giraffeandy

I hope that won't happen, I already bought one bus ticket and I have to pay the accommodation two weeks before...

Probably three would be enough – one for Italy, one for France and one for the rest of the world...

Nice, I've just looked at the hotels and bus/train lines today to plan my trip...

I hope this report won't be too long and messy because it was in fact a long trip that took 36 hours of which we spent almost 20 in the bus... If you want to skip the travel part, you can continue right away with the next paragraph. We travelled the night before the concert at 11 pm and arrived in the morning at 9 am to Zurich. The bus ride was ok even though the bus was stopped in Germany by the police at about 1:30 am and they checked the IDs of all the passengers, even some luggage etc. It took quite long but the same happened when we travelled back home so I guess it's not unusual when you travel by a night bus line but I'm not used to it and it never happened to me on a day bus before... Also the police men were quite unfriendly (without a reason) so it wasn't a pleasant experience. The same also happened once in Switzerland on the border crossing but at least the Swiss customs officers weren't as rude as the Germans. But other than that, both bus rides were smooth and I even got some sleep as the bus wasn't full so the seat next to me was empty and I could stretch my legs a bit more. It took me a while in the morning to recover from the night but in the afternoon after we took a walk in the city centre and got some food, I started to feel much better and quite fresh. It was a nice sunny (but also cold) day. After a few hours of sightseeing and a McDonald's visit (actually the most expensive McDonald's food I ever had but I didn't expect anything else in Switzerland), we finally arrived to the venue. It took about one hour to get there by walk from the city centre (after the concert we took the bus instead). We saw just a few people queuing so we decided to get another snack (there was another McDonald's next to the venue ) because it was still quite early and also very cold. At about 3:30 pm we finally joined the other fans in the queue. We got the number 28 and 29. We were freezing after a couple of minutes but we somehow managed to stay movable till 7 pm. The door opening was a bit hectic with some pushing but we got there early enough and had a great view in the third row right in the middle. By the way... ...you can find me on this pic in the middle in the blue grey pink striped sweater. The opening act at 8 pm was a DJ with a 30 minute set, it wasn't too bad but also not my cup of tea to be honest. However, I really appreciated the song choices right before Mika's show, they started with Youth & Love and then they played songs like I Want to Break Free. I had the feeling this one song warmed the crowd up much better than the whole DJ set, many people around me began singing loud... Besides Queen they also played Prince and George Michael. This really set up the mood better than the support act (no offence but the DJ set wasn't as suitable for Mika fans in my opinion). Even though the venue was quite small and wasn't even sold out, as you can see on the pics it was crowded enough and the atmosphere there was great. The show started on time at 9 pm. Right from the beginning it had a great energy with songs like Ice Cream, Dear Jealousy and of course Relax, which warmed up the crowd a lot. I won't comment on each song but I have to say many of them sound even better live, especially Dear Jealousy, Platform Ballerinas and also the part of Stay High he sings at the end of the show. Another highlight was Big Girl, not that much because of the song itself but because we were right in the middle so we had a great view on Mika when he entered the crowd. I stood right in front of him when he sat and leaned on the barrier and started to sing. It would make a great photo but I didn't want to ruin the moment so I was just enjoying the fact that he was so near. The whole crowd was moving and jumping with Mika as he was walking through and dancing, it felt really special to be a part of it. He didn't talk that much in the beginning but later he became quite talkative and then there was the adorable LYWID situation (I posted the video above) which made the concert extraordinary. As Mika said, I also don't like when a show is always the same and I appreciate when the artist starts to improvise because these are the moments you are going to remember after the show. When he was asking for more song requests, I was hoping he would choose Sanremo as it slowly became one of my favourite songs from MNIMH. He didn't but I wasn't disappointed at all when he began singing another song – Good Guys! I love NPIH, it's still my favourite Mika record and I was so mad that he didn't sing a song from it during the tour. I really hoped for it but I knew the chances he would change his setlist in Zurich and add a NPIH song were low. But he did it in the end and I loved it! I hope I will get a chance to go to another of his shows next year as one really isn't enough but he has to add some new tour dates so I don't have to travel almost 1 400 km altogether again to see him live... However, now I'm happy I was able to be a part of at least one of his shows even though the trip was quite exhausting but it was definitely worth it!

I also have some pics...

Yesterday I was really tired after spending two nights in a bus so I'll write my report today... But first of all I wanted to share the only video I made that night. I usually don't take videos on concerts because I like to dance and if I'm taking a video, I have to stay still because otherwise the video is a mess. So I prefer to enjoy the moment and move like crazy... However, this moment was so special I made an exception. Mika was so cute...

Exactly, this is so cute, it warmed my heart... Just like out of a movie, it seems like a final scene of some comedy where the whole family is happy and together.

Time schedule: https://m.facebook.com/events/399658243974360?view=permalink&id=504152663524917 Btw, I asked the Komplex 457 on FB and you can pay there with a card or even Euro (but the rate is 1 EUR = 1 CHF).

Exactly my thoughts but I wasn't sure if I'm not just dirty-minded... However, it seems that's the right mindset for interpreting Mika's songs.

Anyway, I hope there won't be any special "Swiss prices" for merch in Zürich and that it'll be possible to pay with a card because I won't have as much cash (CHF)...

I think in London the prices were in pounds which is a bit more than euro...

The Behind The Scenes video for Sanremo I think...

It's not available here so I guess it's really just Italy and/or France?!

Ich hab schon sehr lange nicht in einem Bus übernachtet, letztens noch während der Schulzeit, als wir zweimal nach Großbritannien fuhren... Damals konnte ich tatsächlich im Bus schlafen, obwohl ich natürlich danach trotzdem müde war, aber ich hab echt fast die ganze Fahrt (mit kurzen Pausen) verschlafen. Also bin ich gespannt, ob es immer noch so gut läuft... Aber schon wegen der vielen Haltestellen werde ich regelmäßig wach werden. Ich glaube, die Fahrt nach Zürich kriege ich irgendwie hin aber zwei Nächte im Bus hab ich noch nie verbracht. Vielleicht werde ich aber dann so müde sein, dass ich auch die zweite Nacht ein bisschen Schlaf bekomme. Ich hoffe zumindest, dass mich nicht zwei schlaflose Nächte erwarten...

Ich freue mich schon auf Zürich, auch wenn ich jetzt ein bisschen Sorgen habe, wie es mit der Reise sein wird, ich hoffe, alles läuft gut und es gibt keine Verspätungen... Und auch dass ich irgendwie die zwei Nächte im Bus überstehe. Ich hatte vor, mich dann den ganzen Samstag auszuruhen, aber leider geht es nicht. Ich war nämlich letzte Woche in Leipzig und während meiner Abwesenheit hat meine Familie gerade für den Samstag nach dem Konzert einen Besuch bei der Oma geplant, bei dem ich natürlich dabei sein muss und niemand hat mit mir den Termin besprochen. Ich weiß nicht, ob ich am Samstag überhaupt in der Lage bin, dort hinzugehen... Aber sonst werden meine Oma und auch mein Vater sauer sein und sie werden es mir monatelang vorwerfen... So ist es immer. Echt blöd, dass es immer zu solchen Terminkollisionen kommt, obwohl ich eigentlich meistens frei habe.

I get why he's still singing his old hits but it isn't his "duty"... There are artists who go on tour with their new album and they don't sing the old hits at all, just the new songs. I don't want that for Mika as I like to hear some of the older songs as well but I just want to say that he doesn't have to sing those songs if he decides not to. Nowadays he defines himself as a "niche artist" and most people who go to his shows are his long-term fans, not so many people from the "general public" who haven't heard about him for ages (outside Italy and France of course). So he could change the playlist and skip some of the LICM songs in my opinion as he doesn't have to please the "general public" anymore, especially on his own concerts.

Talk About You and Staring At The Sun are on the playlist.

I don't know the reason but it's a shame because I love NPIH! Maybe he thinks there is no "big hit" on this album and that the more melancholic songs don't fit to his new show... But I don't think so, he should represent every album with at least one song on the tour in my opinion. I'd love to hear Good Guys or even Last Party from the singles and Good Wife and Hurts from the non-singles. Or even All She Wants...

Danke, um Essen etc. geht es mir nicht so sehr, ich nehme wahrscheinlich doch etwas Geld (CHF) mit, eher bei dem Merch Stand bin ich mir nicht sicher, ob es sich lohnt so viel CHF dabei zu haben, falls ich am Ende vielleicht doch nichts kaufen werde... Ich weiß noch nicht, meistens kauf ich Merch eher spontan und impulsiv vor Ort wenn ich Lust hab und auch falls noch nicht alles ausverkauft ist. Da ich nicht so häufig in der Schweiz unterwegs bin möchte ich nicht, dass mir viel Geld übrig bleibt.

Danke vielmals, ich weiß nicht, ob es dort eine Garderobe oder Schliessfächer gibt... Btw, kann man dort mit Karte oder Euro zahlen? Ich überlege, wie viel Schweizer Franken ich mitnehmen soll, falls ich mir dort was kaufen möchte (z.B. Merch)...

Do you remember, when was the end of the concert and how long did you wait for Mika? How long did he stay?

Btw, when will you start queuing? I should be in Zurich in the morning but I'm not going to the venue right away, it's already getting quite cold there so I think I'm going to the venue in the afternoon... I hope I can meet some of you there.

I didn't know the yearbook is already finished, is there a link with the pdf file anywhere? I'd like to see it.