Melyssa

A couple of pics as I am waiting for my train on an extremely un confortable bench

A couple of pics, more pics/vids/words to come when back home at the ed of the week;)

Part one just ended and... oh God That Was Good. Especially the first half (well, no, second half was good too, but you know, having the Penniman gang in your telly is just super exciting xd). I can't even find how to talk about more than 2 hours of show (and maybe coming here right in the end is not a good idea, after 2 hours of watching tv my brain is like a pudding), but let's say you'll laugh, and share some tears, and be moved, and then you'll do that all over again, and again. From the hilarious anecdote of him, Yasmine and "Miss Potatoe" to his very moving speech about Imagine for Margo, and the cuteness of him his eyes all red of emotion in the middle of his family (Fortuné's bread story, they're all mad really ), and this crazy virée on bike in the middle of Paris... him trying to cook some lebanese salad, and his mother "are you making me eat what you made a month ago??!!" ... him red of shame watching the archives of the Donkey song amongst so many things. And also, those images of the decor for the tour, you're gonna loose an eye So, for short, yes, it is really worth finding 2 hours to watch it (too many smileys involved here)

For those who don't know this show (apart from when Mika went in it for 10 minutes) , it's an old (like almost 20 years old) and mostly a very, veeeery long one. Like, very. It is running for the whole Sunday afternoon... And then there's a second part at 7pm. It must be more than 3hours, easy. And the honor guest (here our Lord and master) is here from the beginning to the end, so here comes a massive dose of Mika . The other guests are chosen by him (well most of them are supposedly chosen by him). Usually you go through the life of the guest with a lot of pics, anecdotes, intervention of "famous friends" and if you care about the guest it's actually a good show, if a bit too "nice" (the host finds everyone and everything fantastic, if you see what I mean). If you don't like the guest then it's just a very long Sunday afternoon Xd. Anyway, it is watched by a lot, and it's an important step for a carrier in France to do this show as honor guest (they receive international guests too, not just French speaking people) . It is actually a bit odd the Mika didn't already do it years ago but well... Also the host usually brings his dog on set xd

And it is finally being sent - I got mine today via Amazon France (and it was quite a good surprise as after 3 reports I actually had forgotten I had pre-ordered it so obviously I wasn't expecting it at all )

It was posters of the people he is thanking in the song. They were pulled out one by one when he was saying the names - it was originaly planned for Paris Fnac Live but ended up here . It was a bit messy as we went into a "Emerson has disappeared" drama during the first part of the song but it turned out well in the end There is a vid of it on youtube, his face makes me melt @Silver thanks

(part 2) Some other random pics

"Aren't we happy here in this beautiful place, you, me... and my friend Lafayette!" MIKA Post-gig blues here you go. Dunno why, next gig isn't that far but it still came without warning. Mika didn't help, first by being awesome ( ) and second by repeating at least 5 times that there was only this gig and the Landerneau one and then it was over... And you could see he was quite annoyed about it, but also how much he wanted to enjoy the stage as long as he was still on it, and the happiness on his face when right after he remembered the tour was coming and he was so happy to tell us that he was preparing it and it was coming soon and it would be all new and he was waiting for it so eagerly. But still ten minutes later came again the "only two left"... so how do you want me not to have a post gig blues now?! It's all his fault . But oh it was quite a good gig! And such a good day in general. The city is so beautiful, and the place where the festival was standing is gorgeous. The weather was perfect, not too cold not too hot, a big tree to give shadows, a great atmosphere between fans, no dramas at the entrance, even if the way they had put the barriers was quite scary (you could see it was the very first day of the very first year for this festival though, they overreacted a bit about searches Xd) ,and we were lucky to have a good line up before mika - the first ones were a bit depressive but not there for long, the 2d one was a bit meh for me (thing is Olympe has a great voice but I was put out by him trying to make jokes but ending up being quite heavy. But as he sang only two or three of his songs (out of 3 albums..). and made only covers for the rest at least we could sing along). But most of all Christophe Willem... I found him great and so funny. I have to say a few of us were already quite happy during the afternoon to have the opportunity to see him live because we liked him already, and really I am glad to have seen him on stage. But then as Nina and other told me "now Mika has quite a tough act to follow! " . But we weren't really worried about it thought . (By the way Willem stayed to watch Mika and he really had fun. And then he tweeted about how much fun he had. I like him even more xd. are the bits of his gigs that I filmed if anyone is interested ). And then comes 11h15pm and... Still no mika of course (but he didn't arrive that late tho). And as I was trying to put a balloon in my bag (long story) I heard people shout so I stood up and oh here he was, in his jeans with his black jacquet and his fantastic belt and oh God I could have kissed him just for the outfit. And then I immediately bet to myself the belt wouldn't even last a song and quite right I was (I thought the jacket would survive a tiny bit longer tho but it went flying off 3 seconds later). I loved this set list. I loved that I was surprised so many times. I loved having Relax back at the opening, with him starting slowly an beautifully with the piano, and feeling the crowd ready to explode, waiting for him to give the signal... And then him just giving us his mischievous smile which says "not yet..." and going back to the piano, conscientiously restraining us all seething with impatience... and then finally allowing us - and himself! - to let go... I loved having Rain thrown in the middle of it, totally unexpected (I haven't really followed the last gigs' seltists, maybe it has come back for a few weeks already but for me it was quite unexpected ) I died when out of the blue he began Ordinary Man, only him and his piano, his voice resonating with such intensity in the religious silence of the place... and then I died again when he did Happy Ending just after it (quite a killing combo. Funny I am always so surprised by happy ending why do I keep forgetting he's probably gonna do it ). And it was such a relief he did Good Guys as this one comes and go and we had a thing planned during it so It Was Requested but yes! the good guys came (and he seemed to have enjoyed his surprise very much, thank you Corinne for this. His face when he opened his eyes was the cutest thing ). We expected to have staring at the sun in French so no big surprise on it (well actually I thought he would do the complete French version but he did just 2 or 3 lines (Or maybe there's only 2 or 3 lines for real, I haven't even listened to this version yet) . Turns out I can have this song live and have fun on it, and I'll always be good at waving my arms when he asks , but truly I still really don't like this song :/. On the other hand, what I more-than-like is to take the ride to the origin of love I also still enjoy every much this version of Elle Me Dit in which he doesn't want to dance (by the way, it became his "in a few day I become old, I won't be able to dance anymore" song again. Adressing to the bleachers that were awfully far from the stage (it was quite scandalous how far they were by the way, all the artists reacted to that) " soon I'll go and join the old ones on the bleachers. I'll have a bier with you here, and a tea with them there"). It was especially hilarious at the beginning when he sat on the stairs and began to sing for the security guy ("qu'est ce que t'as t'as l'air coincé" ). And the guy, conscientiously watching the crowd and giving us his best I'm Not A Funny Guy face, was completely oblivious of all of us having fun of him (sorry man xd). And then the rest of the song was a complete disaster (but a very funny disaster) as he was unable to remember the lyrics and spent half the song giggling like a kid And this moment when he refuses to dance and then gives us a very best of all his most ridiculous moves, gotta love him ("what matters isn't to dance well anyway. It's do dance without shame!"). Later (or before, well somewhere in it xD) poor Curtis had quite a hard time when Mika asked him to be "less romantique, more church" and the poor guy couldn't understand what he wanted and ended up being said "he doesn't understand anything seriously! What a dumb ass!" . He finally managed to get it but like five minutes later as Mika was already on something else and so Mika just stopped in the middle of his sentence "oh no wait hear that! We finally got the church! Let's enjoy it for a while!" An then far too soon as always We are golden and Love Today popped in, with those mixed feelings of "let's give everything and dance and enjoy like crazy, now is the time to release every last drop of energy" and "oh s**t already no no no!". A tiny problem with the confettis as a first ridiculously tiny wave was ejected far too early, followed by Mark having to go and hide himself under the stairs out of shame (he was laughing so much tho xd) and Mika looking at those three poor confettis flying in front of him like "what the heck have you done?!!" then the whole of confettis finally went out... All in Mika's face because of the wind! During LT he also enjoyed the arrangement made for Christophe Willem (who came a lot to climb the first row barrier and had a little box to allow him to go in the audience) and so of course before the end Mika was on the box climbing the barrier too and thank God he didn't fall because it would have been right on me ...and time comes to say goodbye. Definitely not my fave part ... But then again, what a good day I had. Which is good, as it actually was my only day off of the whole summer, he had quite a weight on his shoulders to make it worth it more pics to follow, as I have reached my limit apparently *oops*

Another little one before I manage to get serious and to take my (virtual) pen about this gig

Guess what (I was so not expecting this I think I forgot to breathe for a minute) Mika @ Summersound 2015 - Ordinary Man : More to come when I reach home, after 300 hours of train...

That's big big big xD Pics under spoiler for those who are waiting for it and don't want to be spoiled (we are talking about the signed deluxe edition)

I don't know, but apparently it was more because of the rapper who was performing before Mika and who shouldnt even be allowed to perform on family events. Some of the people who were there were telling me he asked his fans to make two groups and to run one into the other, you can imagine how dangerous it is in the middle of such a crowd, with kids and all... and then later he came into the public and a lot of people ended up with his foot on the face. Security let it happen without really doing anything and quite a few fans ended up in ER today, and for all the others beyond the bruises there's also a big emotionnal shock

I hope it's big enough to read when clicking on it (I am not on my computer I don't know how it looks like on a regular screen)

Yes, he was indeed talking about the US .

Well that went well. I was a tiny bit worried when I learned he was doing it because there rarely is a week without a scandal coming out if this show, more often because of a fight with one of the guests, or slip up from the presenter... Just to explain to those who don't know it, the concept is one presenter who's doing his presenter job (except he doesn't really have a "politically correct" filter) and two journlists who are here to destabilize the guests, and they can be really tough (they are called the snipers, it gives an idea) . But it's a very popular show with a lot of influence and we are sort of counting which guests survived the chair and which doesn't. Mika definitively survived so it was a good thing (and they weren't very hard on him truly). What "common people" will like the most I think is his honesty, especially when they tried to make him feel unease by talking about money and product placements in videos without expecting him to go straight for the truth (as money is usually a sort of taboo topic in france). You could see how the girl was trying to find ways of putting him in some embarrassment and he was just reacting like "YAY, a new topic, let me talk about it for 15 minutes please!" So really, not bad at all (apart for not letting me go to bed before 2am). As, I said it has quite an influence here, it's watched by lot but it's also talked a lot in other media shows so... (Also me loves Conchita)

I managed to choose three, only to find out that I picked the three leading songs of the poll. I am the summarization of worldwide opinion

Mine has arrived too and that's when I realised the French deluxe and tofu deluxe don't have the same pictures inside (also, one is mat the other shiny) which is not a good thing as I was planning to offer the tofu one as a gift (all I was interested in was the doll xd) but now he fangurl side of me is screaming nooooo new pics you caaaaaan't

I was having the exact same thought, I keep seeing row N people, how long is this bloody row N?!

oh boy how I had to search for this thread A nice pop up as we get some news in Le Divan: first we learned that the english title will be "the diary of the accidentally optimistic" (well they said it in french "le journal de l'optimiste accidentel"), but the presenter based his translation on the english title). So an english version will be. Also, presenter said that Mika gave him a copy to read, so english version actually already exists in a finished enough version to be read. And finally he added that the book will be available in autumn. But then he didn't say of which year. He also gave us some snippets, first bits of the letter from himself to himself, and also this quote (I can't say if it's out of a column or not as I have read only a few, so if some want to keep it completely fresh stop reading now) about his mum "She was the wind, the color, the perfume, the jasmine, the bergamot, the Burlgarian rose, the music, the weeping of a bohemian, the style without the fashion, the love without the money, and we were her creatures, worthy home-made disciples."

Oh, this one I could answer in a heartbeat! (there's only one song I really dislike in this album, so I guess that's why they chose it as the new single in here apparently ) But on my favorite ones the jury is still debating. I think the best I can do is narrowing it down to 5. I'll come back when my internal deliberations are over

it has been written by H. Dierks, composed by Jay Alanski and sung by belgian singer Lio. it's from the early 80' and it's a very famous popular song in here. For you non french speakers who don't get the lyrics, just picture a big 4 minutes of sexual innuendos involving bananas and whipped cream (originally sung by a 16 years old girl, to get the whole picture). edit: Oh well, same as menthe said, sorry xd

I don't think it's out already, if I remember it well he said the other version will come out in a few months, this version being the 'simple one' or something (or did I understand wrong?) . So maybe it is just planned as a next single, or I kind of had this theory (which is probably just due to my brain overloading and will never happen) that the other version is recorded with symphonic and will be used to promote (or at least be included in) the osm album. Or not, but it worked well in my mind

It's been years since I haven't reviewed a gig. Let's hope it's like bicycle. Would I want to be quick, I could just resume the thing by a series of meaningless screams like aaahgaaagaaahh bouiillaaahagaaa ! But it would be a bit lazy. So I'll try to get a bit deeper - note that I said try. Note too that I am approximately 0% rational and 100% emotional about it - sorry in advance. Also, french speaking girl trying to type in english at 1am: even more sorry. General impression first: *meaningless screams* YES! It was so good. For everything, the head, the heart, the body ( well, considering the state of my body on the next morning I am not sure it'll agree but still) . I am currently having quite a rough time in life and this definitely is the best therapy ever. I am not gonna learn anything to most of you by saying that a Mika gig isn't just a gig, it's 1h40 during which you just forget reality, you escape self-consciousness, you're just happy and a bit crazy... ... but when the gig is under daylight you realise how much you just look like nothing (doesn't keep your from freeing yourself tho. It's just quite funny ) Daylight also changes things for Mika, who quickly comments "that's great, I can see you for real, it doesn't happen usually! '' And quite right he'll please himself by chatting even with those far away, including the kid who, God knows how, had ended up hanged by the arms on a wall and who have now been renamed Spiderman by the Boss " poor him, he doesn't even know how he ended up hanged in here! hey Spiderman you okay? Are you gonna dance?''. Also of course lots of eyes contacts and funny interactions, all those little things that so easily makes you ridiculously happy. But I am being too quick, let's get back to the beginning of the day, which started well with the one who didn't want to wake up (wasn't me), the one who was sick (wasn't me) and the one who managed to lock the opening card of her safe INSIDE the safe (that one was me ) but it finally turned up well and we managed to get here before the end of the month. By the way here I'd like to say how nice the festival guys were, they kept giving us free bottles of water even hours before the official opening, they put big umbrellas to give us shadow and they even gave us access to toilets which I think were staff reserved. So, you know, yay them. They actually kept forcing us to take free bottles all day ( it was so hot and sunny I think they were scared of dehydration dramas) and so in the end I left the festival with 4 non opened bottles that had found their way in my bag without me noticing it ("oh, that's why I found it far more heavy than this morning! I just thought I was tired" *baf*). Another fantastic thing other festivals should steal: the first row barrier wrapped in foam: not only it makes it very comfortable to sleep on in between two shows but you bounce like crazy without hurting yourself when jumping, This Is Cool. (Also as I am on it let's add a beautiful lake near every stage: going for a little bath in between two artists is awesome). The clock will soon strike 4 and comes the moment when moving from your spot will become complicated, so I keep myself busy by doing some before/after pics of the audience. And I become very interested by the stage preparation, because this set is even more fun and mad and colorful for real my preeeeciouuus And then of course I laugh stupidly (like every one must have at least once, admit it) when watching the guy adjusting the mic at Mika's size by planting it in the middle of his forehead . And then all of a sudden, as it is just tea time and so you're absolutely not ready in your head, the Toy Boy is here in his heart suit, standing in front of you... I still think that Toy Boy is a curious choice for an opening, it makes the audience a bit undecided about the direction they are supposed to take... but I finally decide quite quickly that it suits me well, as so I have a bit of contemplation time before it goes mad. And contemplating I am indeed Just four minutes of calm before the storm, and then let's bring saxophones and jump in this dancing version of Popular Song on which I am still amazed to have so much fun, but turns out I love this version of it. How he is squirming on stage, he looks like a piece of rubber - but a very sexy piece of rubber Then Grace Kelly makes its come-back. He just takes the time to say hello before jumping on top of the piano , the body flying in the air while the voice is here, and very here. About that it was curious tho: right, there were some glitches but on a general way his singing voice was really great. Problems were more when he was talking ... Anyway, back to jumping on the piano: Oh God this is so good. And now let's go straight to the other end of the singles line with Talk about you, which in fact is very good when live. Really that's completely a stage song in fact! ( I could also say now that Boum Boum Boum takes benefice from the stage too, even if it's less spectacular than TAY. Appart from this piano intro which is a killer) A bit later the man decides to become a prophet and try to communicate live with God. Instead of telling you I'm gonna show you- complement of information: it had begun to rain like 1 minute before (only three drops for 5 minutes though, it was more a relief than a problem, those few drops of fresh water) -> "Dear Lord. Hear my little prayer. You've created a lot of people tall and skinny, skinny and miserables. Like me. Wandering in search of something to eat. Endlessely. And I realised there is a solution for all this misery, dear Lord. And so, this afternoon, here, by the lake, listen to our little prayer. ... No thunder, no rain, nothing, He absolutely doesn't care (people shouting "it's raining!") - (to someone in the audience) No but you're not God, you! " All this for Big Girl, on which he starts the singing contest left vs right. Thing is, a lot of people when they arrived stayed near the entrance so there was much more people on one side than on the other... but surprisingly the "little" side made so much noise that he stepped back of surprise "Seriously you're twice as much as them and you look completely ridiculous next to them!" (proud roars from the winning side) "Yeah, don't push it too much, now you are in danger because they REALLY are twice as much a you!" Now that we used the last 4 or 5 songs to get 10 litres of water out of our body, let's have some peace with Underwater. He is soaking wet but the voice is here, while you are vaguely thinking about splitting out one of your lungs xd. A bit of magic while he asks us to sing with him, guiding us with his hands... and those soap bubbles coming out of the audience to come and fly in front of him, that was so beautiful... ... aaand the jumping monkeys are back as comes Elle me dit, now available in a multilingual version -> I'm gonna loose the chronology to talk about the bottle story, as I don't remember when it was. Not that it is especially fascinating but as it is still in my head let's put it here . It basically went that way ''I don't know what it is but it's disgusting" (he's talking about what's inside his bottle. It's red and not really inspiring). "I swear it is not alcool, but it's not fruit juice either. You want it? Why are you saying yes I just said it was disgusting! Well okay, have it I'll stick with water'' *throws the red disgusting bottle in the audience* As I am in the "very interesting not interesting anecdotes" area, comes too the story of the towel, when he takes it for the first time and see how pink it is (imagine a big bright flashy pink. It was pinker). And then he starts to smell it. Because it smells good, you see. "We weren't allowed of that when kids, because my mum being very lebanese has a philosophy "if it smells good it'll give you cancer!" And now every thing smells very good in my house", he adds with a mischievous smile. Back to songs, let's talk about the holy trinity, with Origin of Love which almost killed half of the front rows (and probably the back too but I couldn't see it) because what a slap, Last Party where I was completely in a trance, just standing there open mouthed forgetting to breathe for five minutes (I love how it explodes in the end...) and Happy Ending on which I just opened the floodgates and let it all out. Especially as, dunno why, I wasn't expecting Happy ending. Fatal mistake . Ultimate let go on Love today when you know the end is coming and he orders "On count of 4, you don't care about those around you, you forget any self-consciousness and you dance like crazy". Yes, sir, believe me I obeyed to the letter while in the same time happily drowning under this rain of confettis... that moment which is only for seconds and on the same time stretches out to infinity, when all you can see is colors floating around you by millions and you dance like nothing else in the world exists... ... and all of a sudden it was all over. Except it wasn't. I'm never completely sure of recalls during festivals, timing issues being involved, but as he had thrown two songs out of his setlist he probably was still on time and made amend for the absence of Good Guys (we had it during soundcheck, makes it even more frustrating) and Good Wife by the unexpected incoming of L'amour fait ce qu'il veut. But before he had to make part of his band learn it in 35 seconds, and so it was half a mess but it was great . I like the music, even if I am less enthousiastic about the lyrics. But fact is I didn't care, he could have sung train station announcements (yes, I typed this review mostly on the train xD) that I would have been happy, as I was already on cloud nine. And the final candy, here comes Lolipop, and as hard as I wished for it never to end, it still hit its final note far too soon. This time it's over for good. And it is still very early . Still floating we go for a last visit to the lake - no but really, a lake near every stage from now on, it is not so much to ask!

I'll wait to be home and have a decent screen and keyboard to try a report (short version:awesome) but in the wait : A very tiny part of Popular (I was a bit too close to the sound system,so it saturates, sorry) Popular Song : And another angle on the little cherry on top of the gicantic cake: L'Amour fait ce qu'il veut:

Oh God, thats one of my favorite songs, I can die now... Thank you so much for the recording! I don't have time listen to the rest of it right now but this already made my day