REPORTS/PICS/VIDS: MIKA @ Riga, Latvia - 2 August 2010

[babuccia]

Latvian audience was fantastic, you can be very proud

 

Thank you

 

Sorry, what was your name? Im not sure about the spelling:naughty:

[mellody]

btw, i forgot to mention that we were eaten up by mosquitoes while waiting for mika after the show. i have at least 10 bites all over my legs, and they're killing me, itching like hell! :aah: great gig souvenir. the things i go through for mika!

[chance]

this was my first Mika gig and the first real big gig i went to and it was totally amazing !

 

me and my friend,we came when it was nearly 7pm and the queue was really big so we just sat in the parking lot. when the security openened the door everyone run inside and the queue actually was kinda pointless,because everyone from the middle or the end just ran to the door,it wasn't coordinahe middle of all the crowd. inside we met with another friend and went looking for the entrance to standing area but we went the wrong way to the seats and we had to go back <.< and the front of the stage was already full in the end we were on Imma's side, 5th row. i picked up a fight with two girls who kept holding their hand and couldn't let me go in front of them,even if there was still space

 

i didn't like the band 'Instrumenti' , they're a bit sleepy electronic style and i don't like it. but i could sing along to 'Apēst tevi' and then it got a bit more fun. the waiting part was terrible,more that 40 minutes. my back was hurting and i couldn't sit on the floor because someone spilled a beer. but i liked the songs who were playing,we sang along to 'arctic monkeys' and 'jay-z'

 

and then mika came and i went all crazy. it was a m a z i n g. the emotions were fantastic,i was dancing from the very first song my bag was jumping with me (haha) and i was scared that my things would spill but they didn't! i loved that he took off his shirt so fast and i got an amazing view on him . my friend and i were like :mf_lustslow: i didn't know all the lyrics to the new album,but whatever,i still sang along. i liked the 'blame it on the girls' competition but i was on the side that lost i sang at the top of my lungs,so yeah! i was so happy when Mika sang 'kick ass' because i really love it and its lyrics. tingles ran across my back Mika's latvian was really great,at first when he said 'and the show is just beginning - šovs tikai sākas' i couldn't understand what he said but everyone was cheering so i asked my friend what Mika said and she told me she spoke something in latvian so i cheered like hell and then we he told us to dance 'kad es pateikšu 1,2,3 es gribu lai jūs dejojat' i was totally in awe! the part when Mika sang 'happy ending' and whe we made hearts from our hands,it was so amazing,even if cliche . when the concert ended i was stunned and kinda sad , i got a ride home and when i met my mum i just gushed about everything i didn't know there was a M&G ,but if i did know i would've stayed

 

sadly i don't have any pictures but i have a few videos. they're all in phone quality so

[guylainem123]

dreamy queen, your pictures are really nice!

 

i like this one best! he looks like a naughty kid!

 

[kaisam]

I got only 3 good pictures with my crappy camera:

[babuccia]

btw, i forgot to mention that we were eaten up by mosquitoes while waiting for mika after the show. i have at least 10 bites all over my legs, and they're killing me, itching like hell! :aah: great gig souvenir. the things i go through for mika!

Mosquitoes are problem for Latvia this summer-they are everywhere But I didnt notice any mosquito that night..

I got only 3 good pictures with my crappy camera:

Nice pictures

 

And your cam is ok.. Pictures taken with my camera won't be better.. (he quality).. Will post them as soon as I get my cable.

[Dreamy_Queen]

dreamy queen, your pictures are really nice!

 

i like this one best! he looks like a naughty kid!

 

 

I love this one pic too

 

[mellody]

Mosquitoes are problem for Latvia this summer-they are everywhere But I didnt notice any mosquito that night..

 

that's because they all were attacking ME! at least i got to kill 2 or 3 of them. well, one was killed by statue of liberty. on my bright coloured shorts, dunno if i'll ever manage to remove that stain!

Edited August 4, 2010 by mellody

[suzie]

I am finally back home to report from my best Mika adventure tour so far.

 

Similarly to the Helsinki gig, it was mainly the audience that made the concert turn out to be one of the best ever I have been to, even though I had my doubts about the enthusiasm of the audience until the 2nd / 3rd song.

 

I am not going to write anything about queueing and m&g as I know I wouldn’t be interested in reports that focus on these, but let me just say that locals (with the exception of the few from MFC) started to arrive so late that even the idea of part of the arena being closed off due to lack of interest crossed my mind.

 

The support act was really good. The duo sang catchy pop tunes in Latvian in a pretty professional electronic arrangement and they were quite entertaining, too. At this stage I was still ’worried’ as the audience showed no real sign of enjoying themselves (e.g. clapping. Dancing..etc) – kind of felt like ’home’ to me - but the last song showed a sign of hope as the whole audience sang it together with the band.

 

When Mika started I was still hoping for a little bit more activity from the audience, although I must add that both Mika and the audience were slightly distracted by security’s failed effort to remove photographers from the front of the stage so that the BG leg could be inflated. Then at a point (not sure whether that was because of Mika’s trumpet solo, the fun he had on stage or the fact that audience somehow got the vibe about how to interact with him) they suddenly started to sing everything - even parts Mika was not ’expecting’ them so sing. He was so thrilled that during We Are Golden he improvised: let the audience go along with their version and he changed the song – shame David and Martin couldn’t catch up…( ) Luckily, there was no dispair and the two versions got together eventually. It wasn’t really noticeable, though, and I found it extremely funny

 

The audience really went mad at certain points. When Mika divided the audience into two for BIOTG, for example, the crowd literally divided into two, creating an aisle. A couple of them took advantage of the situation running forward and then back.. . Mika was similarly entertaining, as usual. I don’t know at which song but he started to talk to a guy in the audience. I am glad he did, actually, as he was eyeing him before and I did not understand why . So I was glad to hear him clarify that it was because the guy was so tall just as tall as Mika turned after the age of 15..etc…you know the rest..

 

Another moment I will never forget was when he started to play the first chords of Over My Shoulder. I was not expecting him to sing it at all. The audience went quiet and there was a girl who started to scream the usual ’I love you Mika’ from the top of her voice – a sound I had never heard before. I looked at her like most people near her did and she really looked sweet, but she simply couldn’t control herself and kept on screaming. Then the wizard pulled out a story from his bag of tricks. After that the girl has calmed down so each and every one of those 8000 people could enjoy the song with their breath held and a clear understanding on how to take in that performance.

 

It was unbelievable how throughout the evening they sang more, louder and even better than many native speaking audience, but then it started to dawn to me that one or two of the Baltic countries have a long tradition of choral singing. It may sound far fetched, but I put it down to that. (After the gig I spoke to a local fan on this, and she confirmed it was Latvia but I think also Estonia.) Of course there was more to it than simply just Latvians’ love of singing: they clearly knew all the words and even sang correctly when Mika himself forgot the lyrics to Grace Kelly . Apparently, even non-singles like Blue Eyes are regularly played over there on the radio.

 

My personal favourite moment was our coordinated hand-movements on Rain with Dreamy_Queen and her 10-year old daughter. They travelled a long way from the Ukraine with the whole royal family to watch the show and I hope they will get to see many more soon.

 

I think this was my longest report ever and not sure it all made sense as I am still extremely tired after all the lack of proper sleep and extensive sightseeing in 3 cities in a shprt period of time, not to mention the gigs after which you don’t even realise how tired you actually are.

Anyway, my conclusion on this concert clearly was that a heart-warming experience might actually come without planning anything extra you wear, wave around or hold up. These guys simply turned up at the gig, sang along and went home with a great experience. Moreover, they made Mika have a great time – well done Latvia!

 

 

PS: I am so tired I cannot even start my report on the bubble gig but will try to do so tomorrow morning.

[babuccia]

that's because they all were attacking ME! at least i got to kill 2 or 3 of them. well, one was killed by statue of liberty. on my bright coloured shorts, dunno if i'll ever manage to remove that stain!

You will!

 

 

I am finally back home to report from my best Mika adventure tour so far.

 

Similarly to the Helsinki gig, it was mainly the audience that made the concert turn out to be one of the best ever I have been to, even though I had my doubts about the enthusiasm of the audience until the 2nd / 3rd song.

 

I am not going to write anything about queueing and m&g as I know I wouldn’t be interested in reports that focus on these, but let me just say that locals (with the exception of the few from MFC) started to arrive so late that even the idea of part of the arena being closed off due to lack of interest crossed my mind.

 

The support act was really good. The duo sang catchy pop tunes in Latvian in a pretty professional electronic arrangement and they were quite entertaining, too. At this stage I was still ’worried’ as the audience showed no real sign of enjoying themselves (e.g. clapping. Dancing..etc) – kind of felt like ’home’ to me - but the last song showed a sign of hope as the whole audience sang it together with the band.

 

When Mika started I was still hoping for a little bit more activity from the audience, although I must add that both Mika and the audience were slightly distracted by security’s failed effort to remove photographers from the front of the stage so that the BG leg could be inflated. Then at a point (not sure whether that was because of Mika’s trumpet solo, the fun he had on stage or the fact that audience somehow got the vibe about how to interact with him) they suddenly started to sing everything - even parts Mika was not ’expecting’ them so sing. He was so thrilled that during We Are Golden he improvised: let the audience go along with their version and he changed the song – shame David and Martin couldn’t catch up) Luckily, there was no dispair and the two versions got together eventually. It wasn’t really noticeable, though, and I found it extremely funny

 

The audience really went mad at certain points. When Mika divided the audience into two for BIOTG, for example, the crowd literally divided into two, creating an aisle. A couple of them took advantage of the situation running forward and then back. Mika was similarly entertaining, as usual. I don’t know at which song but he started to talk to a guy in the audience. I am glad he did, actually, as he was eyeing him before and I did not understand why . So I was glad to hear him clarify that it was because the guy was so tall just as tall as Mika turned after the age of 15..etc…you know the rest

 

Another moment I will never forget was when he started to play the first chords of Over My Shoulder. I was not expecting him to sing it at all. The audience went quiet and there was a girl who started to scream the usual ’I love you Mika’ from the top of her voice – a sound I had never heard before. : I looked at her like most people near her did and she really looked sweet, but she simply couldn’t control herself and kept on screaming. Then the :wizard pulled out a story from his bag of tricks. After that the girl has calmed down so each and every one of those 8000 people could enjoy the song with their breath held and a clear understanding on how to take in that performance.

 

It was unbelievable how throughout the evening they sang more, louder and even better than many native speaking audience, but then it started to dawn to me that one or two of the Baltic countries have a long tradition of choral singing. It may sound far fetched, but I put it down to that. (After the gig I spoke to a local fan on this, and she confirmed it was Latvia but I think also Estonia.) Of course there was more to it than simply just Latvians’ love of singing: they clearly knew all the words and even sang correctly when Mika himself forgot the lyrics to Grace Kelly Apparently, even non-singles like Blue Eyes are regularly played over there on the radio.

 

My personal favourite moment was our coordinated hand-movements on Rain with Dreamy_Queen and her 10-year old daughter. They travelled a long way from the Ukraine with the whole royal family to watch the show and I hope they will get to see many more soon.

 

I think this was my longest report ever and not sure it all made sense as I am still extremely tired after all the lack of proper sleep and extensive sightseeing in 3 cities in a shprt period of time, not to mention the gigs after which you don’t even realise how tired you actually are.

Anyway, my conclusion on this concert clearly was that a heart-warming experience might actually come without planning anything extra you wear, wave around or hold up. These guys simply turned up at the gig, sang along and went home with a great experience. Moreover, they made Mika have a great time – well done Latvia!

 

 

PS: I am so tired I cannot even start my report on the bubble gig but will try to do so tomorrow morning.

 

Such a lovely report!!! Thank you for the nice words about Latvia And yeah,as you said- our country love to song and we also have many song festivals (singing is like our tradition)! And though we are a really small country, we all know Mika and his songs couse MOST of them are played on the radio all the time. I remember when LICM came out, the only songs which were not so popular here were Ring ring, Over my sholder Dunno why And atm, Kick ass is becoming a real hit

 

And it was so nice meeting you

[tiibet]

Suzie, thanks for your fantastic and detailed report, couldn't agree more I think my report will be a combination of vids and pics, so I refer to some things you already said in your report and only write about some things that I can remember when I watch the pics I took.

 

Here is the first part of my vids, the rest are still uploading. I filmed also WAG (Mika improvising because the audience wanted to sing along) and BIOTG (dividing the audience, very entertaining) Suzie mentioned above, I will link them as soon as they are ready.

 

OMS including Mika talking to that very tall guy and calming the audience before the song:

 

 

Love Today, a very long version including the Death March and the Killing Scene, including also killing the Toy Boy and introducing Jimmy as a paramedic. Hilarious :

 

 

Happy Ending:

 

 

Kick Ass (HE and KA shirtless if someone is interested):

 

Rain (the audience went mad!! ):

 

Touches You:

 

Blue Eyes:

 

Dr John:

 

Everything is a bit shaking, didn't concentrate my filming so much, just enjoyed the show

 

Edit: More vids:

 

We Are Golden:

 

Sweet Dreams:

 

Lollipop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SnilcKuJx0

 

It looks I didn't film BIOTG after all though I thought so, sorry!

Edited August 5, 2010 by tiibet

[koolj5]

S

Here is the first part of my vids, the rest are still uploading. I filmed also WAG (Mika improvising because the audience wanted to sing along) and BIOTG (dividing the audience, very entertaining) Suzie mentioned above, I will link them as soon as they are ready.

 

OMS including Mika talking to that very tall guy and calming the audience before the song:

 

 

Love Today, a very long version including the Death March and the Killing Scene, including also killing the Toy Boy and introducing Jimmy as a paramedic. Hilarious :

 

 

Happy Ending:

 

 

Kick Ass (HE and KA shirtless if someone is interested):

 

Rain (the audience went mad!! ):

 

Touches You:

 

Blue Eyes:

 

Dr John:

 

Everything is a bit shaking, didn't concentrate my filming so much, just enjoyed the show

 

Thank you so much, tiibet, loved watching OMS!!!

[babuccia]

Suzie, thanks for your fantastic and detailed report, couldn't agree more I think my report will be a combination of vids and pics, so I refer to some things you already said in your report and only write about some things that I can remember when I watch the pics I took.

 

Here is the first part of my vids, the rest are still uploading. I filmed also WAG (Mika improvising because the audience wanted to sing along) and BIOTG (dividing the audience, very entertaining) Suzie mentioned above, I will link them as soon as they are ready.

 

OMS including Mika talking to that very tall guy and calming the audience before the song:

 

 

Love Today, a very long version including the Death March and the Killing Scene, including also killing the Toy Boy and introducing Jimmy as a paramedic. Hilarious :

 

 

Happy Ending:

 

 

Kick Ass (HE and KA shirtless if someone is interested):

 

Rain (the audience went mad!! ):

 

Touches You:

 

Blue Eyes:

 

Dr John:

 

Everything is a bit shaking, didn't concentrate my filming so much, just enjoyed the show

 

 

OMG,thank you sooo much!!!

[egita]

Suzie, thanks for your fantastic and detailed report, couldn't agree more I think my report will be a combination of vids and pics, so I refer to some things you already said in your report and only write about some things that I can remember when I watch the pics I took.

 

Here is the first part of my vids, the rest are still uploading. I filmed also WAG (Mika improvising because the audience wanted to sing along) and BIOTG (dividing the audience, very entertaining) Suzie mentioned above, I will link them as soon as they are ready.

 

OMS including Mika talking to that very tall guy and calming the audience before the song:

 

 

Love Today, a very long version including the Death March and the Killing Scene, including also killing the Toy Boy and introducing Jimmy as a paramedic. Hilarious :

 

 

Happy Ending:

 

 

Kick Ass (HE and KA shirtless if someone is interested):

 

Rain (the audience went mad!! ):

 

Touches You:

 

Blue Eyes:

 

Dr John:

 

Everything is a bit shaking, didn't concentrate my filming so much, just enjoyed the show

thanks you soo much... your vid are wonderfull...

and after love today he speaks in latvian..." riga, vai tu mani dzirdi.? es esmu Mika and i'm dead... es jus visus mīlu...":wub2:

[babuccia]

thanks you soo much... your vid are wonderfull...

and after love today he speaks in latvian..." riga, vai tu mani dzirdi.? es esmu Mika and i'm dead... es jus visus mīlu...":wub2:

 

Yeah, I didnt hear him saying Rīga vai tu mani dzirdi.. that's soooo sweet:wub2: And the pronunciation was great

[tiibet]

Pics, part 1:

For some reason I paid a lot of attention to the lighting and the stage setting in Latvia and Estonia, though I had seen the same combination (settings 1 & 2) in Rome and Udine too. So the first set includes two giant trees both sides of the stage, a giant "moon face" in the middle, sculls, "mirror piano" plus a lot of sun flowers (Riga, Rome) and the second set includes giant MIKA letters and a lot of flowers (covering his piano etc) (Estonia, Udine). Most of you have seen everything at least from vids if you haven't seen his latest tours, but I just mentioned it so this wouldn't be too confusing

 

He changes his stage setting a lot, and I love it, because there are always new things to see and new details to notice. I still love it most when the setting is not too "full" or not too complicated. In Helsinki the stage was very small and he used only flowers, and it was beautiful I also loved his NA setting and planets combined with black and white outfits and cool colored lighting (and I use a word cool as an opposite to warm, meaning different blues, purple and clear lighting). And I find neutral colored (grey, B & W) clothes and cool colored lighting a very stylish combination, and I simply love that side of him, he can be so stylish I also like how these cool colors fit together with slow songs (like OMS, like you can see in this vid:

) but they are my favorite colors too, so this is simple a personal opinion.

 

Here are some pics:

 

I love it how beautiful he looks when there is only a clear spot and the background is black:

 

 

And this is what I meant when I said that grey, black and white is a stylish combination, love the yellow details reflecting from the piano :

 

 

To continue...

[egita]

part 1

 

 

[tiibet]

thanks you soo much... your vid are wonderfull...

and after love today he speaks in latvian..." riga, vai tu mani dzirdi.? es esmu Mika and i'm dead... es jus visus mīlu...":wub2:

 

I knew he would speak Latvian, and I tried to include it to my vid. I thought Latvian fans would love that part, just as I loved when he spoke Finnish I had to stop my filming just before the jumping part, because you can't upload vids longer than 10 minutes to youtube

[Kumazzz]

Video: meet & greet after the show.

 

I found it by Twitter search.

 

 

 

http://twitter.com/ega839/statuses/20371487074 by Egita Vinakmene

 

" i met Mika in Riga. but quality isn't very good http://yfrog.com/fv7183z " via @ega839

[tiibet]

Pics, part 2:

 

More about colors, lol... We know he loves colors and wants to make his show as a giant circus, and combinations of blue and yellow and pink and yellow are fresh and bright and look gorgeous in pics.

 

Blue and yellow is a nice balanced combination and it fits perfectly when he is shirtless (okay, this sounds SO freakish, but these can't be just randomly used colors ):

 

 

And some pink and yellow together, very fresh and colorful (love blue details in his outfit!):

 

 

And he is using a lot of red during energetic songs as Love Today. Red lightning is not my favorite, but it fits to fast songs, and red and white clothes make it fresher. Next pic is from Estonia (sorry to include it here, it's just an example):

 

 

End of my weird color report

[kaisam]

^ I did this meet&greet video:wink2:

 

My videos in youtube:

 

Dr John

 

Billy Brown

 

Trumpet solo

[egita]

Video: meet & greet after the show.

 

I found it by Twitter search.

 

 

 

http://twitter.com/ega839/statuses/20371487074 by Egita Vinakmene

 

" i met Mika in Riga. but quality isn't very good http://yfrog.com/fv7183z " via @ega839

yes, it's but, it's kaisam video.... tnx her:wink2:

[egita]

Pics, part 2:

 

More about colors, lol... We know he loves colors and wants to make his show as a giant circus, and combinations of blue and yellow and pink and yellow are fresh and bright and look gorgeous in pics.

 

Blue and yellow is a nice balanced combination and it fits perfectly when he is shirtless (okay, this sounds SO freakish, but these can't be just randomly used colors ):

 

 

And some pink and yellow together, very fresh and colorful (love blue details in his outfit!):

 

 

And he is using a lot of red during energetic songs as Love Today. Red lightning is not my favorite, but it fits to fast songs, and red and white clothes make it fresher. Next pic is from Estonia (sorry to include it here, it's just an example):

 

 

End of my weird color report

heyy..! you have a very good photo quality:thumb_yello:

[egita]

part 2

it's for you, girls

 

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with red background

 

and a Big girl shoe

 

Me, Evii, and Elina

[tiibet]

and a Big girl shoe

 

Egita, I love your pics, especially this one, thanks for sharing (and also thanks for taking the front row pics!)