MIKA @ International Festival of Carthage, TUNISIA - 31 July 2012

[Milda]

You know it's actually quite a good idea because he put the barrier behind Mika so people couldn't crowd around him from behind.

 

Oh I agree - it's a good idea, but still it looks hilarious And thanks for the video! I would love to have a job like that for a day or two

[lyli21]

Sorry for being late, just got home yesterday, so here my report !

 

With my cousin, we arrived at the venue at 16.30. We didn't know exactly when to arrive and my family didn't stop to tell me i'm crazy to go so early XD. And it was the same thing with people who work there, they all told us to go back home and to come back later ! But as we were far from home, we decided to stay in the venue and to enjoy it as gates were open. So we stayed there all the end of the afternoon, they were nobody except some tourists. We could go where we want, even on stage and behind ! (Mika's set was already on stage). At about 18.30 i saw Mika's musicians coming on stage and Mika ! I recognized him immediately, he was just coming from the airport with Yasmine (i didn't see at all Mama P or Paloma), so Mika was there discussing with a man and watching the view of the amphitheatre from the stage. They all began the rehearsals and with my cousin we stayed terraced to watch it. It was very impressive to see. He looked a little bit stressed and so concentrated ! They finished the rehersals just before the sunset and people began to arrive at 20.30. We went to take places in the second row (the 3 first rows were for the ministers and their family but a security guy let me stay in the second one). Everybody were nice with us and no one told us to leave the festival to enter with the audience.

 

We saw extracts of the Parc des Prince DVD on a screen before the show and everybody was screaming ! Mika came on stage at 22.50 ! He began as usual with Big girl, the atmosphere was crazy ! After big girl, someone threw a jasmin flower on stage, Mika took it and put it on his hat, he said that it has the smell of his childhood. And then he explained that he was happy to come back in Tunisia and that it happened several things in his life since he came in 2010 and that it was the same for Tunisia (it was about the Revolution). And a girl threw her bra on stage, Mika took it and said by smiling "but you are going to be cold !"

 

Just before Stuck in the middle, he told us the nice story of his lebanese grand ma who went to NYC when she was 16 and met Grace Kelly and Greta Garbo while she didn't speak english at all. I've filmed it but we see nothing half of the video because a security guy told me he was going to take my camera (but he was only trying to scare me ). Anyway i will post it.

 

Before Billy Brown, he told us he saw the pictures of the people who sang in this festival during the last 10 years and he was happy to see Barbara.

 

During love today he took a boy with him on stage, that was very funny ! They danced together a few seconds, i will post the video !

 

The audience was a great one, Mika seemed very happy and couldn't stop smiling. He said he already performed in the Nimes Arena and was really happy to perform in the Carthage arena.

 

After WAG (no confettis) he left the stage and some people began to leave, even the security told us to go ! But with my friend we began to scream "no no he's coming back on stage !" and 2 minutes after he came back to sing TOOL and Grace kelly, magical as usual !

 

After the show

With a friend, we went to search the stage door, it was difficult because there was a lot of people and we didn't know where it was. Finally we saw many people just behind the stage waiting so we went there at the end of the barrier. The waiting was cool, some people were singing, it was fun ! But i was just near the crazy girl who tried to jump on Mika ! She couldn't stop crying and saying "i want to see Mika i want to see Mika":blink: People were making fun of her, and she was even filmed by TV !!! She was absolutely ridiculous. At 1 o clock, Mika came out. But as you saw in the video it was a completely mess ! People were all around him, even trying to just touch him. I wonder HOW the girl succeded to jump on the barriers without anyone to stop her before ! I was at the end of the barrier and saw everything helpessly:huh: i was so disgusted by this people and always trying to understand how this could happen. I think tunisian people are not used to receive "stars" every year, and it's most of the time impossible for them to attend a meet and greet and to be "near" the artist. I'm really sad and angry this amazing show endend like that !

Will post you my pictures and videos later ( and sorry for my english mistakes !!)

Edited August 4, 2012 by lyli21

[lyli21]

Here my pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lyli21]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lyli21]

 

 

 

 

Edited August 4, 2012 by lyli21

[kath]

Thank you lyli. This sounds amazing! What a fantastic experience. Seeing the sound check must have been great. It sounds like a great gig. It's a shame about what happened afterwards but I hope it didn't spoil a great day .

[tiibet]

Thank you so much for your report and pics, Leila, sounds like a very special experience! So happy for you yes, we saw the vid filmed after the concert... it's difficult to believe things like that happen. Good to hear the gig was amazing and Mika enjoyed it

[lyli21]

You're welcome

Yes, it was such a great gig , i try to not think too much of what happened after

 

Here my videos, i'm sorry they are so bad

It's my cousin who filmed, he didn't film very well and you can hear him singing pretty loud (even louder than Mika sometimes )

 

Relax Take it easy (+ the flower jasmin and the bra )

 

Happy ending

 

Extract Love today (with the boy who danced on stage with Mika )

 

Extract Elle me dit

 

Extract TOOL (not enough battery to film all the song )

 

Mika told us he saw the pictures of the people who sang in this festival during the last 10 years and he saw Barbara. He told he saw all this singers and that it was a beautiful tradition.

 

He told the story of his his lebanese grand ma who went to NYC when she was 16. I really loved it (but as i said in my report, i'm sorry we can't see anything more than half of the video )

Here what he said :

"My father is american, but my grand ma is lebanese and my grand father syrian and my father was born in Jerusalem. But at home and in my living room it's peace. Maybe countries should be more like living rooms. My lebanese grand ma is "big" (or strong ?), she left her country when she was 16, she didn't speak english, she speaked arabic and a little bit french. She went to New York. One year later, she was having diner in front of Grace Kelly and Greta Garbo in California, she was living a life at 17 she never could imagine because at Sour and Alep, there is not Grace Kelly. And so she was at this diner in California, there were all this stars, she was only 17 and everybody was speaking to her, telling her she was very beautiful. She's always telling me this story and this is why i wrote Grace Kelly. So everybody was watching her, and Grace Kelly asked everyone to stop talking and told her "My dear, you don't speak very much". And my grand mother watched everyone and in arabic she said "Ena tahki arabi" (that means "i speak arabic") and she was not speaking english at all so during one hour and a half speaking with Grace Kelly she didn't understand a thing.

This big grand mother that i love as much as i hate, like all big grand mothers, i've wrote this song which talks about her."

Edited August 4, 2012 by lyli21

[Kumazzz]

Vids : uploaded by TWT Tunisia

 

Part 1

 

[YOUTUBE]cEnd8dKQZAQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

Part 2

 

Interview @ 4:23

 

[YOUTUBE]tsCgw4oSJ-8[/YOUTUBE]

[Kumazzz]

Pics from FACEBOOK

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.502292966454534.132959.286260248057808&type=3

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2012 by Kumazzz

[Loguisvitch]

I was there too

I arrived at 8pm, with my mother, my brother, my four cousins, and two of my aunts (yes, that's a lot)

 

This event was very important for me, I had a very special gift for Mika. The story is a bit long, but if you read it you'll know why is was really important.

My mother is from Syria. Before the war, we used to go there very often. One of my favorite places in Damascus is the Bakdash ice cream shop in the souk. Believe me, it is really delicious. Mika himself loves this place, and flew 8 hours in order to get some of it; he said: "This is the best ice cream in the world".

(Here is the video of Mika eating ice cream in Damascus, Syria:

)

 

We stopped visiting family and friends there after the war began, our last visit was in April 2011. But we had to go back even if it was dangerous, because my grand-mother died , and we had to go to the funerals. My mother nearly fainted when she heard the news and could not talk anymore, she just kept saying: take me there, take me there. We looked on the internet but could not find flights from Tunis taking off early enough for us to be on time for the funerals. It was really urging, so we decided to go to Beirut first. That's what we did, and then we traveled by car to Lattakié.

 

After the funerals, we went back to Damascus and rested a bit. For several reasons, we had to go to the souk. And of course, we stopped in the ice cream shop, and bought 3kg of it. When I bought it, I thought: I would love Mika to be here, maybe we could share some ice cream". The guy who sold it was very nice and he wrapped very well so we could travel back home with it.

In the airport, we were stopped because apparently, it was not allowed. After a long talk with the guys there, we were finally able to take it to Tunis.

 

When I knew that Mika was coming, I decided to give him some of it: knowing that we won't be going back to Syria soon, we were aware that the ice cream was a bit precious. We only had 1kg left, and it was my brother's but he agreed to let us take a half.

 

So we took it, and wrapped it like they did in the shop, so it stays frozen. When we arrived, we gave it to a woman working there, and she put in the fridge. After the concert, we waited for Mika to get out (not with the bunch of stupid people screaming around like animals . I just hope Mika won't hate us tunisian fans because of them, they are just very young... We waited on the other side, alone, but we could not see him. They didn't let us get the ice cream.

 

Then, the woman came and told us that is it impossible to talk to him, because the crowd was getting crazy on the other side. But this woman works there so she talked to Mika's sister (Yasmine) and showed her the ice cream. She recognized it and took it :') She said she will give it to Mika . I don't know if she did, or if he ate it, but I just hope he appreciated what we did because believe me, it was not easy to get it from Damascus.

[Christine]

Then, the woman came and told us that is it impossible to talk to him, because the crowd was getting crazy on the other side. But this woman works there so she talked to Mika's sister (Yasmine) and showed her the ice cream. She recognized it and took it :') She said she will give it to Mika . I don't know if she did, or if he ate it, but I just hope he appreciated what we did because believe me, it was not easy to get it from Damascus.

 

Oh I'm sure Yasmine would have taken it to him. That's a wonderful gift. I can't believe you managed to bring it all the way to Tunisia.

 

Sorry about your grandmother.

[Loguisvitch]

Oh, and about the story with his grand mother and Grace Kelly, he said: "Grace Kelly a parlé pendant une heure, elle n'a rien compris" : Grace Kelly talked for an hour, and she (his grand mother) didn't understand a word. When we went back home my mother asked me to translate what he said (she is from Syria, and does not speak french), and I did, so she said: "It's the same here, he talked for two hours and I didn't understand a word".

He was incredible!

[Asma]

I was there too

I arrived at 8pm, with my mother, my brother, my four cousins, and two of my aunts (yes, that's a lot)

 

This event was very important for me, I had a very special gift for Mika. The story is a bit long, but if you read it you'll know why is was really important.

My mother is from Syria. Before the war, we used to go there very often. One of my favorite places in Damascus is the Bakdash ice cream shop in the souk. Believe me, it is really delicious. Mika himself loves this place, and flew 8 hours in order to get some of it; he said: "This is the best ice cream in the world".

(Here is the video of Mika eating ice cream in Damascus, Syria:

)

 

We stopped visiting family and friends there after the war began, our last visit was in April 2011. But we had to go back even if it was dangerous, because my grand-mother died , and we had to go to the funerals. My mother nearly fainted when she heard the news and could not talk anymore, she just kept saying: take me there, take me there. We looked on the internet but could not find flights from Tunis taking off early enough for us to be on time for the funerals. It was really urging, so we decided to go to Beirut first. That's what we did, and then we traveled by car to Lattakié.

 

After the funerals, we went back to Damascus and rested a bit. For several reasons, we had to go to the souk. And of course, we stopped in the ice cream shop, and bought 3kg of it. When I bought it, I thought: I would love Mika to be here, maybe we could share some ice cream". The guy who sold it was very nice and he wrapped very well so we could travel back home with it.

In the airport, we were stopped because apparently, it was not allowed. After a long talk with the guys there, we were finally able to take it to Tunis.

 

When I knew that Mika was coming, I decided to give him some of it: knowing that we won't be going back to Syria soon, we were aware that the ice cream was a bit precious. We only had 1kg left, and it was my brother's but he agreed to let us take a half.

 

So we took it, and wrapped it like they did in the shop, so it stays frozen. When we arrived, we gave it to a woman working there, and she put in the fridge. After the concert, we waited for Mika to get out (not with the bunch of stupid people screaming around like animals . I just hope Mika won't hate us tunisian fans because of them, they are just very young... We waited on the other side, alone, but we could not see him. They didn't let us get the ice cream.

 

Then, the woman came and told us that is it impossible to talk to him, because the crowd was getting crazy on the other side. But this woman works there so she talked to Mika's sister (Yasmine) and showed her the ice cream. She recognized it and took it :') She said she will give it to Mika . I don't know if she did, or if he ate it, but I just hope he appreciated what we did because believe me, it was not easy to get it from Damascus.