-Jennie- Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 For the "disclosing something vulnerable" bit you should have been there at the Munich gig. At 00:36 Hahahahha I hadn't seen that before! (The title of this thread sounds like the name of a Facbook group....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhotoJenic Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 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. Hmm well I don't know what to say. I guess every artist is different. I've only been to two real concerts in my life and they've both been Mika concerts. I guess the reason why it doesn't really bother me that he says some of the same things from gig to gig is because he could have honestly said, "screw the US" and moved on and stopped trying to break through over here, yet he hasn't given up hope so I'm just thankful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkly1 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 I sort of agree and sort of don't. It gets a little old to those of us who follow him obsessively, whether live or online. However, I don't think he's intending to be contrived... 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. 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. Or not... if this amazing work ethic (or OCD) is so ingrained in him, maybe that's just the way he needs it to be. Maybe that's what feels right for him. I think it's actually pretty cool that he puts THAT much thought and energy and effort into making his show and his image exactly what he wants it to be. He's not wasting time partying or resting on his accomplishments... he's got a passionate work ethic and is striving for excellence. I appreciate it and count it as part of his growth as a musician. I agree with most of that especially the last 2 paragraphs, I do wonder at times though how each show seems to be "THE BEST ONE YET" I dunno it's just at Newcastle it was the 1st time we had seen him so overjoyed at the audience reception of him but he then seemed to give that reaction a lot more after Newcastle, it kinda doesn't look as genuine after the first time, unless of course he REALLY does feel that way after every gig now (maybe he just can't believe it sort of thing), or maybe he just wants the fans to feel appreciated, so I can't dis him for that cos he really tries sooo hard to please his fans and for that I am truly thankful. (Anyway when I go to his London gigs I will soak up everything he says and does like a sponge and love it, apart from the OI OI OI!!! bit cos I don't like that makes me feel like a bleeding sea lion lol). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 I guess the reason why it doesn't really bother me that he says some of the same things from gig to gig is because he could have honestly said, "screw the US" and moved on and stopped trying to break through over here, yet he hasn't given up hope so I'm just thankful. It's not the repetitiveness that's the issue, it's the lack of connecting with the audience on a more personal level. He could do both - tell his same stories to get a point across and still banter a bit by responding or talking to people in the audience. If Mika was an introvert and not comfortable with speaking to an audience I could understand it as a difference in style from someone like Michael Buble, but that's really not the case. He's just as capable of making amusing and relaxed chit chat with the audience because I've seen him do it. Mika's not playing the US out of the goodness of his heart. Even though he's got a long way to go to crack open the US market, in terms of absolute numbers he's still selling more albums in the US than he does in Canada and many European countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sienna Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 He can still repeat the same stories if he really wants to, but "new banter" is as easy as opening your mouth and saying whatever comes into your head. It's not like most of his scripted stuff is unusually profound or anything anyway. Every other band/artist I see appears to have no problem with unscripted stage banter, so I really don't know why he has to be an exception. --Jack I think that is the hardest thing to do when you stand in front of an audience! Being spontaneous and improvising. As you say something people either laugh:biggrin2: or doesn’t say anything at all:blink: that is the most common answer you get. (If they start booing at you are really in trouble) You need “to take the audience back” when they are done laughing or make them react when they don’t say anything at all. People who can manage to do that in an audience are admirable. And no, I don’t think Mika is capable to do that in this phase of his career. He need his pre planned scripts, and he has found out what he says gives him an answer, a response, he can rely on. No scary surprises. I think he is self confident when it comes to sing on stage, but the talking part is so much harder. Questions: What does “soft-seater” means? What does “fill this corridor” means? And thank you Jack for starting this thread, we can always rely on you and a few others for initiating interesting discussions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CazGirl Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 dont forget that Mika is getting new fans all the time, some might not have heard it. I agree he could reword a little, and a little more spontanaety wouldnt go amiss, but this isnt after all about the people who go to his shows constantly. Heck - sometimes I'm surprised you guys don't get sick of his shows who go all the time. Same songs, same order.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vickylovesmika Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 His fly was open at our gig too. He didn't realize till someone in the crowd pointed it out to him. I got him on video talking about it...haha Would like to see that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoots14 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 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 Ok, that would be pretty funny!! :roftl: Mean, but funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkunicorn123 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 *Cough* Holy Johnny *cough* 'Martin's in a hurry' *cough* 'Martin wants to get the show over and go home' *Cough* 'Slow down Martin, whats the hurry?' *Cough* *Cough* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loverrated Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 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 have a plan... if you guys know exactly when he is going to sing BB, you should start to say the whole "when i first recorded...." before he has even started it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackViolet Posted February 13, 2008 Author Share Posted February 13, 2008 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 just want to reiterate that it's not just the fact that I have heard it all already that bothers me. I understand that most people don't follow his every show like we do and wouldn't be familiar with what he says. Regardless, it's the simple fact of treating stage banter--a time used for personally connecting with the audience--as hardly more than just another rehearsed part of the set in itself that bothers me. 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. EXACTLY. 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. 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. Yes! I am confused about all these "but it must be hard" responses. It really really isn't. Like I said, most other artist and bands do it--including the various underground acts I see play in NY for $5 a pop. And Mika of all people is naturally more talented at this kind of thing rather than less. It's not like the audience expects anything much in terms of the content of stage banter--you've heard yourself that Mika can say he has hiccups and the crowd would cheer. All the audience expects in this is some kind of acknowledgment. No one is saying he has to bare his soul--when I'm asking for something "genuine," I don't mean he should start telling us all about his most deep-seated fears or private family memories. I just mean I'd like something he hasn't said at every single show before and after, and that something can be absolutely trivial and it would still work better than his current prerecorded pieces. Why do you think we all get so excited and charmed when something goes slightly awry (he loses his mic, his fly is undone, he hits the wrong note, etc), and think it's so cute and funny and consider it a "highlight"? It's because little mishaps like this force him to go off-script and react in a way that's not pre-planned, and we're all so hungry for that sort of thing that we lap it up. Well I'm saying we shouldn't have to count on mishaps to get a bone thrown to us in that regard. It's possible to have that as just part of the show, and I really wish Mika would appreciate the importance of it and the impact it can have. --Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happikali Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 ..... mostly here I am hearing ALOT of 'SHOULDS' ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xBillyBrownx Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 excuse my ignorance but what were the quotes about radio play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happikali Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 .... & having just read your last post Jack ....... maybe it's simply a question of Mika relaxing & trusting himself ...... as a performer myself, ... I can understand that kind of frustrating duality ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackViolet Posted February 13, 2008 Author Share Posted February 13, 2008 ..... mostly here I am hearing ALOT of 'SHOULDS' ..... Yeah, I should (ha!) really take a lot of those back. I was actually thinking while I was writing this that it's really not my business to tell him what he SHOULD do, but there are some things that I think are pretty key that it would be nice if he DID do. --Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Why do you think we all get so excited and charmed when something goes slightly awry (he loses his mic, his fly is undone, he hits the wrong note, etc), and think it's so cute and funny and consider it a "highlight"? It's because little mishaps like this force him to go off-script and react in a way that's not pre-planned, and we're all so hungry for that sort of thing that we lap it up. I think you're right. Fans want this more than they even realize they do, especially those who haven't been to many concerts and aren't familiar with this kind of interplay between the performer and the audience. When I first saw Mika live I was not a fan but the things he said that night made an impact on me, as much as his musical performance. He appeared so comfortable on stage you would have never guessed he'd only been performing for a few months and that it was his first time in a country and in front of people he probably knew very little about. I think it's a shame that it's lacking now because he's so good at connecting with people just by being himself as well as through his performances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marilyn Mastin Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 I agree, and I don't mind if he keeps some things fairly scripted: a lot of people do. But he must be bright enough to realize that a rather important part of "the ultimate concert experience" is unplanned, spontaneous stage banter that allows the crowd to feel as though they are sharing a unique moment with the performer. And surely he must also realize that the parts of his scripts that are effective because they are perceived as "confessions" are also only effective if they are, in fact, somewhat genuine and not just "part of the act." --Jack There is a thread now for constructive feedback from concerts. Maybe saying something on there would be a good idea. If Mika, or his team read it, they may take it on board. They could still read it on here though, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcmlcm Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 dont forget that Mika is getting new fans all the time, some might not have heard it. I agree he could reword a little, and a little more spontanaety wouldnt go amiss, but this isnt after all about the people who go to his shows constantly. Heck - sometimes I'm surprised you guys don't get sick of his shows who go all the time. Same songs, same order.... agree... i dun really watch too much of his live vids on youtube so as to keep the surprise before losing my mika virgin i think only die hard fan would remember every words of what he said like, u also can expect how he would jump after singing the former part of relax to most of ppl, it's new to them... it's really no nd to write different script for each performance...there're over 50 gigs in a year.... and he did try to make some diff on his show but on other part , like add a umbrella and ... sara... :naughty: .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkly1 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Yeah, but there's a difference between a directed show and a concert. I'm not saying he should improvise on his songs. He can still repeat the same stories if he really wants to, but "new banter" is as easy as opening your mouth and saying whatever comes into your head. It's not like most of his scripted stuff is unusually profound or anything anyway. Every other band/artist I see appears to have no problem with unscripted stage banter, so I really don't know why he has to be an exception. --Jack out of curiosity how many times have you seen Mika and how many times have you seen the same "other" people (just wondering if "their" unscripted banter is really all that unscripted after all). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 out of curiosity how many times have you seen Mika and how many times have you seen the same "other" people (just wondering if "their" unscripted banter is really all that unscripted after all). Not speaking for Jack, but oftentimes you can tell when it's unscripted. Mika made some comments about Toronto and Montreal because he had picked up on the rivalry between the cities when he was in Montreal and he knew it would go over well with the Toronto audience. He may have thought about saying it earlier in the day or whatever, but it wasn't scripted in the sense that we're talking about here. He's not going to incorporate it into his show and start saying it at other gigs. Also "banter" means interacting with the audience. When he spoke directly to the guy who had been at MuchMusic the day before it had to have been improvised. He just doesn't seem to be doing that kind of thing anymore, from what I can tell. He certainly didn't do it in Brixton or the recent Toronto show. I saw Athlete a few months ago and the lead singer is great at it and so is Patrick Wolf. The singer from Athlete said a lot of things that made reference to what the audience was shouting out or things that were happening on stage, so he was improvising. Patrick Wolf has a lot of friends and experiences in Toronto so he spoke a lot about that. He was on stage until almost 2 am because he wouldn't shut up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackViolet Posted February 13, 2008 Author Share Posted February 13, 2008 I think you're right. Fans want this more than they even realize they do, especially those who haven't been to many concerts and aren't familiar with this kind of interplay between the performer and the audience. Yeah, I think it's interesting that a lot of the people who say they don't see why Mika should change are also the ones who say they've never seen him live, or have not been to anyone else's concerts. I think once you've had some experience you realize how audience-involvement and mutual interaction can be such an asset, and how much we all crave it even when we don't know we do. Mika knows this on some level too--his latest tweaks to his performing style in terms of getting the audience to sing along with him and play call-back games on "Kachinga," etc, are a motion towards this and I think it's brilliant that he's doing it. It's a very good idea. But if he realizes how much we want to interact with him enough to do that, I'm still puzzled as to why he seems to underestimate how much we also want him to interact with us, as a specific "us" in each instance, not just "the general audience." There is a thread now for constructive feedback from concerts. Maybe saying something on there would be a good idea. If Mika, or his team read it, they may take it on board. They could still read it on here though, of course. I think I did say something like that there, though this is admittedly more involved. out of curiosity how many times have you seen Mika and how many times have you seen the same "other" people (just wondering if "their" unscripted banter is really all that unscripted after all). I've seen Mika 3 times. I've seen other performers anywhere from once to 5 times or so, but the thing is, as Christine said, their banter is of the type that couldn't possibly be scripted anyway. It's not like they necessarily deliver "anecdotes" on stage--they joke about the audience and their reception, they point to various people and make some off-the-cuff remarks, they talk about how they're feeling that night, they ask people in the audience some questions, etc. One performer who I thought was really great was Bowie. Now, he did share some anecdotes. I'm sure he's shared them with other audiences before--after all, even in real life we often repeat various stories to various people. And I'm even sure that some of these anecdotes he's delivered multiple times on that particular tour--but he was doing that because each time, it was appropriate for him to share that, and he wanted to--not because he knew ahead of time that at such-and-such a point he was going to pull out that or this particular chestnut. Moreover, he varied his delivery, and anyway, for every anecdote he's probably told before he also had a lot of interaction that was spontaneous. He talked to us about the jacket he was wearing that day and how it reminded him of a movie, then asked if anyone had seen that movie and made a joke about a French feminist author. Most people didn't get the joke and then he fondly berated us for not being up on our French feminists and gave out some recommendations for reading, etc. It was really cool, and he made it all really funny and it didn't matter at all if we even knew the authors he was talking about or not (I did! I was also annoyed at the rest of the people for not knowing!). On the next show in the tour, he brought up the fact that last time (ie, the show I attended) people didn't know the French feminist author, so he wasn't going to talk about that, and joked with that audience about how he has weird interests that people don't necessarily share, and how he's getting to the point where no-one knows what he's talking about, etc. So see, each audience got something different and specifically suited to their circumstances. --Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greta Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 :ban:WHY Loverrated is banned?! Don't get me started paranoid too! I have a plan... if you guys know exactly when he is going to sing BB, you should start to say the whole "when i first recorded...." before he has even started it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovelove_mika Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Idk, I guess he repeats himself sometimes, but it's not like it's stuff that doesn't come from the heart. Saying things more than once doesn't mean he doesn't mean it. And some of his stories are classic and a great to hear at shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niki27 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 :ban:WHY Loverrated is banned?! Don't get me started paranoid too! Ask FD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greta Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Ask FD why? Because of pms??? If I read back her posts I don't see anything worthy a banning:mf_rosetinted: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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