Mika, each time you repeat one of your soundbites on stage, I like you a little less.

[mikaholic]

Personally, I think it's quite easy to banter. I've done tiny gigs before at places like Coffeehouses, and it's actually not as hard as you'd imagine. Just say what you think mostly.

 

Then again, I also am in a improv troupe, so I might not be the best example

 

Well, I'm no performer. So I guess that's why I don't really get it, haha. I'd probably just get up there and be like "...so ah....there sure are a lot of you, huh?"

 

And Jack, I do agree with what you just said. I guess all I'm saying is that I really don't mind. Whatever Mika wants to do is fine by me! I just want to watch him perform!

[Guest]

Well to be honest I meant you'd just script his stuff for him and he'd say it himself, if he needs a prompt so badly. You'd just be able to come up with something new each time, or at least every other show.

 

--Jack

 

I bet he'd be hard to work for, though. He'd be like "I'm not going to read your stupid lines! *rips papers out of my hand* I'm funny enough on my own! I'm so mad, just like this one time I......"

[Guest]

I imagine that when you're Mika, the world looks like this.

 

 

 

 

Like that nasty way pictures always turn out when you have your pinky slightly over the lense.

[JackViolet]

I imagine that when you're Mika, the world looks like this.

 

 

 

 

Like that nasty way pictures always turn out when you have your pinky slightly over the lense.

 

I love that in your imagination, Mika appears to reside solely in Asia.

 

--Jack

[Guest]

I love that in your imagination, Mika appears to reside solely in Asia.

 

--Jack

 

Those where the pictures that came up when I google-imaged 'concert goers', 'tea', and 'plane seats'

[mandilambi]

I love the last picture, Sarie.

[Guest]

I love the last picture, Sarie.

 

Thank you. A good two minutes of my life I won't get back.

[CartoonKellyGreen]

Mika tends to...erm...repeat alot, but thats okay...most artists do, because every night is the same, every interview is the same...

 

But I think Mika does a good job changing it up every once in a while.

[Niki27]

OMG the open fly is his newest scripted thing!!!!11onez~!

 

I know that he does make unscripted little asides sometimes--I mean, he's human, he has to. And it's great when he does. I just wish he'd quit relying so much on scripts in general. It was understandable at first, when he was only getting used to the media scrutiny and public attention and it was the safest way to deal with it, but he ought to be comfortable with himself as a public persona by now enough to let his guard down a little. I say it's almost laziness on his part--having a preplanned script he can follow is just the easy way out.

 

He's managed to relax in interviews, and has been much more free with what he says there for ages--why not on stage?

 

--Jack

 

Well I'd say it aint easy to stand in front of 5000- 10 000 people not knowing beforehand what you're gonna tell them. Especially when you are a control freak like he is.

 

And weirdly enough , I think he was much more spontaneous in interviews a year ago than he is now. I remember the Wetten Das episode, he so wanted to say he had been snowriding cause that's what he obviously had planned to say, whatever the question ! I actually haven't seen him improvising an answer for ages.

 

As for the rest, I agree with you, his repetitive speeches also make me grind a bit but I just try to laugh at it

[JackViolet]

And weirdly enough , I think he was much more spontaneous in interviews a year ago than he is now. I remember the Wetten Das episode, he so wanted to say he had been snowriding cause that's what he obviously had planned to say, whatever the question ! I actually haven't seen him improvising an answer for ages!

 

I don't mind that so much just so long it's new. If he started talking about snowriding in every interview, then that'd be a problem.

 

I guess I'd be fine with any of these possibilities:

 

1) He can pre-plan what he says, but then he really needs to change it up a lot more, and like in interviews, try and come up with something different for every other show.

 

2) He should just say whatever and not worry about it--if he has nothing to say, ok, he'll be quiet that night--there are nights he doesn't talk much as-is. But at least then when he does talk it will be spontaneous and unique. And really, there's not much pressure when all he has to do is just spout off whatever he's thinking--I doubt anything he could say like that would be particularly misguided.

 

3) A combination of 1 and 2 at his discretion.

 

I'm just tired of being able to mouth along to his stage banter as well as I can mouth along to his songs.

 

 

EDIT: Actually, it would be hilarious if MFCers started calling back his banter the same way as they do his lyrics--"When I first recorded Billy Brown, the record company called me and said..." Maybe that would get the message across!

 

 

--Jack

[Guest]

We need to stage an intervention.

[Blue Sky]

I love that in your imagination, Mika appears to reside solely in Asia.

 

--Jack

 

I wish he did.

 

 

 

I remember being very surprised to read that Freddie Mercury always said the same things in his "banter-time" at shows. So it makes me less surprised to hear Mika doing it.

 

That is not to say it doesn't annoy me too!

 

You should try being at a show where you are one of only a handful of people that actually understand the banter. It means I laugh and nobody else does.

[JackViolet]

We need to stage an intervention.

 

Let's carry cue-cards to his next concert.

 

One person can have the Billy Brown story, another can have the American airplay thing, etc. We'll hold them up for him as soon as he launches into those speeches.

 

--Jack

[Guest]

Good idea.

 

Or we'll all clear our throats in unison.

 

...or we can just stick to the intervention idea.

 

"What... what's all this?"

 

 

WE ALL CARE FOR YOU, MIKA!

[mandilambi]

ROTFL. I wuv vous Sarie.

[Niki27]

I don't mind that so much just so long it's new. If he started talking about snowriding in every interview, then that'd be a problem.

 

I guess I'd be fine with any of these possibilities:

 

1) He can pre-plan what he says, but then he really needs to change it up a lot more, and like in interviews, try and come up with something different for every other show.

 

2) He should just say whatever and not worry about it--if he has nothing to say, ok, he'll be quiet that night--there are nights he doesn't talk much as-is. But at least then when he does talk it will be spontaneous and unique. And really, there's not much pressure when all he has to do is just spout off whatever he's thinking--I doubt anything he could say like that would be particularly misguided.

 

3) A combination of 1 and 2 at his discretion.

 

I'm just tired of being able to mouth along to his stage banter as well as I can mouth along to his songs.

 

 

EDIT: Actually, it would be hilarious if MFCers started calling back his banter the same way as they do his lyrics--"When I first recorded Billy Brown, the record company called me and said..." Maybe that would get the message across!

 

--Jack

 

I'm afraid he'll never go for the second option. Thing is, he just can't relax. IMO, earlier in his career, he would let himself go to be natural and he would say to much, and now he's very careful not to let anything slip unless it's been carefuly planned. And I think the boy had a tendency to see things/behave in dichotomies: it's white or it's black.

 

And yes, this would be hilarious

[Guest]

ROTFL. I wuv vous Sarie.

 

Lmao.

 

"Why did you lock the door?!"

 

"Calm down, Mika..."

 

"No, you calm down!"

[rilo8913]

 

Sorry, only caught the last part of that sentence.

 

Check that out. So vibey-- and so unscripted. But whatevs either which way he decides to do things.

[avoca]

Seriously. You're so good at everything else, can't you drop the painfully staged scripts and engage in some spontaneous stage banter, like in SLC?

 

I was really moved by your quote about radio play and live shows in Philly because it was new, and seemed genuine. I joked that I would bet you'd be repeating it at every show since, but of course you are. Yes, it was a good bit, but not as a "bit"--it was only moving and good as something earnest and real. I had thought your slight hesitation prior to saying it was because you were disclosing something vulnerable, a confession of sorts--not because you were trying to remember the latest addition to your script.

 

The overly-worn Billy Brown bit just makes me grind my teeth at this point.

 

--Jack

 

sorry, i don't believe he's going on stage and does a sort of confession. even a random one.

 

I think they all are a soundbites, as ya called them, one way or another. that doesn't mean he means them less, or he's just saying smt for the sake of saying it.

but nevertheless, I doubt the decision of opening his heart to the crowd sproutes up on stage.

[elanorelle]

SOME OF US HAVE NOT SEEN HIM YET....SO I CANNOT MAKE ANY JUDGEMENTS YET...I JUST TRUST HIM WITH MY HEART:wub2:

 

I have not heard these at all yet.......all though I know of them

 

so please don't burst my bubble! I suppose I read things differently because I am a performer myself.

:wub2:

[greta]

 

EDIT: Actually, it would be hilarious if MFCers started calling back his banter the same way as they do his lyrics--"When I first recorded Billy Brown, the record company called me and said..." Maybe that would get the message across!

 

--Jack

we've just to yell out what we was all babbling to eachothers while laughing:roftl:

a chorus of 'bout 70 MFCr...

"oh, there's a sort of echo here?":blink:

 

 

[elanorelle]

Yup. Whenever I'm in a show, my director always tells the cast not to improv weird things or add in inside jokes onstage because though it might be the 300000th time we've done the show, it's the audience's first time seeing it.

 

that is how I feel......some of you have seen him many times. I am going to see him soon and I do not have the money or time to see him tens of times.

It will be special for me...it might be scripted but then don't we all do that anyway in our lives????

 

just a thought

[suzie]

Seriously. You're so good at everything else, can't you drop the painfully staged scripts and engage in some spontaneous stage banter, like in SLC?

 

The overly-worn Billy Brown bit just makes me grind my teeth at this point.

 

--Jack

 

I think we must remember that there are only a maximum of 50-100 people per show who would know that these stage banters are not spontaneous.... and it does not even include me, however much I like him (I don't have time to watch all his concerts on youtube.. ).. so, as for me, I don't mind if I hear something he has already said it to another crowd - I wouldn't know it anyway.

 

 

I think he's really truly trying to craft the ultimate concert. He's figuring this out as he goes along. He has said so many times that he needs everything to be perfect when he's recording, and I'd guess that it's the same with his live performance - at least for now. He's got a vision of the exact experience he wants his audience to have, and he keeps crafting it and molding it as he goes along so that it's exactly what he wants it to be for each person who's seeing it for the first time.

 

He's also using this first year or two to really figure out what works for him and what doesn't... I think that's partly what Andy is for. Partly for memories, yes, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Mika actually goes back and studies tapes of himself - like an athlete - to see what worked and what didn't. Now, before people get their backs up... I really do not think this is manipulative at all... I think this is an artist trying to perfect his art.

 

Good point... He is rehearsing for the ultimate stadium concert!!!

(I want Wembley dates to be announced )

 

sorry, i don't believe he's going on stage and does a sort of confession. even a random one.

 

I think they all are a soundbites, as ya called them, one way or another. that doesn't mean he means them less, or he's just saying smt for the sake of saying it.

but nevertheless, I doubt the decision of opening his heart to the crowd sproutes up on stage.

 

couldn't agree more...

[Christine]

It was understandable at first, when he was only getting used to the media scrutiny and public attention and it was the safest way to deal with it, but he ought to be comfortable with himself as a public persona by now enough to let his guard down a little. I say it's almost laziness on his part--having a preplanned script he can follow is just the easy way out.

 

He didn't actually do it at first though, not to the extent we're seeing now. The only scripted thing I recall in Toronto last March was him thanking every person in the room for buying their tickets before the hype hit. And like you, it was a bit more meaningful to me when I thought it was spontaneous and relevant. I thought he was talking about the specific circumstances in Canada - where one week no one had ever heard of him and the next week, when he landed here, LICM was #2 and his shows sold out - until I found out he'd said the exact same thing to an audience in Camden several weeks earlier.

 

But even that I didn't see so much as scripted banter. It was more like a "you've been a great audience, thank you very much" type thing towards the end of the show that any performer does.

 

Throughout the show he was relaxed and chit-chatting and talking about a rivalry between Toronto and Montreal so it was definitely not scripted or repeated in other cities. He singled out someone in the audience and started a bit of banter with them because he'd seen them at the MuchMusic taping the day before.

 

I totally agree that the scripted banter gets a little old when you've seen it a few times. But, I think that the next tour (when the next album comes out - yay!) will be more relaxed and laid back. He'll be more sure of himself and will trust himself more.

 

I think if it really is part of his desire to perfect the show, he's not going to relax it in the future because he was more spontaneous earlier in his career.

 

I think what prompted all of this super scripted banter was the European tour where he wanted to tell stories to the audience in their local dialect, which necessitated an actual script he could read during show.

 

He probably continued doing it when he got to the UK because it had been successful and maybe, as Jack mentioned, because it's easy and he didn't have to put any further effort into it because there were no translations required.

 

What perhaps he's not getting is that it worked in Europe because of his effort to communicate with people in their local dialect, not because of the stories he told. The scripts don't have the same impact with an English audience.

 

As anyone who has seen Mika practically interview himself when he gets a dull interviewer knows, Mika is articulate and quick witted and he would impress the audience far more by demonstrating that on stage than repeating some of the things he says. Also, by definition, banter should include some sort of exchange with the audience, not be a one-sided speech. I don't remember the last time Mika tried to speak with someone in the audience.

 

Mika creates a powerful connection with the people he is close enough to make eye contact with, and he could endear himself to the rest of the audience if he spoke to them more.

 

Nope he did not say that in Toronto! He thanked us for being great (which we are), but didn't say boo about the venue.

 

That's because the venue was horrible! Sounds like the place was a disaster backstage and the owner and some of the security were jerks.

 

Also I think the reason for this is is because he doesn't talk much about his life, which I don't blame him at all. If you can't talk to people about what's going on in your life then it's harder to tell stories unless if you make them up... which I'd rather have something scripted that's true instead of a false story.

 

He doesn't need to tell stories about himself. He just needs to banter with the audience and he's very good at that sort of thing. He does it in interviews and he does it with his fans off stage.

 

Michael Buble's concerts are over 2 hours long because he spends as much time on stage talking as Mika does performing. Some of it is pre-scripted...almost like a comedy routine. But a lot of it is just chit chat. He asked people in the audience questions, he responded to their shout outs. He spoke a lot about Canada and Toronto specifically so he wasn't saying the same things in Cleveland or wherever the next week.

 

Mika is very capable of this sort of thing, I'm sure of it. He could at least do it in the UK and France where he's just as knowledgeable about the local culture and current events as Michael Buble is about Toronto.

 

In London we got nothing. Not even the "I've got the f*cking hiccups" gem we got in Toronto. Maybe it was just because he was ill at Brixton...I guess we'll see in a couple of weeks.

 

I don't know, I'm just saying I don't think it's that easy. That might just be me though.

 

I think it is easy enough for Mika. This is a man who had no trouble bantering with Dustin Hoffman or an entire panel of French TV personalities just a few months into his career.

 

We need to stage an intervention.

 

Good idea.

[violet_sky]

Seriously. You're so good at everything else, can't you drop the painfully staged scripts and engage in some spontaneous stage banter, like in SLC?

 

I was really moved by your quote about radio play and live shows in Philly because it was new, and seemed genuine. I joked that I would bet you'd be repeating it at every show since, but of course you are. Yes, it was a good bit, but not as a "bit"--it was only moving and good as something earnest and real. I had thought your slight hesitation prior to saying it was because you were disclosing something vulnerable, a confession of sorts--not because you were trying to remember the latest addition to your script.

 

The overly-worn Billy Brown bit just makes me grind my teeth at this point.

 

--Jack

 

For the "disclosing something vulnerable" bit you should have been there at the Munich gig.

 

 

At 00:36