giraffeandy

I really like this song, it has a different vibe than most of the other songs, less upbeat, more calm and dreamy.

That's my favourite part of the snippet! This song sounds very catchy, it's probaby not the deepest one on the album lyrically, but I think I will enjoy it because you don't need to understand the lyrics to dance to it. Also, it would make a good single imo. It's already stuck in my head.

Czech music website informing about Mika's new French album: https://musicserver.cz/clanek/72144/mika-nahral-sve-prvni-francouzsky-zpivane-album/ They are also mentioning Mêlée des Chœurs and the Rugby World Cup performance. (Although it's a bit of a stretch to write that besides English, French and Italian, he also speaks Spanish... )

I don't speak French but it's the same in Spanish. So it's probably common for all Romance languages. Actually, now when I'm thinking about it, even in Czech you would say "give me your hand" without "your" (sounds very strange with it, you usually only have your own hands anyway, it's also a common mistake in translations from English/German) so maybe it's rather something typical for Germanic languages. (Sorry, I studied linguistic and translation so I always think too much about these things... )

Tbh, in winter it sometimes feels like there is no sunrise at all as there is not enough light in the morning or even during the day...

That's indeed a thing I don't have to worry about, no matter how explicit the French lyrics are, I will never feel uncomfortable listening to it because I don't really care or know what he is singing in French... Even after reading the lyrics and knowing what's the song about, when I'm listening to it, I can't match the meaning with the words I'm listening to as I've never even learned French so for me it's just the sound of the language I hear without any meaning. My favourite French song from Mika is BBB btw. The only lyrics I know are obviously boum boum boum and tequila.

I agree, I love how sweet and soft his voice sounds. C'est la vie is definitely more profound lyrically, but musically speaking, I prefer the melody and Mika's voice in AC. Same!

I feel the same way so far! I like the verses and especially the pre-chorus more than the chorus. I think it will be harder for me to get into these new songs because usually the lyrics help, but with French songs it's just the music for me.

I won't take part as I both can't sing and also don't speak French which is a deadly combination... But why are there only a few countries to choose from in the form? A lot of countries are missing.

I think so.

PART 2 OF MY REPORT (Mika!): Finally, the best part is coming! As I mentioned in part 1, this was the only (and my very first) festival I visited this summer and I haven't watched many videos from the other ones as I prefer to be surprised during the show but of course I still saw some photos of the stage from other gigs. The set was only 1 hour 15 minutes so I was expecting a more regular setlist with all the mandatory hit songs and also Live Your Life because of Spain. I wasn't quite sure about C'est La Vie but I thought he will probably sing it as it is his latest single. Other than that, I didn't expect many songs I haven't heard live before. The show started with Love Today and the intro where you see only Mika's silhouette holding the big flower against the red background, singing the first verse of the song – it was impressive and set the mood from the beginning! The atmosphere was really great. Later during the chorus, Mika run to the front of the catwalk and we could finally see him clear, in his green glitter suit, glowing and smiling like always. I really missed him! The energy, the dancing, the smile... I was so happy to see him again. Then he started to talk in Spanish. I did expect him to speak a little bit of Spanish but he said he is going to speak only Spanish tonight which was quite surprising but I didn't mind – I do understand Spanish but I also have to admit that his Spanish is very Italian so sometimes I struggled a bit more than with Spanish people speaking Spanish. However, his speeches were always very short with a clear message so it wasn't complicated to understand what he means even if he spoke with Italian accent or rather espaliano. I also had a feeling that he usually speaks far more at regular gigs, I wasn't sure if it's usual for him to speak less at festivals (I only saw him at his "solo concerts" so far) or if he kept it shorter and simple because of the language but at least there was time for more songs in those 75 minutes. During Origin of Love, the second song if I remember correctly, we took part in the fan action with the pink and green hearts. Unfortunately, nobody in our closest surrounding was having the hearts but we saw some fans on the left side of the catwalk and Mika did notice the fan action and took one of the hearts too, so I guess it was quite a success. A few songs later, Mika changed to a pink suit to match the dress code "pink power", as he commented. He started to sing Big Girl and after a while, he entered the crowd on the right side of the podium and then walked towards the rear rows. As I mentioned before, we were standing near the barrier at the left corner of the catwalk so he was quite far away and we couldn't see him in the crowd. But of course we were still enjoying the song. Towards the end of it, he was coming back to the stage and suddenly we realized he is coming our way! He really passed by, right next to us and I could touch the sleeve of his suit (I would never grab him in such a situation so I only gently touched the corner of the fabric for a moment to make sure it is real and this is really happening right now ). The fabric felt really nice and very comfortable. When he started to sing Overrated, I was really happy because I've never heard the song live and it's so great! And I wasn't sure if he will have time for any less famous songs during his shorter setlist so it was a nice treat. Then he also sang Rain – I absolutely love this song and I only heard it in Paris before with the symphonic orchestra but the mood of the slower version is very different – and I couldn't be happier at that moment because this song is really my all-time favourite (of course, there are many all-time favourites when it comes to Mika ) and hearing the studio version live was a dream coming true. I love to dance to this song, it's such a bop! Now I want to listen to Rain again but I have to focus and finish this report first... I was on cloud nine so I didn't even mind when Mika started singing Yoyo, the only song I'm still not a fan of, even though I would definitely prefer Tiny Love which he unfortunately had to skip. He sang Live Your Life as I expected but neither Lollipop, nor C'est La Vie. But at that time, I already felt too spoiled to complain. Even though the setlist was shorter than usual and some songs were missing, the concert didn't feel too short. I felt so grateful afterwards and I think it was one of the best Mika gigs I've ever been to (but to be honest, I would probably say the same after every Mika gig if you have asked me... ). We waited for a while after the gig, finally seeing other MFCers near the stage but quickly realized he is probably not coming out later as we saw mellody going backstage with the yearbook. So we only greeted her and went back to our hostel as we were really exhausted after about 6-7 hours of sightseeing and at least 6 more hours of waiting for Mika – on that day we really spent about 18 hours on our feet. But it was all worth it and it's another jewel in my collection of Mika experiences.

That's weird, my list has correct spelling, I just checked it...

Today they even sent an email with the link to the form and there is a photo of Mika!

Btw, on the website of Brava Madrid, there is a link to a Google form where you can choose the artists you want to see next year (Mika is there too!). Just go to https://bravamadrid.com/ and click here: (the form is in Spanish but it's easy, you just have to choose the artists you like from the list – and you have to choose at least one of the Spanish artists too)

PART 1 OF MY REPORT (before Mika; warning - very long! ): I have to admit that I prefer concerts to festivals but since Mika was announcing only festivals for the summer and I really missed him after he cancelled Rome and the whole Magic Piano tour last year where I planned to go, I had to go somewhere ASAP. One day in the middle of June, I felt the urge to finally buy a ticket for his festival tour and I decided quite spontaneously that I'm going to Madrid, since it was the easiest destination for travelling (capital city, direct flights). I bought the ticket and booked evyrything in one night. I've never been to Madrid before and I love Spain, so I was also looking forward to visit the city for the first time. Later I even found another Czech fan who wanted to join me, so it couldn't be more perfect. We arrived in Madrid the day before the festival and did some sightseeing the next day, as we didn't want to queue beforehand. We thought the stage will be quite high and big so that we will have a better view a few rows from the front (and we really did manage to get a perfect spot close to the front where we could see everything). So we only arrived after the door opening before 5pm. It was very easy to find the venue as we already saw many people dressed in pink in the metro (the dress code for that night was called "pink power") so we just followed the pink parade. We both wore pink too but some of the outfits were far bolder than ours. It was really fun to see the whole crowd dressed in pink clothes. The festival took place at a big parking lot. It was a very sunny late afternoon when we entered the venue. A bit later we walked to the main stage, at that time only a few people were already standing there so we had a really good spot before the majority of people had come. We quickly realized that even though Mika was the headliner for that night, he probably wasn't the artist with the most fans in the crowd (or at least with the most visible fans) – we saw many men wearing Spice Girls T-shirts, so it was clear that most of them came to see Melanie C. And yes, there were a lot of men at the festival in general – that was another uncommon thing for me as I usually go to concerts with mostly female audience but here it was mostly men (I would say probably 80 %), especially gay couples. The first artist was a young Spanish singer called Vicco – I thought it will be a man but before the start, I heard someone mentioning that her full name is Victoria. She had a shorter set and it was a good start of the show, even though I obviously didn't know her songs. Then there was Natasha Bedingfield, finally someone I knew. I really enjoyed hearing songs like Pocketful of Sunshine or Unwritten live. The next artist was another Spanish female singer called Belen Aguilera. She had a lot of fans in the crowd, but it wasn't really my cup of tea (a bit too electronic for my taste) and I was quite bored during her set to be honest. It was also one of the longer sets. But some of her slower songs she sang later were fine so it wasn't all bad at least. The last artist before Mika was the long-awaited Mel C. You could feel the tension in the crowd with many male Spice Girls fans pushing their way to the front. I was quite nervous because our view got slightly worse as there were suddenly a lot of taller men standing around us. Mel C really was one of the stars of the night. I only knew a few of her solo songs like Never Be the Same Again but I saw a lot of guys fanboying and the atmosphere was vivid. Towards the end of her set, she started to sing some Spice Girls songs too. I liked her set a lot but at the same time, I was already mentally preparing for Mika to be honest. As someone already mentioned in another report, between the artists there was a DJ and even though I often find DJs playing at concerts a bit annoying, this one was great. He played really good songs that manage to lift everyone's spirits. A lot of songs I haven't heard in a while but I was so happy to hear them again. We also managed to get a better spot again after Mel C left, we were standing near the barrier at the left corner of the catwalk. We could see the piano on the left as well as the whole catwalk so it was perfect. We also prepared the pink and green hearts for the fan action. Everything and everyone was ready for Mika! Sorry, I wanted to write the whole report at once but it is taking longer than expected... TO BE CONTINUED

We were standing near the left corner of the catwalk. It was a very good spot as we could see both the catwalk and the piano on the left side. And Mika walked by when he was returning to the podium singing Big Girl. I will write a report later.

I brought my own water (only a small bottle that they didn't find) but the "cashless wristband" was actually the usual festival wristband with a QR code, there wasn't an extra wristband for that, but you had to charge at least 20 EUR (for example water was for 3 EUR).

I gently touched the sleeve of this pink suit during Big Girls when he walked right next to us! The fabric felt so nice. The concert was amazing! I was expecting him to sing Live Your Life, especially because it was in Spain, but not Overrated and Rain.

I have six in my suitcase for me and my friend. But two of them are made of glitter cardboard so I don't think you can stamp them.

As far as I know, they didn't specify the size of the bags.

Btw, there won't be any lockers for backpacks etc. if anyone is wondering. Someone asked them in a Q&A on IG.

Also, it will be quite cold around midnight...

I don't want water for free, I just want to pay for it with cash or card... Maybe the drinks are so expensive that you will really need these 60 EUR. Personally, I would prefer to pay more for the ticket, this is just annoying and pointless.

Some people on Instagram commented that there will be a fee for putting money on the wristband, for getting a cup (non-returnable) and of course the fee for refunding money... That really sounds like a scam, just earning money for literally nothing. But apart from the refund fee, nothing is confirmed I think.