Wildfire

Hi, Wildfire! Thank you so much for sharing the photos and the video! It was really crazy isn't it. I remember Mika looked really happy in the car. So well done for chasing him and recording all the way to the gate! This is really great! I'm in that video so it became really special for me too. I hope you didn't catch a cold!

Yuko 

Hi Yuko, and you're welcome!  I'm happy you can see yourself in the video, glad I could provide you with it 

Yes, he looked really happy in the car! I managed to catch his smile on camera in the video of the second night as well and it's really nice to see him so elated. He was just sitting in his car, waving to people and holding his bouquet of flowers with a wide smile on his face. He didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest by the huge crowd 

Yeah I knew I would be unable to get to the "front" so I thought I should at least film the whole thing to keep a record of it haha. It was indeed crazy   (and I think I did catch a cold after that, actually! haha)

Merci beaucoup pour la traduction!! C'est très intéressant en effet et maintenant le texte du livret est beaucoup plus clair pour moi

Great review,thanks! 

Thanks a lot, I'm happy you enjoyed it!   

I love reading all your reviews!! Thanks for sharing

I knew it was foggy on the 1st of January in Florence (when I left in the morning in bus, on my way to Milan I saw it was already foggy through the windows, and then my friends who were still in Florence told me about the weather) but I didn't think about the fact that it would cause delayed flights

And yes there was such a long line waiting to enter the Uffizi gallery... I gave up and visited the city instead but when I come back one day I will definitely take a look.

It's actually weird to think we were all in the same room at the opera a week ago and that now we are all communicating through screens... Sorry it's 4am and I am getting all emotional I guess   Especially because I have just finished writing my review and it reminded me of the amazing time I had...

Anyway I (finally!) posted my own review: you can read it here

My pictures here: Mika - Sinfonia Pop - Florence - 30 & 31 /12/2016

And here is a video of Mika leaving in his car on the 31st (it's pretty shaky I'm sorry)

Hello again! I have finally posted more

Photos: here (the pictures I took at the opera are definitely not as nice as the ones posted above though )

Review: here

And the video of when Mika left on the 30th!

(you can see/remember how crazy it was...)

I think that's all 

Thank you everyone for your videos and photos!   Mine are NOT that good at all  I will post them and my review soon though.

Thanks for the compliment. I'm glad you like the repost and recognize my feelings. I read you had a great time yourself at the first concert. Happy to hear that.

I had a wonderful last day in Florence. Saw -among other miracles of art- the Sarcophagus of the Amaons, the Idolino of Pesaro, the Francois Vase and took a million pictures in The Museo Archeologico. In the afternoon I applied for membership of the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Firenze. I felt so initiated when I sat in the huge stately reading hall among lots of young students. So now I really have to come back soon. Actually I'm sure I will. I fell in love with this city and country all over again. Might have been Italian in a past life. My name (Renate) hints at that anyway;-).

 Oh yes I definitely recognized your feelings and to read about them made me joyful.
Thanks I really did have a great time! 
I loved Florence as well. When I went to the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale it was closed, unfortunately. I wish I could have gone to the Museo Archologico too! When I go back one day I will definitely check it out

It's januari 3 and I'm still in Florence. Having the time of my life these past week, wandering around in this vibrant city with all it's historical and contemporaly highlights.

 

On New Years day I visited Fiesole, the little town, situated near Mount Ceceri, where Leonardo da Vinci did his flying experiments. It was a sunny misty day and the views on hazy Florence were breathtaking.

I felt in awe of the amazing miracles of nature and of mankind and very grateful to Mika that he had caused me to do this trip. If it wasn't for attending his symphonic concerts, I would never have been in Florence on my own. Traveling alone can has great advantages because you have the time and space to follow your own intuition and goals without being distracted by the needs of other people. In earlier days I used to be lonesome sometimes when I did this or I felt selfconscious thinking people would feel pity me cause I was without compagny. Lately though I feel free and unhibited and I thank Mika for this change. His music, voice and way of living have given me the strength to follow my own wishes without caring about what other people think of me.

 

This is a long introduction to my report of the concert. However I can be brief about that: I wasn't there. Although I had a ticket for both concert and diner, I gave it away -that's another story- and I walked around Florence on New Years Eve. Again an evening with memorable experiences. First I wrapped up some gifts for Mika that I had brought from Amsterdam and bought in Florence. I also translated in English a beautiful dutch poem that I'd put on a card for him. Around 21.00 I went past the river Arno to the Opera. When I'd reached the venue, I spent some time watching the impressive grey building from the outside thinking about the event that was going on inside and the people that were enjoying it. I left the bag with gifts with a friendly smiling doorman at the artist entrance. He obviously had received lots of gifts that night since he immediately understood my purpose. When I walked to the theatre, I'd been afraid that I would feel ashamed and ridiculous giving the presents. Luckily I just felt relieved and happy and merry. Life is so amazingly colourful when you leave shame behind you.

 

Then I went into town. As I'd never been to Italy on the end of december, I loved watching all the people moving through the city on this turbulent last night of the year. The streets were crowded and noisy, people wore funny hats and festive clothing in spite of the cold. There were many salesman selling sparkling gadgets and warm blankets and lots of young guys throwing fire crackers on the ground and towards the passers-by. I was exchanging text messages with a group of my closest friends who were passing the turn of the year in a cabin in Limburg (south of Holland). It was very funny. I felt like a news reporter telling the country people at home what was happening in the big city. Piazza Duomo was incredible. I'm used to anarchy on New Years Eve because I'm from Holland with its mass public celebration of the turn of the, but I hadn't seen or heard anything like this yet. Probably 'cause I usually avoid being in the centre on these kind of events. It seemed like war. Chaotic movements, deavening sounds, bousterous lightnings everywhere. Once there was a powerful explosion of firework that i felt in my whole body because of the air displacement.

 

I ended up on more quiet and friendly Piazza San Lorenzo where I stayed until midnight watching and singing along with a euphoric gospel choir from Orlando that celebrated their love for life and Jesus together with the receptive spectators. I would never had thought I'd have such joy spending a New Years Eve on my own out on the streets of a foreign city. Thanks again to Mika who causes us to do things that we've never done

 

Now I'm off to spend my last day in Florence, starting with a second visit of the gorgious Museo Archeologico. If I ever learn how to upload pictures on this site I will post some pictures of the beautiful works of art that are in there. No one should miss those.

On 31/12/2016 at 9:33 PM, mari62 said:

Hi!

I think, we'd better post about the party in its thread HERE.

Thanks!!

Okay, I just posted my pics in this other thread instead of here 

I might post a full review later, I don't have time to say more right now, but it was my first Mika symphonic concert and I had an amazing time!! So happy  
Edit: review posted! here
And more pictures here

Thanks everyone for the answers! (and now I have to find a way to add some creativity to my outfit haha)

Thank you, I was wondering about the dress code too

And does anyone know if we can bring cameras? Not to take pictures during the performance of course, as I guess it isn't allowed nor a good idea, but if I need to have it with me for later for example can I keep it in my bag?

Looking for a ticket for the 30th if anyone has one to sell!

I've cut all the songs, duets and monologues of the 4 night of Stasera Casa Mika, converted in mp3 and gathered them all in a dropbox folder. Here you can dowload them if you wish

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tslnubh3gta5xfz/AAAwXPlKo3S7ATgZNnLiqwGla?dl=0

Oh wow, thank you!

-

I still have to rewatch the 4th episode, internet wasn't working very well at home (as usual...) when I watched it live so I missed a lot of things. I can't wait to actually enjoy the whole episode

I'm sad it's over. I think my favorite parts were the taxi driver ones, the moments with Paula, and Mika's speeches before Hurts, Origin Of Love, Good Guys... I'm definitely gonna miss this show

Thank you for posting. Looking at the position of your pictures I think we must have been almost next to each other!

You're welcome! And that's funny haha, we enjoyed the show from (approximately) the same place then

Sollies Pont was last summer, I know, but I had never shared anything on this topic and wanted to add my contribution, so here are a few of my photos (you can see the whole album here on my  flickr, there's too many to post them all here), and a report I posted on my blog: read it here   I miss this day!

I have never posted any of my pictures of this show on here and I think it's time to add my contribution, which I should have done sooner! Sorry for posting so late!
Here are a few of the pictures I took, the others are in my flickr album.
(AND I have posted a review on my blog, here. It's one of the longest I've ever written and posted I think  )

Hi there! I hope it's not a bother that I am posting months and months later  but I haven't shared my pics here yet...

I know they're not that good but I wanted to add my contribution haha, so here is a link to my flickr album
 

I also posted a little review on my blog here 

Some of my fav pictures (there's more on flickr):

Thanks,Wildfire! Such a detailed report! 

You're welcome! Hope it was interesting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i researched this for the Origin Of Love's Mikapedia entry:

"The Origin Of Love" is also the name of a song from the stage show Hedwig and the Angry Inch (1998) and subsequent film (2001). Stephen Trask wrote the song, which is based on a story from Plato's Symposium. In the 2012 Google+ Q&A with fans Mika talked about the song, saying that he’d heard it but the Hedwig song didn’t consciously influence his.

 

 

here's the video, MFC's own Nas asked the question

I had no idea the question had already been asked. I should have thought of looking for an answer in the Mikapedia   Thank you

Not a clue...someone will have to ask him next time there's a chance

Oh yeah, good point!  That's a good question to ask.

I remember googling  Origin of Love and finding "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" song online too but although I liked it, I would have rather heard Mika's At that time, all we knew was the title of the album or song

I actually came across the Hedwig and the Angry Inch song on youtube for whatever reason, but after the album came out, and it's only then that I made the connection   Now I'm left I wondering if Mika knows about this musical and if he ever made the connection himself 

I would add "I See you", too. The way i see it it's about loving someone from afar and watching them but never daring to go talk to them for fear of being rejected and mocked ("You could be cruel to me") because they're most probably straight (or pretending they are, but anyway that's not the point), thus not interested, and could be mean about it.

"And I'm waiting, I'm hating everyone" could mean that he's so jealous of all the people who do not have to worry about things like this, who can just get up and go talk to the person they like without the fear of being rejected and being made a fool of, that he hates them.

Mika talks about the song here

and here

And yes OOL is definitely missing on the list

Let's not forget what Mika himself said about the song:
"I wrote this song after a long time not writing anything. It talks about my life, it talks about the church, it talks about falling in love and it talks about being happy and proud about falling in love with whoever you fall in love with, even if it's a man. So in a way, this is my statement and my thank you. To the man I love."

Not only is it about his partner and/or was written for him, there's all those lines in it that very clearly deal with theses topics he mentioned (the church, being lgbt+, and how these two notions coexist), "You are the sun and the light, you are the freedom I fight, God will do nothing to stop it", amongst others, and of course this whole verse:

Also, I don't know if that's actually relevant but The Origin of Love is also a song from the musical/movie "Hedwig and the Angry Inch", which is about a fictional rock and roll band fronted by a genderqueer East German singer, Hedwig Robinson. The song is based on Aristophanes' speech in Plato's Symposium. Quotes from wikipedia:

[The story] explains that three sexes of human beings once existed: "children of the sun" (man and man attached), "children of the earth" (woman and woman attached), and "children of the moon" (man and woman attached). Each were once round, two-headed, four-armed, and four-legged beings. Angry gods split these early humans in two, leaving the separated people with a lifelong yearning for their other half. 

Now, throughout our lives, we are always trying to find our "other half", and sexual intercourse is the only means we have to put the two halves back together; this desire to be one person again is what we call "love. However, it is impossible to fully rejoin two people because it is our souls and not our bodies that most desire to be reunited.

(yup, in this story the two separated people trying to find their other half to get back together are either two men, two women, or a man and a woman)

The movie was written by John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask and here's how that specific song was supposedly written:

As the two writers began work, Mitchell bought Trask a copy of Plato’s Symposium, showed him the central story which explained the origins of gay, lesbian, and heterosexual love, and asked him to write a song based on that story. Trask came back with the moving, fiercely multi-cultural, fairy tale-like song-story "The Origin of Love."

Mika never mentionned "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" anywhere (as far as I know?) so I don't think that Origin of Love has been inspired by its eponym from the musical/movie, but it's still interesting to make connections right?

I voted yesterday but didn't comment anything, yes I'll be there too! Is it okay if we're not there at 4pm? My train will arrive around 5

This is so exciting! I LOVE the trailer and can't wait to see this in cinemas!  (Also hoping we'll get a DVD as well, though  )