Reviews dvd Parc Des Princes

[foalbaby14]

I feel like I've been talking to myself the last few days...

 

I'll say it one more time.

 

According to Mika's management, the physical release of the DVD in the US

will be December 16. On Amazon, you can see the standard version for

preorder -- it says it will be released December 2, but that's not what they

told me. *shrug*

 

The deluxe version is not available for preorder domestically yet.

I'm pretty sure the copies you're seeing for sale now are

coming from overseas -- that's

why they cost $50. I'm not 100 percent positive, but I doubt that the

deluxe version would cost that much if it were sold here.

 

Mika's management has contacted us and said that they are trying to

get some copies of the deluxe DVD over here for sale -- that's why I

have the poll up in the other thread, to see what the level of interest

is in the deluxe copy among the North American fans.

 

So if you're willing to wait a bit, I hope that you'll be able to order the

deluxe version here... and if you don't want the deluxe, you can preorder

the standard version, but I don't think you'll be getting it before

December 16 (December 2 at the earliest).

 

dcdeb

Thank you Deb!

I hope it comes out Dec 2

[Niki27]

Nik, I enjoyed it a lot, but I must admit I wish I'd also managed to get activated in time to meet up with the MFCers there

 

aaawww

Sorry about that, blame the old decadent and defficient server

[xlindee]

I’ve been thinking the same when I missed it the summer gigs.

He really need to put HMDYLM on new record, I love that song so much from the first time I heard it!

 

I know that many doesn’t share the love but to me it is one of his best, his voice on it….

 

:

I agree with you! I really like HMDYLM, since the first time I heard it.

I know, and It was so warm u could sleep outside...

 

 

Wow, that looks so nice:wub2:

 

 

Oh, and I still haven't got the dvd. But after reading all of your reviews and opinions, I'm very excited, especially to the documentary (lol, I don't know why) I'm also excited to the performance, but less I think. And I also agree with Niki. I also don't think any dvd can capture that special feeling wich you feel when you're there. I think that might just be the problem.

 

When I've got the dvd, I will judge what his voice during the gig like. I will pay extra attention to that, as everyone here has different opinions about it. From what I've heard in the trailer, Love Today didn't sound too well. I heard vids on youtube, and they sounded quite good. But yeah, the dvd will sound different, even if it's only because of the quality of the camera and the spot it has been filmed of.

[avoca]

yeah, the documentary is long enough I agree

Today it is one year ago since I saw mika for the first [and so far last] time in the Netherlands and today I saw the dvd for the first time, so it was kinda special to me

 

 

awww.. congrats, linde!!

 

Please Avoca, don't give him ideas or he will start shaving his toes too !

 

I could care less if he's hairy or shaved. if he's curly or wears a sleak. i'd rather see some hair on his head though and possibly not a beard, not a fan of it, or mustaches.

 

 

no...no oldlings hormones anymore please! not for me at least....

i have no hormones left i'm afraid!

he can totally absorb me in his visions and daily life...this is QUITE dangerous i think, cause i feel part of his world and obviously i'm not. i can feel totally merged in his personality and dreams and RL...i don't care about a beautiful face and body anymore, even if i must admit i feel lost in his face, eyes and smile....

he's so familiar to me, and he can go deeper and deeper into my soul....having a walk in my inner self as if he was me, and me him....

Stendhal syndrome, they call it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stendhal_syndrome

 

yes...you CAN laugh!

 

more than laughing, i am worried for you, robertina.. you are going through some dark mika times, from what you write... longing can be such a beautiful feeling, but too much yearning is also pretty destructive.

 

No no no, I think you are wrong. That is definitely Mika's flat. How do I know....oh just go through it frame by frame, you will see just enough to be sure it is.

 

I was VERY surprised he was so open about all this..

 

I think it looks more like a rose !!

 

yep. a rose. congrats, aurelien, it was great to see/hear you on the dvd!

 

I may confirm...I remind least of that gig compared to the smaller ones i've been to...

the stage in itself was fantastic {like his previous exhib at the EMA} but the real problem with details is there's so many of them...the concert seemed just a giantic random circus things show-off.

 

paris was not a concert, it was a show. his show.

[Niki27]

paris was not a concert, it was a show. his show.

 

Exactly

(and what a show!)

[sariflor]

 

not everyone felt the same

 

Well, there will be different opinions of course, but some people who were there have also said that for them this was one of the less enjoyable Mika gigs, and I think that this is as valid a point as when others say that it was fantastic.

Of course it was enjoyable, because I am sure that I would enjoy ANYTHING that he does, but I can still see huge differences with some of the other gigs that I have gone to.

Also, because I went to so many of his concerts in such a short space of time, I got used to a certain level of connection, and I was a bit disappointed that this was not the case in Paris. To me, there was a big difference between that show and all the others, which didn't surprise me, because I was sort of expecting it due to the sie of it, but it's still the case.

 

By saying this I'm not trying to shoot the concert, and I can certainly appreciate the effort and thought (and money!) that he put into it, which ws the reason why I decided to go at the 11th hour .

I'm just saying that to me (and to a few others), as a gig, it was worse than his other gigs.

I think that one of the things that I noticed when watching the DVD, which I didn' t see when I was there, is that Mika really seems to feed off the audience, and on this occasion there was a huuge gap between the main stage and the front rows. To me this was crucial, and if you watch his interaction with the crowd when he's on the main stage, it's very different to when he's on the catwalk, where the distance with the audience was a lot smaller.

The only times when this gig felt like a "proper" Mika gig were when he came out to the catwalk, and we had him close. And I really don't think that I am seeing things when I watch the DVD and notice that he seemed to come alive when he was there, which I guess is just because there he was close enough to the audience to actually communicate with them.

 

Btw Paris was great, I loved it. Of course you cannot compare this show to the previous ones (in smaller venues that is), you couldn't expect eye contact or that kind of things. But it wasn't the purpose of it. Mika wanted to create a giant circus show, and he did it perfectly. Seriously I didn't care where he was or what he was doing at some points, I was more interested in what was going on elsewhere on the stage or in mid air.

 

See, to me it's the total opposite. When I go to see Mika, I don't give a flying feck about anything else. The less props, the better. I want Mika, Mika, Mika!!

All Mika.

No fillers, no clowns, no trapeze artists, etc. Just him. I don't really even care for his band if I am brutally honest, I am totally 100 percent focused on him. So if I can't even see him or know what he's doing, I feel disappointed and a bit cheated.

BUT having said that, I have also said before that I thought the stage was fantastic, and I love how they played with the lights and all the effects .

And I loved Es, she seems so lovely, and her and Mika definitely had a great connection. You can feel the chemistry right through the screen .

[xlindee]

Sara, what did you think of the Amsterdam gig then?

[Niki27]

See, to me it's the total opposite. When I go to see Mika, I don't give a flying feck about anything else. The less props, the better. I want Mika, Mika, Mika!!

All Mika.

No fillers, no clowns, no trapeze artists, etc. Just him. I don't really even care for his band if I am brutally honest, I am totally 100 percent focused on him. So if I can't even see him or know what he's doing, I feel disappointed and a bit cheated.

BUT having said that, I have also said before that I thought the stage was fantastic, and I love how they played with the lights and all the effects .

And I loved Es, she seems so lovely, and her and Mika definitely had a great connection. You can feel the chemistry right through the screen .

 

Maybe that's the main difference between those who enjoyed the gig or not. Different expectations.

I had spent the previoius weeks (if not months) thinking I would end up 134th row, wouldn't see a thing, that the crowd would be mad (in a negative way) and that it would be crap tbh.

So I basically had NO expectations at all I just wanted to get out of there alive.

So at the end of the day, I really loved it, and seriously making this huge production sthg enjoyable for the audience was a real challenge, so I will always admire him for this.

[avoca]

I think that one of the things that I noticed when watching the DVD, which I didn' t see when I was there, is that Mika really seems to feed off the audience, and on this occasion there was a huuge gap between the main stage and the front rows. To me this was crucial, and if you watch his interaction with the crowd when he's on the main stage, it's very different to when he's on the catwalk, where the distance with the audience was a lot smaller.

 

I cannot think why the catwalk frontline crowd was interacting more with him and the other way round...

[Christine]

Or any dvd, I'd have thought?

 

Comparing the two dvds and the KoKo concert which was on telly (because YouTube has a different feel) I'm not getting any less feeling of connection from him. Possibly more. And there's a lot of emotion.

 

Perhaps, but there is no inherent reason why this is the case. What was lacking in the Koko and Olympia recordings is the sound of the audience. In Koko especially you'd guess that they were all reading books or listening to their iPods, not singing and shouting along as I'm certain that they were.

 

When there was talk of a second DVD started a year ago I think some of us were hoping for footage that would recreate the Dodgy Holiday experience. Andy is down in the trenches with the fans who are close enough to feel Mika's sweat, not sat atop a crane 100 metres from Mika's face. They could compile the best performances from dozens of gigs instead of having everything riding on one performance where Mika is inevitably tense and his voice is not in top form.

 

Mika wanted to create a giant circus show, and he did it perfectly. Seriously I didn't care where he was or what he was doing at some points, I was more interested in what was going on elsewhere on the stage or in mid air.

 

I feel like this wasn't conveyed at all on the DVD. I saw all of the detail and the effect he was going for by seeing photosgraphs in July and watching videos and reading articles about how he was preparing for the show.

 

The way the concert is edited on the DVD the focus is on the stadium and not what's playing out on the stage.

 

I haven't watched it on a proper big screen yet though so maybe that's the problem.

[IngievV]

I haven't been to this show, but I've been to other stadium shows and I can assure you that I could tell you beforehand that you would barely get any contact.

 

But instead, you got Mika's circus and from what I heard, he did it well

[sariflor]

Sara, what did you think of the Amsterdam gig then?

 

Oooooh, I enjoyed it a lot more than Paris, I must say!

To me it was much nicer as a concert, no comparison possible.

 

 

Maybe that's the main difference between those who enjoyed the gig or not. Different expectations.

I had spent the previoius weeks (if not months) thinking I would end up 134th row, wouldn't see a thing, that the crowd would be mad (in a negative way) and that it would be crap tbh.

So I basically had NO expectations at all I just wanted to get out of there alive.

So at the end of the day, I really loved it, and seriously making this huge production sthg enjoyable for the audience was a real challenge, so I will always admire him for this.

 

I had similar (un )expectations initially (being at the back, not seeing a thing) which is why I decided not to go to this one.

But then Rose and I ran into Mika at the Yelle thing and he convinced us to go...One of the reasons why he did convince us was that he told us that he'd have a special area at the front of the stage for MFC . Idiotically, I believed it, and got tickets straight away, haha! Anyway, so at the time of the gig I wasn't sure what the score was, but I still thought that we'd have a decent view.

I just didn't get the vibe, the feeling, like at other gigs. I suppose that this is pretty normal in these big stadium gigs which is why I keep going back to the point: I don't really like them and prefer the smaller ones.

But Niki, it's not only about expectations: No matter what my expectations are initially, I get the same feeling of enjoyment or lack of as a direct result of what I am seeing and hearing. I have gone to gigs with a crappy expectation and it's been totally turned around, and to others with a great one, and it was sheit.

You just don't know.

 

 

Perhaps, but there is no inherent reason why this is the case. What was lacking in the Koko and Olympia recordings is the sound of the audience. In Koko especially you'd guess that they were all reading books or listening to their iPods, not singing and shouting along as I'm certain that they were.

 

When there was talk of a second DVD started a year ago I think some of us were hoping for footage that would recreate the Dodgy Holiday experience. Andy is down in the trenches with the fans who are close enough to feel Mika's sweat, not sat atop a crane 100 metres from Mika's face. They could compile the best performances from dozens of gigs instead of having everything riding on one performance where Mika is inevitably tense and his voice is not in top form.

 

 

 

I feel like this wasn't conveyed at all on the DVD. I saw all of the detail and the effect he was going for by seeing photosgraphs in July and watching videos and reading articles about how he was preparing for the show.

 

The way the concert is edited on the DVD the focus is on the stadium and not what's playing out on the stage.

 

I haven't watched it on a proper big screen yet though so maybe that's the problem.

 

Thanks Christine- You hit the nail on the head there. This is exactly it. I am sure that one of the reasons why Mika's voice was not great in Paris was that he did so much stressing before hand, and not sleeping, etc, that it made him in general not be at his best.

Andy handpicking the best bits of the season would be the best idea for a DVD IMO.

[Soaring Simpson]

No, I agree that there's a gap between the documentary and the show in that you don't see as much of the stuff the documentary talks about as you'd hope between the close ups of Mika and the crowd.

 

Though obviously you need the close ups of Mika.

 

People keep talking about the stuff Andy shot, and obviously I haven't seen it. But I'm not hearing much to make me regret this. And if by "down with the crowd" you mean like on YouTube- no thanks, I'd rather have the crane shots.

 

I don't think there's much point in trying for a "like you were there" with a dvd. Better to go for "this is the big picture you couldn't see even if you were there," which this generally does.

 

I'd have liked multi-angle, but that's presumably a lot more expensive (though not as expensive as filming every concert). I'd have bought a "best of tour" type dvd but I'm not warming to the idea, even if the concert filmed had been one of the other concerts. If I watch stuff on YouTube, I ususally watch all the clips from a gig.

 

(Wouldn't have minded the V festival shots that were originally advertised though, or any others)

Edited November 12, 2008 by Soaring Simpson

[xlindee]

Oooooh, I enjoyed it a lot more than Paris, I must say!

To me it was much nicer as a concert, no comparison possible.

 

 

Hmm yeah, that's what I expected you to answer:naughty:It was exactly the same show, but then smaller. The front row was closer to the stage, so the communication with the audience was better. He had some rest before, so his voice was obviously better. No?

[Christine]

I want Mika, Mika, Mika!!

All Mika.

No fillers, no clowns, no trapeze artists, etc. Just him. I don't really even care for his band if I am brutally honest, I am totally 100 percent focused on him.

 

I am exactly the same. I don't think that way when I'm sitting at home pontificating on MFC or even when I'm standing in the queue waiting to get in. But when he walks out on the stage everything and everyone else evaporates.

 

At that Toronto gig Mika could have thrown on some backing tracks and came out on his own to stand on the catwalk all night and I seriously wouldn't have known the band wasn't there until I read the gig reports the next day. (I'm not kidding! )

 

So I basically had NO expectations at all I just wanted to get out of there alive.

So at the end of the day, I really loved it, and seriously making this huge production sthg enjoyable for the audience was a real challenge, so I will always admire him for this.

 

I think I would have had the same minimal expectations and ended up enjoying the concert. But the DVD is not showing it to be the spectacle that I had thought it was based on the photos.

 

But I probably just need to watch it on Suzy's big-ass screen to get the full effect.

[sariflor]

No, I agree that there's a gap between the documentary and the show in that you don't see as much of the stuff the documentary talks about as you'd hope between the close ups of Mika and the crowd.

 

Though obviously you need the close ups of Mika.

 

People keep talking about the stuff Andy shot, and obviously I haven't seen it. But I'm not hearing much to make me regret this. And if by "down with the crowd" you mean like on YouTube- no thanks, I'd rather have the crane shots.

 

I don't think there's much point in trying for a "like you were there" with a dvd. Better to go for "this is the big picture you couldn't see even if you were there," which this generally does.

 

I'd have liked multi-angle, but that's presumably a lot more expensive (though not as expensive as filming every concert). I'd have bought a "best of tour" type dvd but I'm not warming to the idea, even if the concert filmed had been one of the other concerts. If I watch stuff on YouTube, I ususally watch all the clips from a gig.

 

(Wouldn't have minded the V festival shots that were originally advertised though, or any others)

 

 

 

Nobody has seen the stuff that Andy shot (besides him and Mika and whoever else is in the know:naughty:) but I am sure that it's great.

 

He basically stood in the pit and on stage, and filmed Mika from there with a professional camera. Obviously the quality of the filming is going to be great, as he had the best view.

I would kill for that footage actually, I'd love to own it.

 

 

Hmm yeah, that's what I expected you to answer:naughty:It was exactly the same show, but then smaller. The front row was closer to the stage, so the communication with the audience was better. He had some rest before, so his voice was obviously better. No?

 

 

Yes, yes, and yes

Everything just felt better, and you could see that he was relaxed, which he was not in Paris.

A relaxed Mika makes for a far nicer concert than a tense, sh1t scared Mika

[xlindee]

Nobody has seen the stuff that Andy shot (besides him and Mika and whoever else is in the know:naughty:) but I am sure that it's great.

 

He basically stood in the pit and on stage, and filmed Mika from there with a professional camera. Obviously the quality of the filming is going to be great, as he had the best view.

I would kill for that footage actually, I'd love to own it.

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, yes, and yes

Everything just felt better, and you could see that he was relaxed, which he was not in Paris.

A relaxed Mika makes for a far nicer concert than a tense, sh1t scared Mika

 

Lol. I'd love to see that footage too.

 

Hmmm..I think that makes quite a difference yeah.

I think the whole vibe in Amsterdam was just great (except for that horrific support act, and I obviously don't mean Sam Sparro:boxed:)

I've never been to a big stadium gig (Amsterdam was big enough for me already), but I think I know what you mean now.

[Soaring Simpson]

 

Yes, yes, and yes

Everything just felt better, and you could see that he was relaxed, which he was not in Paris.

A relaxed Mika makes for a far nicer concert than a tense, sh1t scared Mika

 

Well obviously. But it won't ever be his first stadium again. He was nervous at the smaller ones initially by the look of it.

 

And I think he'll be gutted if he doesn't get to do more stadiums, whether he goes on doing smaller venues or not. In case you're wondering, I'd like to see a small or acoustic show. But career success aside, I hope he goes on doing big ones as well.

 

And being as he gets so into the visual side of things, I can see him getting more creative with his music vids in future maybe? I'd like that.

[kath]

I would have Mika in any form (in you'll pardon the expression ) **** scared or relaxed............I thought that Arras was brilliant because he was visually more relaxed............but to be honest I have never been to a Mika gig that I have not enjoyed and as Christine and Sari point out..........and I am in total agreement.......quite frankly I don't see or hear anyone or anything other than him

[xlindee]

Well obviously. But it won't ever be his first stadium again. He was nervous at the smaller ones initially by the look of it.

 

And I think he'll be gutted if he doesn't get to do more stadiums, whether he goes on doing smaller venues or not. In case you're wondering, I'd like to see a small or acoustic show. But career success aside, I hope he goes on doing big ones as well.

 

And being as he gets so into the visual side of things, I can see him getting more creative with his music vids in future maybe? I'd like that.

 

Oooeh yeah. Better music vids! I must say some of his vids looked a bit cheap, although I'm quite sure they weren't supposed to look like that.

Big girl looks quite cheap, but that has made up by the fact you can see the people in that vid are having fun. And if they didn't, then they can act well d*mn good!

 

Hmm..I'd like to see an acoustic show aswell. The SLC gig looked amazing:wub2:

[Christine]

People keep talking about the stuff Andy shot, and obviously I haven't seen it. But I'm not hearing much to make me regret this. And if by "down with the crowd" you mean like on YouTube- no thanks, I'd rather have the crane shots.

 

No it wouldn't be anything like YouTube because they could take the audio feed from the sound system and not the camera. Andy does not have people knocking him and his camera around and he has freedom of movement. He can be anywhere, including on the stage itself.

 

I thought the concert footage that they used in the documentary on the LICM DVD was a very good simulation of what those early Mika gigs were like. It was just like the Mod Club show I saw about 3 weeks before it was filmed.

 

I don't think there's much point in trying for a "like you were there" with a dvd. Better to go for "this is the big picture you couldn't see even if you were there," which this generally does.

 

I'm not getting the big picture which is what I had hoped for with this DVD. It just feels distant and it's down to poor editing IMO. There are so many long shots that don't serve any purpose except to illustrate that the stadium is huge and that Mika is swallowed up by it. It should have been cut to show that this spectacle was filling the venue, not getting lost in it.

[French Deb]

Sorry in advance for my english if what I'm saying is not clear.

But Sariflor, I think you can't say there was no connection between the crowd and Mika or maybe we don't have been to the same gig or we don't have seen the same DVD.

There was a huge connection between Mika and the crowd. You can always see on his face his emotion. This crowd gave him so much, maybe more than he expected...

It was clearly not the same connection, not the same proximity, as another gig, but it was so special...It's not because you're not at 2 metres from him that there is nothing between his crowd and him.

I agree with Niki when she talks about different expectations...

Maybe if you were at the front row of the main stage, as we were, you would have feel the gig differently. From there, it was amazing, and not only for the designs... I was so moved during all that gig. It was so special, so unique and it had to be appreciated like that.

 

But everyone feels things on a different way...

[Em']

seriously making this huge production sthg enjoyable for the audience was a real challenge, so I will always admire him for this.

 

I'm with you on that one Niki. I think he did absolutely great on this, and (of course being backed up by professionals is necessary), so early in his career, he did extremely well on his vision of a stadium show. Had his own ideas, knew who he wanted to work with, knew what he wanted to create. Strong-minded.

[Em']

Sorry in advance for my english if what I'm saying is not clear.

But Sariflor, I think you can't say there was no connection between the crowd and Mika or maybe we don't have been to the same gig or we don't have seen the same DVD.

There was a huge connection between Mika and the crowd. You can always see on his face his emotion. This crowd gave him so much, maybe more than he expected...

It was clearly not the same connection, not the same proximity, as another gig, but it was so special...It's not because you're not at 2 metres from him that there is nothing between his crowd and him.

I agree with Niki when she talks about different expectations...

Maybe if you were at the front row of the main stage, as we were, you would have feel the gig differently. From there, it was amazing, and not only for the designs... I was so moved during all that gig. It was so special, so unique and it had to be appreciated like that.

 

But everyone feels things on a different way...

 

Hi everyone !

 

I totally see what you mean Deb, but being on the catwalk myself, I kinda understand what Sariflor means. We did not have the same interactions you might have experienced with him on the main stage. He was running up and down the catwalk basically.

[sariflor]

I am exactly the same. I don't think that way when I'm sitting at home pontificating on MFC or even when I'm standing in the queue waiting to get in. But when he walks out on the stage everything and everyone else evaporates.

 

At that Toronto gig Mika could have thrown on some backing tracks and came out on his own to stand on the catwalk all night and I seriously wouldn't have known the band wasn't there until I read the gig reports the next day. (I'm not kidding! )

 

I think I would have had the same minimal expectations and ended up enjoying the concert. But the DVD is not showing it to be the spectacle that I had thought it was based on the photos.

 

 

Well, that Toronto gig was The Best, with capitals . Talk about connection!! That was just incredible.

 

 

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CD0EQ2c4-80

 

 

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=R9RgKDrvSlk

 

 

 

Lol. I'd love to see that footage too.

 

Hmmm..I think that makes quite a difference yeah.

I think the whole vibe in Amsterdam was just great (except for that horrific support act, and I obviously don't mean Sam Sparro:boxed:)

I've never been to a big stadium gig (Amsterdam was big enough for me already), but I think I know what you mean now.

 

Yes, the other support