MIKA @ Kantine, Cologne, GERMANY - 1 November: 01-11-2012 - REPORTS/PICS/VIDEOS

[willywonka]

He couldn't believe I'm here because of him and was all sweet talking to me from the stage. Things we do for him.

 

No really. Stop leaving the stage Ingie.

 

Ai, muié!

Tou te esperando!!!

 

It was amazing !!!

 

I was in the first row on the left.

 

 

I wouldn't have been here if i didn't win tickets, thank you so much !! :

 

Awwwwwww....

 

I'm glad you you had such a fabby time!

 

The gig was amazing. I'm still speechless because he got so enthusiastic when I gave him the MAD poster book during the M&G. He was as happy as a little child can be after been given a present . I even got a from him, although I didn't realize at first he wanted to give me one. I hope someone recorded it, I would love to see his reaction again. It was so nice to meet people from MFC, people I already knew and people I did not meet before, even if I didn't talk to everyone (I'm a little shy ). The balloons and the lametta were great too. Thanks you German organizers to let me participate in this.

 

And it was also nice to meet Fran who came al the way from Brasil to see Mika. It was so great that he paid extra attention to her during and after the gig. I hope you have a wonderful time in Europe, Fran, and a lot of amazing Mika gigs.

 

For now ... if someone is looking for me ... I am the one that is floating around at MFC on a pink cloud.

 

 

 

Oh yeah ... and it was very cold. ::

 

Get down, woman, get down...

 

[DutchAnnie]

Get down, woman, get down...

 

 

No ... I don´t wanna get down ... let me stay on my cloud

[Laurel]

No ... I don´t wanna get down ... let me stay on my cloud

 

I don't think you could get down if you wanted too You should be careful though ... you might end up floating up to space and then have to jump off and freefall back to earth like that guy did the other week

[DutchAnnie]

I don't think you could get down if you wanted too You should be careful though ... you might end up floating up to space and then have to jump off and freefall back to earth like that guy did the other week

 

Will Mika catch me?

[Laurel]

Will Mika catch me?

 

I'm sure he would ... he has uber special skills you know

[DutchAnnie]

I'm sure he would ... he has uber special skills you know

 

*jumps from cloud*

 

OUCH ... I guess Mika was busy hanging out in Breda.

 

*climbs back on cloud*

[mellody]

so, i'm on my way to vienna now, writing a report on the train and hoping i can send it when i arrive at the hotel in vienna.

 

it was fab to spend a day with my mfc friends and finally see mika playing a gig in germany again! the queueing started nicely, we had benches to sit on, and just chatted, had fun and started preparing our surprise for mika for this night, small glittery streaks made out of lametta (xmas tree decoration ). i think photos may turn up at one point or another of me with a huge pile of lametta on my lap. i heard some comments from the other girls like "after today, i'll never have lametta on my xmas tree again, can't see it anymore!" all in all, several of us were busy with that for several hours, fixing bits of lametta together with tape and writing "for celebrate" on the tape, so people would know when to use it.

 

unfortunately at some point it started raining. or rather, pouring down. luckily there were benches and tables under huge umbrellas right across from the entrance (some sort of beer garden that belongs to the venue), so we moved there - it was good to have those umbrellas, and the tables, so we stayed more or less dry and still could continue our work on the lametta thingies. it was windy though and became rather cold eventually.

 

at about 5pm when we saw that more people started arriving, we started a proper queue, according to the numbers we had given out (around 30-40 at that point, we stopped the list at 40), and indeed everyone who arrived after that got in line at the end of the queue, so it all went nicely. i went along the queue several times, giving out the lametta, heart-shaped balloons for origin of love, and streamers for the start of celebrate. i didn't notice the streamers going up in the air at the gig, dunno maybe the choir saw some of it?

 

ah, talking about the choir: while we were still sitting at the tables under the umbrellas, tim and curtis came out, looking for more choir members because some couldn't make it. or anyway that's what they said. obviously team mika also had sent everyone the wrong venue address in the choir e-mail , so alina ended up in the wrong place first... luckily she was there early enough so she still was on time at the right place. :rolls_eyes:

tim made those who were interested in joining the choir sing their fave mika song with him, one or two he rejected right away and the others he told he'd check how many girls/boys they needed and come back later. which he did, and in the end, ingie, jazzy and luke got in the choir. the rest of the choir was made up of DMFC members (3 who applied, 1 from the queue), so apart from one guy who's the brother of one of the DMFC girls, i knew everyone in the choir.

 

end of part 1

[mellody]

report part 2

 

anyway, we got in nicely, there was no running or anything, from what i saw everything went smoothly. inside we sat down, and i went to the back of the venue with the rest of the lametta and the streamers, giving them out to more people. got rid of most of it when suddenly there was a rush and people started moving forward. later i got told that it was because the security guy at the front had told ppl to stand up. anyway, of course i rushed back to the front immediately, and pushed back in to my place. thanks to tina, marion, annie and petra it was still there for me. thanks girls!! there was no pushing or anything at the gig (at least not where we stood), so thank god it wasn't a problem to get back there!

 

 

the show... it was the usual setlist, he started with BIOTG... and he told lots of little stories in between songs, love it when he talks so much at gigs! first he said something about halloween (i already uploaded my video of that), at another point he told a story about a guy who had bothered him at his hotel in cologne. and he told curtis to play some chords on the keyboard that would support the story, curtis messed it up so that was rather funny too. iirc he said the guy accused him of having stolen songs from him. mika told the story in a funny way though, seems that guy was in a somewhat confused state of mind. at some point mika started messing around with curtis' keyboard, comparing it to his own mirror piano, showing off the cool light effects on his piano - that bit was quite funny too.

 

what bothered me though was the bad sound quality. for the songs it was ok, but as the speakers were not in front of us but more to our side / behind us, i had problems understanding what mika talked, it all sounded a bit muffled. so half of what he said i either didn't understand at all, or i got the joke only after several seconds thinking about what he could have said, or in the context when i understood the next sentence. maybe it was because of that, but somehow i didn't feel the connection between mika and the crowd as much as i usually do at his gigs. guess that's just my subjective opinion, as i heard others say it was one of the best mika gigs they've ever been too - but for me, although it was a fab gig, wonderful songs & singing and he talked a lot, i felt the special mika gig magic only at some points, not during the whole (or most of) the gig, like it usually is the case. or maybe i just expected more as it was such a small venue - but the space between the stage and the barrier wasn't particularly small, and although at some points of the gig i was like OMG mika is SO close right there in front of me!, those were only a few moments when i thought that. thinking of it, it might have had to do with the light as well... you can see it in some of my videos, sometimes the light was blinding me directly, even for some whole songs, so i wasn't able to see mika's face expressions at all, which also makes it quite hard to feel any sort of connection, if you know what i mean.

Edited November 2, 2012 by mellody

[mellody]

report part 3

 

for OOL we had the balloons - and it actually surprised me that he looked SO happy about it (huge smile on his face when he saw it), because while we were queueing i saw that the fans in roubaix had had the same idea, as someone showed me a pic of mika lying in a sea of heart balloons - and we didn't have that many! but obviously he's very fond of the heart balloons, as he wants them in brussels in the whole crowd now. after OOL, when curtis started playing the HE intro, mika said the ballons were a nice idea and asked who organized it. a bunch of people around me pointed on me, but i pointed around me and said "your fan club!", because although i had spread the word and done the most part of giving out the stuff to the crowd, i wasn't the one who originally came up with the idea, and generally it was a team work because many people had brought balloons. i had a bigger part in the lametta business, mariposa came up with the original idea for that (more thinking about throwing it for stardust, iirc - that was way before we knew he'd play only the slow version on the tour), and i had the idea with the tape, and of waving it for celebrate. i got an extra set of long eye contacts from mika during celebrate, probably because at the beginning of the song i waved the lametta towards the back of the crowd so everybody would know this was the song to take it out (as you don't always recognize the live versions right away, esp. celebrate with the china boy part...). anyway: @ long mika eye contacts! the lights disturbed me there too, but it was still fab.

 

after the show about 50 people or so waited at the backstage entrance, and at some point i suggested to them we'd form a line so mika could go along it and sign for everyone, and luckily they thought it was a good idea, formed a line and most of them also stayed in the line when mika came out. although i heard that a few people joined the line again at another point after they had got their signature, there was no one rushing towards mika when he came out, no screaming or anything like this, i loved how well behaved everyone was! i was next to bubbles, quite at the end of the line, and when mika came to me he said "Hi, how are you?" and i got a handshake. love how his hands feel. i asked him whether he liked our surprises and he said yeah and then asked me whether i'd be going to brussels by any chance. i was like ... erm, no, unfortunately i won't be there... and told him which other of his gigs i'd be going to, he didn't seem very interested in that though. bubbles then said he would be in brussels and something about wanting to be in the choir and then i mentioned that i auditioned for the choir in munich, anyway, i still didn't know why he asked me about brussels. when he was done with the line 2 minutes later, he stood in the midst of his fans and asked, "so who of you is coming to brussels?", several fans said they would, and i asked mika why he wanted to know that, whether there'd be anything special? then he said he loved the heart balloons and the glitter and whether we thought we could organize that for brussels, that everyone in the venue would get these things, and he'd pay for it. after a bit of back and forth, bubbles said he would try to organize it, mika told thomas to take care of the details, said goodbye into the round and left.

 

it was a great day & evening, just weirdly i'm not on the usual gig high now like i usually am after mika gigs... but maybe i'm just too tired for that right now, didn't sleep at all last night... will arrive in vienna soon and hope i can send the report via the free wi-fi we have at the hotel, before i catch up on sleep.

edit: great wi-fi connection here, and everything already typed - send!

Edited November 2, 2012 by mellody

[mellody]

one picture for now:

 

 

and 3 more videos:

 

celebrate - you can see our lametta there, but apart from that it's not very interesting, too shaky... and in the end when mika let the choir introduce themselves and there was another funny bit (can't remember what it was), my SD card was full and i had forgotten to take a spare! that's why the video stops shortly before the choir intruduction.

 

talk & band intro before HE:

 

talk & stardust:

[DerMoment1608]

I'm back home again, too. And for me it was for sure the best of my three Mika-Gigs so far. Well, not for sure, but FOR SURE! Proper report tomorrow as I am tired as hell

[Louiza]

It was amazing !!!

 

I was in the first row on the left.

 

I took pictures : http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3763341088878.2135322.1437138365&type=1

 

and a few videos, the first one is here :

 

 

 

I wouldn't have been here if i didn't win tickets, thank you so much !!

 

thanks for the pics and vids Vanessa!! glad you had such an amazing time

 

 

no time for a report now, but uploaded my first 3 videos (sorry not so good quality, took them with my old camera. and was dancing during the songs. )

 

talk before billy brown (about halloween etc.):

lola:

talk & popular:

 

more will follow... maybe from vienna if the internet connection there is ok, otherwise when i'm back.

off to vienna now for a weekend trip including gig!

 

thanks for the vids and the detailed report! and thanks for always filming all the talking before the songs. Love the intro of Stardust, the way he tells that story and how he wants the right music for it!

 

have fun in Vienna Karin!

[Tina78]

I had two wonderful days in Cologne. We meet a few other Fans the Evening before at the Hostel . Eat and chat a little bit.

 

On Thuesday morning we went to the Venue to meet the others and finish our surprise for Mika. We bought tons of Lametta (don´t know the english word) and put it together for the Audience. I think we need about 6 hours to finish 500 of it.

 

Sadly the weather was not very nice. It was cold and raining the whole afternoon.

 

Tim and Curtis went out in the afternoon to look for Members for the Choir and found some.

Later in the afternoon we organised the Queue and everything went well. No running, no screeming... only walk slow into the Venue.

 

The Kantine is a small Club in Cologne so the stage was really small. It was sold out since two month.

 

The concert was fantastic! He was in such a good mood , joking and laughing.

I loved to hear the new songs, esp. Popular Song, one of my favourites. The surprise with the Lametta and Ballons was perfect. He loved it and ask who had the idea.

It was great to see the whole audience sind and dance. Glad that this concert was such an succes for him.

 

Congrats to the Polka Dot Choir who did a good job on this small stage.

 

The M&G was nice, he wasn´t in a hurry and asked if someone who comes to Brussels can organise the surprise there two. Bubbles got the job to buy everything. A lot of work to do.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2012 by Tina78

[Tina78]

 

 

 

 

[YOUTUBE]8jhx2z97-Uw[/YOUTUBE]

 

[YOUTUBE]1AZz3AVS98M[/YOUTUBE]

[DerMoment1608]

I didn't want to write so much, but of course it got long So, here is my report But photos and videos I don't have, sorry

 

*****

 

We couldn't make it earlier, so a friend of mine and me arrived after 6 pm at the location and ended up 10/11th row. But our view was quite okay for this place. Normally you have like 20 people with a height of 1,90 m in front of yourself (well, at least it feels like it ) - but not this time, only 2 big ones and most of the time I could watch through the gap between them directly at Mika's microphone.

 

In the waiting time a DJ played and it seemed that he would never stop - but finally he did and then the band came on stage. And than MIKA!!!!

 

Strangely my memory of the concert is really blurry. It's like a big mess of single memories and single emotions. But one thing I can say for sure: It was great! Really great! Really really really great! For me much better than my other two gigs back in 2010. I don't know, somehow I was really "in". Right from the beginning I started singing and jumping and arm waving and all the things although I didn't want to do it so much (especially as I can't sing and I didn't want to be so knackered after the concert again ). And then soon the point where I didn't think about anything at all was there, it was simply a reaction to the atmosphere and to Mika, and I didn't noticed anything around me, I just sang and jumped. Don't know, somehow it was only me and Mika and Mika's energy and the energy of the crowd and nothing else.

 

I didn't look more exact at the European setlist, so it was quite a surprise for me that he started with "Blame it on the girls". But I liked it. And I even more liked "Relax" later on because the crowd was already warm at this point and so "Relax" was much better.

 

The first highlight for me was "Billy Brown". Beforehand I was like "why is he playing it again, I rather want more of the new songs". But then he went to the piano and started playing - and it was the moment where it really made "click" between the crowd and Mika for the first time. The crowd was right from the start a more open one, stiff and uninvolved they weren't at no point beforehand, but at this moment big parts started singing very loudly and waving their arms. And so a lot came back from the crowd to the stage. And therefore from Mika to the crowd, especially later on at the concert, and it was this two-way effect. At least I felt that. And it made the gig very special for me.

 

And because of that I was in some way kind of happy that we were standing in the 10th row and not in the front row. Because I could clearly see the reaction of the crowd and most of all feel the energy of the crowd. At the front row you don't have that. Of course I couldn't see his facial expression clearly from our point and there is nothing like a free view. But it really did have had some advantages to be more afar at his gig.

 

And after reading mellody's report I would guess that we had much better sound in some distance from the stage, too.

 

what bothered me though was the bad sound quality. for the songs it was ok, but as the speakers were not in front of us but more to our side / behind us, i had problems understanding what mika talked, it all sounded a bit muffled.

 

It's really strange, because one of my notes I made after the concert is how good the sound was and that Mika's voice was really in the foreground (not overlayed by instruments or something like that). For sure part of why I liked the concert so much, I get so much from his voice

 

And it's incredible how much energy Mika has on stage, he was jumping so much and was so sweety. And he simply was radiating so much! I for sure felt the connection!

 

One of the most emotional moment for me was "Stardust"/"Underwater". I really really really love the acoustic version of "Stardust", a thousand times more than the studio version and I was so happy to finally hear it live. And it was impressing that although it's a ballad it has so much power at the end! "Underwater" I heart for the first time live, too. And then I understood why everybody fangirls so much about this song live. And the end of the song was very special, too, because Mika decided spontaneously to prolong it. The Polka Dot Choir already started going down from stage but than he said something like: "I want to try something and with you I can do it [implying 'because you are reacting so much']". And than he made us sing the word "Underwater" - firstly very tender, than more powerful.

 

At the beginning of "Lola" was a funny moment, too. He made us sing that melodies like he does it every time and of course it got more complicated and complicated. And then he stopped and said: "In every other show everybody started giggling here - but you sang it!"

 

Later on was a phase were he played a lot of fast songs, I can't say which one anymore, some of them were "Love today" and "Love you when I'm drunk", and I was like: *jump* - "I really need to recover my breath" - "Wah, now he plays …" - "Whatever" *jump again* Especially LYWID I loved live!

 

And somewhere in this block was "Elle me dit", too. And it was one of my personal highlights as well. I wanted to experience that song live for so long. So I was very happy when he played it in the USA - so there was a chance outside of France after all. But then he didn't play it at all European gigs, so really no knowing if he would play it or not. And then he started talking and said: "Actually I didn't want to play this song today. But, ****, whatever, I'm doing it now, because of you, you are so enthusiastic" (Okay, that weren't for sure not his actual words, but something along the lines like that). And then he played "Elle me dit"! And I loved it. It was this combination of finally hearing it live, the possibility to scream "Pourquoi tu gaches ta vie" on the top of my voice and the knowing that he normally wouldn't have played it and that we it was simply because of us that we got to hear it.

 

Other moments of the gig I really liked were the ending of "Origin of love" (he repeated and variated the "happy, crazy in love part" of the song some times as an outro), the playful new version of "Stuck in the middle", the power of "Rain" (normally not my most favorite song), the loud singing of the crowd at "Happy Ending"…

 

Mika talked a little bit through the songs, too. But nearly no German this time. One time it was about Halloween, which he said he didn't like if I understood him right, but the actual day of the concert (first of November) he liked because it was the day where the dead came back in Mexico. And then a little bit about Sandy and his grandmother and that his aunt now needs a new car.

 

And before "Stardust" some strange story about a guy, who said, that he had written Mika's songs in 1992. Actually the story wasn't that good, but the way he told it was great and funny. Curtis started playing a very melodramatic melody as he started, too, and that hat an great effect And then Mika didn't like the melody and it was quite funny.

 

He talked to Fran, too: "Why is there a Brazilian flag? You are from Brazil? Where are you from? What are you doing in Cologne? You came for the gig?" And than was a big applause from the crowd and Mika was really impressed.

 

At the beginning of "Grace Kelly" he went to his piano and said to Curtis that he wants to do it different this time. But I don't know what was different. Does somebody know who was on concerts before?

 

"Celebrate" he started with the slow piano entry and the sad verses like on the Radio BBC 2 gig. I didn't watch videos, so I didn't know if he would do it or not and so I was very happy because I love it. And of course the china-boy-verses later on.

 

And of course that was the moment where the front part of the crowd started waving the tinsel. It looked really great from the back!!!

 

And then the gig was over. And I was on a total height. Absolute madness. Somehow everything fitted: Mika's energy; the possibility to see him well enough and hearing his voice so clearly (because Mika transfers so much through his voice and body language for me); standing in the crowd and feeling the energy of the crowd; and probably I was somehow in the right mind to "let myself fall". And therefore I loved the gig!

 

*****

 

And at the end a little very strange story, which is not directly related to Mika (but which I personally found much more creepy than the one Mika told ): I'm a big fan of the German band called Rosenstolz (in my biggest fan-phase even much much more than of Mika…). And during the Mika gig 2010 in Düsseldorf I was standing next to two guys and at some point they started talking about Rosenstolz concerts. So of course my ears got bigger and bigger and then I started talking to them. And it turned out that we knew each other from the Rosenstolz forum and we even exchanged CDs per Mail in the past. That was really spooky already back then, I mean how big is the chance that you are standing next to somebody you actually know through the internet in totally different ways? And then in Cologne my friend and I lined up at the queue and then the next people after us arrived - and we look at each other and I realize that it was him again and he recognized me. And that was so creepy - and so funny. Okay, it was not unlikely that we both would be there - but again, how big is the chance that we would arrive right after another and would be standing right next to each other in the queue again? :blink:

[DerMoment1608]

 

Awww

 

Thanks for your photos, Tina!

[dcdeb]

Tina, your photos are just Thanks!

 

And DerMoment, loved all the emotion and detail in your report, thank you!

And you're right, seeing that guy from the other band forum is a little odd... maybe you have an internet stalker? Anyhow thanks for sharing your report, too!

[Tina78]

I didn't want to write so much, but of course it got long So, here is my report But photos and videos I don't have, sorry

 

*****

 

We couldn't make it earlier, so a friend of mine and me arrived after 6 pm at the location and ended up 10/11th row. But our view was quite okay for this place. Normally you have like 20 people with a height of 1,90 m in front of yourself (well, at least it feels like it ) - but not this time, only 2 big ones and most of the time I could watch through the gap between them directly at Mika's microphone.

 

In the waiting time a DJ played and it seemed that he would never stop - but finally he did and then the band came on stage. And than MIKA!!!!

 

Strangely my memory of the concert is really blurry. It's like a big mess of single memories and single emotions. But one thing I can say for sure: It was great! Really great! Really really really great! For me much better than my other two gigs back in 2010. I don't know, somehow I was really "in". Right from the beginning I started singing and jumping and arm waving and all the things although I didn't want to do it so much (especially as I can't sing and I didn't want to be so knackered after the concert again ). And then soon the point where I didn't think about anything at all was there, it was simply a reaction to the atmosphere and to Mika, and I didn't noticed anything around me, I just sang and jumped. Don't know, somehow it was only me and Mika and Mika's energy and the energy of the crowd and nothing else.

 

I didn't look more exact at the European setlist, so it was quite a surprise for me that he started with "Blame it on the girls". But I liked it. And I even more liked "Relax" later on because the crowd was already warm at this point and so "Relax" was much better.

 

The first highlight for me was "Billy Brown". Beforehand I was like "why is he playing it again, I rather want more of the new songs". But then he went to the piano and started playing - and it was the moment where it really made "click" between the crowd and Mika for the first time. The crowd was right from the start a more open one, stiff and uninvolved they weren't at no point beforehand, but at this moment big parts started singing very loudly and waving their arms. And so a lot came back from the crowd to the stage. And therefore from Mika to the crowd, especially later on at the concert, and it was this two-way effect. At least I felt that. And it made the gig very special for me.

 

And because of that I was in some way kind of happy that we were standing in the 10th row and not in the front row. Because I could clearly see the reaction of the crowd and most of all feel the energy of the crowd. At the front row you don't have that. Of course I couldn't see his facial expression clearly from our point and there is nothing like a free view. But it really did have had some advantages to be more afar at his gig.

 

And after reading mellody's report I would guess that we had much better sound in some distance from the stage, too.

 

 

 

It's really strange, because one of my notes I made after the concert is how good the sound was and that Mika's voice was really in the foreground (not overlayed by instruments or something like that). For sure part of why I liked the concert so much, I get so much from his voice

 

And it's incredible how much energy Mika has on stage, he was jumping so much and was so sweety. And he simply was radiating so much! I for sure felt the connection!

 

One of the most emotional moment for me was "Stardust"/"Underwater". I really really really love the acoustic version of "Stardust", a thousand times more than the studio version and I was so happy to finally hear it live. And it was impressing that although it's a ballad it has so much power at the end! "Underwater" I heart for the first time live, too. And then I understood why everybody fangirls so much about this song live. And the end of the song was very special, too, because Mika decided spontaneously to prolong it. The Polka Dot Choir already started going down from stage but than he said something like: "I want to try something and with you I can do it [implying 'because you are reacting so much']". And than he made us sing the word "Underwater" - firstly very tender, than more powerful.

 

At the beginning of "Lola" was a funny moment, too. He made us sing that melodies like he does it every time and of course it got more complicated and complicated. And then he stopped and said: "In every other show everybody started giggling here - but you sang it!"

 

Later on was a phase were he played a lot of fast songs, I can't say which one anymore, some of them were "Love today" and "Love you when I'm drunk", and I was like: *jump* - "I really need to recover my breath" - "Wah, now he plays …" - "Whatever" *jump again* Especially LYWID I loved live!

 

And somewhere in this block was "Elle me dit", too. And it was one of my personal highlights as well. I wanted to experience that song live for so long. So I was very happy when he played it in the USA - so there was a chance outside of France after all. But then he didn't play it at all European gigs, so really no knowing if he would play it or not. And then he started talking and said: "Actually I didn't want to play this song today. But, ****, whatever, I'm doing it now, because of you, you are so enthusiastic" (Okay, that weren't for sure not his actual words, but something along the lines like that). And then he played "Elle me dit"! And I loved it. It was this combination of finally hearing it live, the possibility to scream "Pourquoi tu gaches ta vie" on the top of my voice and the knowing that he normally wouldn't have played it and that we it was simply because of us that we got to hear it.

 

Other moments of the gig I really liked were the ending of "Origin of love" (he repeated and variated the "happy, crazy in love part" of the song some times as an outro), the playful new version of "Stuck in the middle", the power of "Rain" (normally not my most favorite song), the loud singing of the crowd at "Happy Ending"…

 

Mika talked a little bit through the songs, too. But nearly no German this time. One time it was about Halloween, which he said he didn't like if I understood him right, but the actual day of the concert (first of November) he liked because it was the day where the dead came back in Mexico. And then a little bit about Sandy and his grandmother and that his aunt now needs a new car.

 

And before "Stardust" some strange story about a guy, who said, that he had written Mika's songs in 1992. Actually the story wasn't that good, but the way he told it was great and funny. Curtis started playing a very melodramatic melody as he started, too, and that hat an great effect And then Mika didn't like the melody and it was quite funny.

 

He talked to Fran, too: "Why is there a Brazilian flag? You are from Brazil? Where are you from? What are you doing in Cologne? You came for the gig?" And than was a big applause from the crowd and Mika was really impressed.

 

At the beginning of "Grace Kelly" he went to his piano and said to Curtis that he wants to do it different this time. But I don't know what was different. Does somebody know who was on concerts before?

 

"Celebrate" he started with the slow piano entry and the sad verses like on the Radio BBC 2 gig. I didn't watch videos, so I didn't know if he would do it or not and so I was very happy because I love it. And of course the china-boy-verses later on.

 

And of course that was the moment where the front part of the crowd started waving the tinsel. It looked really great from the back!!!

 

And then the gig was over. And I was on a total height. Absolute madness. Somehow everything fitted: Mika's energy; the possibility to see him well enough and hearing his voice so clearly (because Mika transfers so much through his voice and body language for me); standing in the crowd and feeling the energy of the crowd; and probably I was somehow in the right mind to "let myself fall". And therefore I loved the gig!

 

*****

 

And at the end a little very strange story, which is not directly related to Mika (but which I personally found much more creepy than the one Mika told ): I'm a big fan of the German band called Rosenstolz (in my biggest fan-phase even much much more than of Mika…). And during the Mika gig 2010 in Düsseldorf I was standing next to two guys and at some point they started talking about Rosenstolz concerts. So of course my ears got bigger and bigger and then I started talking to them. And it turned out that we knew each other from the Rosenstolz forum and we even exchanged CDs per Mail in the past. That was really spooky already back then, I mean how big is the chance that you are standing next to somebody you actually know through the internet in totally different ways? And then in Cologne my friend and I lined up at the queue and then the next people after us arrived - and we look at each other and I realize that it was him again and he recognized me. And that was so creepy - and so funny. Okay, it was not unlikely that we both would be there - but again, how big is the chance that we would arrive right after another and would be standing right next to each other in the queue again? :blink:

 

Thank you so much for you wonderful report, esp. the talking parts. I stand next to Mellody and the sound was really bad in front of the stage so I can´t understand everything what he says.

[DerMoment1608]

Just watched the vids, thanks mellody and Tina! Sadly it's hard to understand much in your vids, mellody

 

Here is a vid of the "creepy story" with slightly better sound:

 

D0tjHnAE9y8

 

And you're right, seeing that guy from the other band forum is a little odd... maybe you have an internet stalker?

 

I don't think so And it's more a positive creepiness

[Christine]

Just watched the vids, thanks mellody and Tina! Sadly it's hard to understand much in your vids, mellody

 

Here is a vid of the "creepy story" with slightly better sound:

 

D0tjHnAE9y8

 

I do find this creepy because it sounds like a Stephen King story where he speaks in the first person as a writer. A strange and menacing man turns up in town to confront him about plagiarizing a story. I actually mentioned this story on MFC a couple of months ago because the writer also spoke of feeling guilty as sometimes stories just flowed out of mind in such an effortless way it felt like stealing. It was very similar to something Mika said about writing songs for this album and how easy it came to him.

 

Anyway it seemed at the end of the story that the writer's accuser was a figment of his imagination, a manifestation of his guilt over his ability to "steal" his work. So I hope Mika really had a conversation with someone...or....

 

[nas]

I do find this creepy because it sounds like a Stephen King story where he speaks in the first person as a writer. A strange and menacing man turns up in town to confront him about plagiarizing a story. I actually mentioned this story on MFC a couple of months ago because the writer also spoke of feeling guilty as sometimes stories just flowed out of mind in such an effortless way it felt like stealing. It was very similar to something Mika said about writing songs for this album and how easy it came to him.

 

Anyway it seemed at the end of the story that the writer's accuser was a figment of his imagination, a manifestation of his guilt over his ability to "steal" his work. So I hope Mika really had a conversation with someone...or....

 

 

:naughty: well thanks for totally giving away the ending to secret window christine :aah:

 

it's actually a really good story and a movie with johnny depp...

 

i hope this conversation really did occur too...

[Christine]

Oh I didn't know it was a movie. I thought about the spoiler but I figured no one would know what I was talking about unless they already knew the story (and the ending) so what difference does it make?

[IngievV]

Anyone filmed him calling me a b*tch?

[mellody]

Just watched the vids, thanks mellody and Tina! Sadly it's hard to understand much in your vids, mellody

 

 

yes, just like i said, the sound was awful there in front row! it's not my camera's fault.

 

"Underwater" I heart for the first time live, too. And then I understood why everybody fangirls so much about this song live. And the end of the song was very special, too, because Mika decided spontaneously to prolong it. The Polka Dot Choir already started going down from stage but than he said something like: "I want to try something and with you I can do it [implying 'because you are reacting so much']". And than he made us sing the word "Underwater" - firstly very tender, than more powerful.

 

At the beginning of "Lola" was a funny moment, too. He made us sing that melodies like he does it every time and of course it got more complicated and complicated. And then he stopped and said: "In every other show everybody started giggling here - but you sang it!"

 

hmm, i understood it that way that the crowd sang the lola bits so well that this was the reason why he tried the underwater singing with us, not because the crowd was reacting so much. but like i said, it was an awful sound where i was, so maybe you're right.

 

here are my other videos, gotta look again when i'm home if i missed something, but think that's all now.

 

end of SITM (with tim playing on ) and start of LT:

LYWID:

talk before EMD:

end of UW (singing with crowd and ingie re-entering the stage ):

[DutchAnnie]

Did anyone take pics/vids of the M&G when I gave Mika the MAD book?