To whom it may concern:
I purchased a ticket for this show which was FF 5, which should have been the third seat in on the left of the main aisle.
I wish I was able to stay there for the night, and not have to fight to get back there after I got pushed out into the aisle by over-zealous fans.
I'm 49 years old, and my first concert was in 1977 and was Freddie Mercury and Queen.
This summer alone, I saw Grace Jones, Pet Shop Boys, and Depeche Mode.
I thought I'd "support a new artist" and travel down from CT to see MIKA, at the same venue where I saw Annie Lennox a few years back.
I had the WORST time.
Seeing I was in the "fan section" I was shocked at the amount of alcohol consumed by those around me.
I'm sure everyone loves MIKA, but I didn't exactly feel the love when they kept SCREAMING "I LOVE YOU MIKA" while he was singing.
I'm impressed everyone knows the lyrics to his songs (as do I, but I choose to sing in the car), but unless MIKA was "asking" the audience to sing along,
I could barely hear MIKA as the "MikaFans" around me kept screaming every single syllable.
It took me over an hour to get back to my seat (where my backpack was, with my medication, and ID, along with my jacket),
but it took me over an hour to convince the "security" people that I was holding a ticket for a seat someone else INSISTED was theirs.
So I was threatened with EXPLUSION FROM THE VENUE unless I "calmed down" (and this was during the show).
I could go on, but I didn't even see most of the show until I got to my seat,
and then I had to watch through a barrage of the rudest girls with all manner of video recording devices.
So I actually, from FF 5, saw MORE of the show through VIDEO RECORDING DEVICES instead of through my own eyes.
I've seen hundreds of concerts, and this was the worst concert experience I've had, even surpassing the recent PET SHOP BOYS at The Hammerstein,
because I got stuck directly behind VIP queens, busy with some iPhone App called GRINDR, who were so f'd up on meth, or Tina, or coke,
or whatever it was.
This was worse. This was WAY worse.
And I have a disability (I've had six surgeries on my spine: four lumbar, two cervical).
I've purchased everything MIKA had for sale on iTunes, and the deluxe versions too, when available.
I bought BOTH his DVDs.
And I WASTED $25 on a "fan seating" ticket, and didn't even bother to stick around for the "after-show" because the people around me
were loud, rude, mostly drunk, and vulgar.
Then there was the extra $25 or so ticket fees on top of the price of admission.
I spent $28 to take the train in from New Haven (CT). I rode the A train alllllllllll the way uptown, then downtown.
I spent $12 to park my car in New Haven.
And $10 on the subway card.
So I wasted about $100 just to have a really bad experience, to support an artist I thought worthy of a "one-off" experience.
Tell MIKA that he needs to send out a "fan letter" to his dearly devoted, and tell them to think of the other people around them.
I felt badly for the kids behind me (when I was finally seated) because I'm sure they are going to grow up to be people who don't go to concerts
because of the rude, drunk, and vulgar people.
I'm going to pass on the DVDs to my nieces, because when I think of MIKA, I think of the really terrible evening I had.
What a waste of my money. An absolute waste of money.
And to think of how excited I was.
No more. Just disgusted.
I had no idea who to send this letter to, but I thought I'd send it here.
Perhaps you can let his management know.
Maybe it's just my trashy fellow Americans.
But I had a horrible, horrible experience.
I was treated like dirt by people who "had to rush the aisle" and push me out of my seat.
And then I was threatened for most of an hour by the security people.
I tried to "smile like I meant it" but I didn't even have that much energy left.
Thanks MIKA. Have a good career.
But I'll be sharing this experience with everyone who says "MIKA? who are they?"
And WAIT until this hits my blog.
It's so sad when you have a great entertainer, and the very people who support that entertainer
are SCREWED by over-zealous, obnoxious, drunken, screaming, inconsiderate fans...
who won't let go of their video-recording devices.
I didn't know who to send this email to, but I was sending it to anyone with an address for MIKA at this point.
What a sad experience.
Very sad.