking good at the moment, and I'm feeling so stressed. I'll get compensated if I don't get the ticket but I don't want that, I want to go to the show!! I was sooo looking forward to it, I'm gutted that I might now miss it afterall. I'm trying to think positively that it'll all come right in the end, but I'll be so upset if it doesn't happen. Sorry to be so down when everyone's excited, I just had to get this off my chest a bit.

Ah, okay, thanks for the tip, Jazzy, I'll do the bag thing too rather than queue for the cloakroom.

Thinking of practicalities, what will people do about coats/bags? Do you have to keep them with you during the gig (which'd be a pain) or is there a cloakroom/left luggage place at the O2 where they can be left, does anyone know?

Absolutely - he needs to embrace his inner artist and be at one with his audience, and to demonstrate this he needs to bare all (well, nearly all anyway!) Besides, if it's his poor man-fluey chest he's worried about, we 'll keep him warm with the strength of our luuurve!!!

Hahaha! Yes, I think we might get a few hostile 'looks'! But, hey, I can take it, lol!

Maybe we'll have to give him a bit of encouragement ie screaming 'Get your kit off!' VERY loudly and persistently, lol! Thanks guys for the pics and reports from last night!