holdingyourdrink

I LOVED reading this report! ❤️

I’m wheezing, this is hilarious!! It’s so out of character that it’s absolutely adorable!!

Oh yes, I agree! The first time I presented him a phone case with my artwork to sign, he signed it, looked me straight in the eye and said “thank you” with a smile. It was after the London Roundhouse and he was in a hurry, so he didn’t stay to chat and just quickly signed things and said hello here and there. To this day I do not know exactly what he thanked me for, but most likely my artwork which he must’ve recognized while signing. There are so many people drawing him, it was unlikely he would remember that specific drawing. But I think he did.

Oh I love reading your stories and seeing your footage, I will try to chime in. First time I met him was in Paris where I had won tickets for the first gig during the pandemic, September 2021. I was so starstruck, but also dumbfounded to see that he was actually a real person that I hid behind @mellody’s back upon seeing him: He also came out after many concerts last and this season and takes time to sign things and say hi, which is a very nice bonus after a show. But there are usually so many people, that sometimes it can get very pushy and some are even screaming. So to avoid taking part in that, I would print my artwork on my phone (portraits of Mika, I have drawn him embarrassingly often by now ) and ask him to sign it. I promised myself I would do that until I would muster the courage to actually speak to him. Meanwhile, I don’t hide behind anyone’s back anymore, nor my phone and have found the courage to say hi. He’s a very genuine, very kind and at the same time just a regular normal guy who is actually quite shy and probably just as awkward as his fans when he comes out. I appreciate him as an artist, but I also appreciate him as a person and I think it’s beautiful to see that he has remained consistent in both of these worlds.

Time passes by differently when sailing. Last year I was in Greece with my family and we were sailing along the Peloponesse. You truly are in a different world/reality and can just let go. No it’s not glamorous, but it’s a perfect way to check out of your daily (popstar) life for a brief moment. I don’t blame him at all for fully enjoying that.

I’m so shocked to read a language I actually understand on this forum….and that language being… Dutch!

First of all, I loved this interview! It’s taking a peek in his mind that is going a 1000 miles an hour. Him commenting on the energy that is the same for the audience at a gig in Osaka and the energy for the audience at a gig in Perugia, Italy: it’s wonderful to read, meaning he has no fear to be himself and show himself and his art in the way he wants to. Ultimately the audience responds to HIM. He speaks about it more further in the interview. This is a very big milestone for anyone. To be so much at ease with yourself, that you don’t give a sh** what others think and you are yourself with full confidence and conviction. When I turned 30, the best advice I was given was: “the only weight you need to lose, is the weight of the opinion of others”. So when I read this, it seems Mika was given the same advice and has succeeded. After 25 it’s the “sh** gets real” age, to me it was at least and I would imagine for him it’s the same. It’s where we have things like jobs/taxes, relationships (romantically, but also friends and family) and loss accompany and affect us much more. We understand life more, because we kind of have to. It’s terrible and beautiful at the same time. This metaphor with the stones and flowers is very similar to mushrooms. It’s beauty and resilience and survival. We learn to find a way to flourish when we are provoked. Home is where the heart is. I found it heartwarming to read this, because of the reforestation project we did as MFC for his birthday. It felt so full circle! First I thought him collaborating with big designers was sort of a transition in his career, by “upgrading” his ideas to those ateliers. Maybe partly it was for a while, but I have to say that I feel him establishing his own atelier feels so incredibly genuine, “back to the roots”, and it makes me happy he found that again. Clothes can make you feel a certain way and I feel last tour it was definitely palpable what positive effect it has on stage. A collection of memories from the heart. It’s what I call the portfolio books I put my drawings in when I store them in my cabinet. Mine take up a LOT less space though! This is actually powerful, because I personally believe that only the fear of fear itself will paralyze you, but fear on its own is a beautiful thing. If we don’t have fear, sadness… we won’t be able to appreciate pride and happiness in the same way. I am not saying you always need to be fearful, because that IS paralyzing, but to know it’s there and you can tap into is a great reminder. This made me chuckle, because google translate is absolutely terrible in translating this one. It translates “incoscienza” as “unconscious” and I was like “oh Mika, we know you are a weirdo, but you’re not a creep are you!?” I have had an Italian explain to me what it means in Italian and what I understood is that it’s about being naturally (subconsciously) aware, to have great self definition and to be confident to have pride in this, without selling yourself and/or screaming it from the rooftops. You just “are”. It’s pretty much how a person carries themselves. And I agree with him, isn’t that what we all find attractive?

I love it. I love it!! The only thing I don’t like is… It is WAY TOO short!

Meaning his birthday is one hour ahead of CET! I guess he couldn’t wait and decided to travel to a different timezone

Are you passive aggressively sending him back in the closet? Honey, I don’t think that’s gonna work

It shall always remain a mystery

Fair point, I think it’s a tripod

This word has been dancing in my head all day and….don’t you all agree it kinda sounds like a pasta!?

He is now an extremely fit Spilungone, but he has always been one and always will be (=long lanky man with incidentally flailing arms, if I understood it correctly) *SOMEONE* must’ve taken the video!

Is “Spilungone” a Greek God body type?

Maybe it was sweat! It was hard to tell!

After that came Happy Ending. Right before he started signing he was standing in the dark and either wiped away tears (or sweat ) underneath his eyes. But seeing the video above: we know they were positive tears.

I absolutely love that he has opened his own atelier to realize his dreams. This way it will be possible to be more free and bold and he can be independent. I can imagine that it was a bit stressful before with people telling him “no” or “maybe”. Now that this limiting factor is out of the equation and the energy can be fully used as a creative and positive input in the creation process. Just like Mika, I don’t like it when people tell me when things cannot be done. To me the sky is the limit, so if others tell me they can’t do it. I do it myself I’m glad he took ownership of it. Can’t wait what creations are to come, this is really exciting.

I can confirm this, I was actually at the concert where he said this it was very funny. Also, he was very moved by the fanaction and even asked someone from his team to film us holding up the signs: IMG_7005.mov

As a Dutch speaker, this has been of course one of the highlights of the gig for me! I am sure you all know the story, but I’ve decided to make a translation/transcription of it anyway when Mika talks about Carolina as an intro of Love Today: Good evening Nieuwpoort, I know that it rains a lot and I want to thank you for being here. (English) Because the rain is difficult but Dutch is even more difficult. I will give you everything I’ve got! Before we begin, I would like to tell you the story of a love song. It’s 2 o clock in the morning, at a tank station on the highway in Miami. Carolina is standing there, waiting, waiting for customers. For two months, I see her every evening on my way back from the studio. One night, she is gone, I never see her again. One year later in London, behind my piano in my apartment, I want to write a song about love. I think of Carolina and write a song about this woman of the night. (English) This is her song and all I can say is: even in the rain, tonight is our last festival of the summer. And so all you need to know is, just like Carolina; everybody, today, tonight, is going to love today. IMG_7911.mov

Yes exactly. He also told the story in Dutch at Nieuwpoort. I will post the video and a translation in the reports thread over there!

What I love about that reel is you get to see what happens right before a show! I loved that with the footage from Laura (the content roadie) as well. Someone told me that Mika peeks through the curtains before a gig to see what the atmosphere is like in the audience, or just to get a general feel. I think it’s adorable he still does this, as established as he is.

Does anyone know how many stages there will be? The line up is enough for 2 stages, I would say (at the least).

For the first time this year, I would have to pack thermal undergarments and a rain poncho, because the weather forecast was going to be cold and wet for the Beach Festival. It was such a contrast from my last gigs in Italy (40 degrees in Italy to 14 degrees in Belgium!), but the sheer contrast made me chuckle. Mika started the gig behind the piano and thanked us for being there despite the rain. He told the story of Carolina…. in Dutch! To hear your favourite artist speak in your first language is quite special, his pronunciation was pretty good and I could understand everything he said. It was adorable. Before the gig started stairs were mounted to the stage. We were wondering if Mika would go into the crowd with the rain, but when we saw the stairs we knew he would and would be in for a treat. He started off with Love Today and Origin of Love in the green glittery suit. Changed for Big Girl and started off saying he had never been to a beach festival and was wondering what to do… so he told us to dance with him, to where the first notes of Big Girl chimed in and he was off into the mud! When he came back onto the stage he showed us how messy he was and said “Finally blessed by the mud this summer!” then smeared some of it on his cheeks and then continued “Belgium, why does your mud smell like beer? Never mind! I don’t want to know!!” It took until Tiny Love for him to climb the grand piano. I always count down the songs until he goes on top of the piano and he didn’t disappoint. For Relax he asked the audience to sing with him “Stick your feet in the mud and let your voice fly!” to which the entire audience sang the chorus with him. He didn’t have to encourage us much, everyone was very taken with him by that point and were dancing and singing along to everything. My favourite live so far was Rain, but Overrated has become a very close second, because that song is live just amazing. The build up is perfect and the audience was with him every note and bass beat. Then came a huge surprise with Blame it on the Girls! I think it was already performed in Bristol this summer and it was such a treat to hear it live myself! Underwater was very captivating as usual. Especially for me, since he made the audience sing the Dutch version “Onderwater” (yes the languages are very similar, even Mika said that Dutch supposedly is the easiest language to learn for English speakers.. but he disagreed!) The intro of Yo-Yo was very special, as he spoke about how this was his last gig in his 30’s. He promised to only become weirder, madder and colourfuller as he would age and that by the time he is 80 years old, he will walk around in a purple coat and cane, reminiscing about the sobriety of his youth. It’s a wonderful and frightening promise at the same time, haha. Will he just be a complete nutjob or a brilliant nutjob in 40 years? I think both: a complete brilliant nutjob! Which matches perfectly with us crazy fans. During Elle Me Dit it started raining again. Of course Mika didn’t shy away from an opportunity to sing in the rain… and we didn’t shy away from an opportunity to dance in the rain with a huge smile on our faces. Lollipop is so special with the gospel choir. It gives it a different power to it. In Cheltenham he opened the show that way which must be one of my favourite intros this festival season, but mid concert is also a nice flow break for some reason. To be honest, it always fits. He went into the audience again for Happy Ending and like I had mentioned before in my report for Tilloloy, there is something very emotional about this song this tour. There is this complete sadness that washes over me when he comes to the acoustic part with Clement on the guitar and I can sense the audience holding their breath as well. It’s very captivating. Sadly, once Grace Kelly starts playing you know this little bubble we were allowed to enter and immerse ourselves in, is about to end. Mika himself said he truly enjoyed the gig, because although we were a lot of people, it felt very intimate and he didn’t want it to stop. But unfortunately he had to stop on time, because the festival was in a residential area. Mika was very chatty and it was also great to be able to understand 100% what he was saying. Isa asked for the setlist and we saw that songs like Icecream, Billy Brown, Popular, Last Party and Tomorrow were actually planned as well! Imagine how chatty and how comfortable Mika felt, that these didn’t even make it to the setlist that evening. And this atmosphere was, despite the rain and cold, very warm and embracing. After the show I had the opportunity to tell Mika that his Dutch was perfect. He looked at me sceptical and answered incredulous in Dutch „Nee.“ and told me he was terrible. (Oh Mika, even if you were, who cares!) But he wasn’t, he truly did very very well. Leaving the festival and Belgium with very wet clothes, but a heart full of warm memories that no amount of rain can wash away.

Aww, I’m glad you said hi! But don’t worry about interrupting me, I am very chatty and I just talk All. The. Time. Would’ve loved to speak to you more, maybe next time!