2022 - Mika @Arena di Verona, Italy, 19 September REPORTS / PICS / VIDS

[Gabry74]

The concert at the Arena di Verona, was one of the most beautiful concerts I attended. It was a dream come true, an emotion continues from the beginning to the end. The giant heart, the flags, the streamers, the "confetti", the artificial snow, the soap bubbles... It was a mix of Bercy and the performance at Eurovision 2022. Pure magic! The audience was everything to Mika. There were no barriers... We were one.  I really liked the idea of putting the smallest piano in the middle of the audience, in order to be more visible and closer to everyone. I wish I could have the time machine to relive the 3 wonderful days I spent in Verona: the night before the concert at dinner with more than 50 MFCers and Mika who stopped with us after rehearsals; the day of the concert, spent waiting to enter the Arena to place the sheets on the chairs for the Fan Actions, the amazing concert and Mika who stopped with us after the concert and after the private party, with the band and his collaborators, for the conclusion of the concerts and the next day, together with my friends to visit the city and celebrate my birthday, although the best gift I had made Mika and the band the night before. 
I don’t know how long it will be before I can review my favourite good guys... I hope not much, because I already miss them a lot, despite having spent the summer with them, up and down Europe. 
I share some videos and photos:

 

[Kumazzz]

@Gabry74

Thanks a lot for posting !!!

The PASS CARD is awesome !!

 

[Gabry74]

5 hours ago, Kumazzz said:

@Gabry74

Thanks a lot for posting !!!

The PASS CARD is awesome !!

 

I love it! 

[holdingyourdrink]

6 hours ago, Kumazzz said:

@Gabry74

Thanks a lot for posting !!!

The PASS CARD is awesome !!

 

Yes! It was a pass exclusive for those who were going to help with the huge fan action as organized by @Serenamiglio_, for us to enter the venue earlier.. but as previously told, we entered the venue at the exact same time as the others at 7pm  so now it’s just a nice souvenir and actually never had a purpose 

[Kumazzz]

YouTube

 

George’s channel “42”

 

Relax

 

Happy Ending

 

Grace Kelly

 

[Prisca]

12 hours ago, krysady said:

I also understood the same, that in fact Lollipop girl doesn't exist but the girl wearing pink it's his mom and he is singing the song for her 

Yes, exactly. However, she writes that his mother is the Lollipop girl.

[Patty70]

On 9/22/2022 at 11:15 AM, mellody said:

 

Talk during Underwater (I only understand a few words, can someone pls translate the interesting parts?

 

He said we were in a place where we could do whatever we wanted. The most embarrasing thing for people who are out of tune like a bell (we say that in Italy) is to sing alone in front some people, but in the shower we have not this fear, we can sing. We were not in the shower that night (thanks God 😂, he thought to the rain at the Tim Awards) in the Arena where  there was the biggest choir ever saw in this place: US 🥺. He asked to turn off all the lights, and he said the beauty to sing in the dark was due to the fact that we didn't share this special moment on the ####ing instagram 😍🤣and all the crowd agreed. Then he said that we had to sing in the loudest possible way, beacause of the nice american tourists , two 74 y.o men he met in the afternoon that came in Verona to visit the Romeo and Juliet's little balcony (that doesn't exist), He invited them to his concert but they didn't want to go because it was to late and they preferred to sleep, he said we had to wake up them that were in the bed near his hotel with our singing. 😂

[Patty70]

I wrote the traduction in the quote🤦‍♀️ 

[mellody]

3 hours ago, Patty70 said:

I wrote the traduction in the quote🤦‍♀️ 

 

I fixed it. Thanks for the translation! Ah ok in the context of singing as if no one can hear you it makes sense to tell people it won't be on Instagram.  (was it filmed for TV tho? We still don't know. )

[Patty70]

3 minutes ago, mellody said:

 

I fixed it. Thanks for the translation! Ah ok in the context of singing as if no one can hear you it makes sense to tell people it won't be on Instagram.  (was it filmed for TV tho? We still don't know. )

We think the gig could be filmed for the TV or a documentary.. Who knows? But when He came out after the restaurant or after the gig, I don't remember well, behind him there was also Tiziana Martinengo, the woman who helps him with the production of casamika. Maybe he prepares something for the Rai TV... We don't know.. 😅 We are waiting as usual.. 🤨

[Patty70]

I'm always late, I know, but I'd like to report some impressions about the concert in Verona. Mika's presence in the Arena was our big dream since some years and to be there together meant a lot for Italians fans. I think some concerts have something special and a sort of magic that simply happens and we can't predicte. Ok, the location was axtraodinary for its beauty but the extra addiction was the energy and the warm embrace of the audience around Mika. I was very grateful for the kindness and respect in the public when Mika went down many times in the crowd.. And also the unexpected fan action about Good Guys was so impressive.. I was very happy for him!!! The best moments were without any doubts Yo Yo with the intimate atmosphere and the bubbles that embraced the scene; Happy Ending with the peace symbols on the big colored flags.. Stardust in the middle of the Arena with all the audience singing at one voice. And for sure Good Guys, a very beautiful and sweet song. I was in the third row and I think behind me there was  @Anna Ko Kolkowska

I'm not very good at filming videos during the gigs, I prefer to sing and dance and I have infact bad quality in videos.. Or too short pieces of songs.. 😅 

I loved as many of us all the special effects... Bubbles, confetti, smoke and the giant Heart of course. 

With a little sadness we miss the gigs in the theathre that we hope will be reorganized in the future. 

When me and my friends went out of the Arena, we saw the little crowd in front of the artist's exit and when Mika arrived I wasn't be able to see nothing.. 😅 I'm still in the Mika's bubble and now I hope he will end soon the album, so we could hear at least new music.

Some photos, Sorry for the bad quality.. 😅 

 

 

[SusanT]

1 hour ago, Patty70 said:

We think the gig could be filmed for the TV or a documentary.. Who knows? But when He came out after the restaurant or after the gig, I don't remember well, behind him there was also Tiziana Martinengo, the woman who helps him with the production of casamika. Maybe he prepares something for the Rai TV... We don't know.. 😅 We are waiting as usual.. 🤨

Here's an interview with Martinengo in which she talks about Mika (don't know if MFC website already has it somewhere):

https://www.formatbiz.it/dettNews.aspx?id=9163

 

TWO WORDS WITH TIZIANA MARTINENGO - A BRILLIANT TV PROFESSIONAL IN THE ITALIAN INDUSTRY

• 2022-07-29
•  People
• Milan

 

Tiziana Martinengo is a director, writer and producer. She founded the production company Milano Produzioni in the 80s and she is a very well-known professional in the Italian landscape. 

Let’s start since the origins: when did you found Milano Produzioni?

Milano Produzioni was born in 1988 (I think it is the longest-running Italian production house) founded by me and my husband Carlo Previati.
A true family business.
We were very young, I was already working in the TV Industry, while Carlo (my husband), who graduated at the economics University of Bocconi with a thesis focused on British advertising and marketing in London, was a young manager at Unilever.
By combining the two types of experiences we decide to found the company, taking a cue from the US model of branded content (then it was called barter).
We started producing branded formats.
A few years later we focused on pure production for national broadcasters, producing programs entirely conceived by us.

What kind of programs did you produce? What’s your space in the Italian TV landscape?

Surely the factual genre is what most represents us.
In particular, we specialized in the theme of the houses. This is a topic that I love.
I can mention some series like Chi scegli la seconda casa, Ok: la casa è giusta, Artiste per la casa, La casa più bella, and the last one Un Sogno in affitto (3 seasons for Sky).
These programs are very popular and “aspirational”.
I would have loved to continue on the makeover/ or renovation houses, but in Italy is more complicated than in the US (in 2 weeks they can make a full change) and it takes months to complete a full renovation.
Other topic that I like much is the wedding and I produced several series like Il Matrimonio più bello, La Sposa più bella, Una sposa da sogno with the wedding stylist Antonio Riva.
Let's say that our programs also reflect who I am very much, so there is always an emotional aspect.
I am a person who gets excited a lot and I am happy when people get excited about beautiful and positive messages.
Lately we have also approached the world of food with Celebrity Menù and Le Ricette del convent, filmed in a real convent with 3 monks from the Monreale Monastery.
This format is achieving great success, both in terms of listening and satisfaction.
On social media it is enjoying it and we got an incredible engagement.
Recently we produce a docu-novels titled Eccellenze di Sicilia, stories of families’s business (pastry/bakery). The show was also presented at the Film Festival of Taormina 2022 and I was so happy to be invited to that prestigious event.

How do you prefer to be called: register, author/writer, producer?

When you do too many things you are not good at ones (laughing) but in my case I consider myself as a boomer (smiling) I was professional born in the 80s with the arrival of private television in Italy and in that early stage I was able to do a little bit of everything from different fields production and writing. I also, had the privilege of working with the most talent professionals of the Italian TV like Mike Bongiorno a myth of our television!

Let's say that however my professional life is divided into 2 parts:

One as Author and Director who has always worked as a freelancer for the biggest production companies such as MAGNOLIA, FREMANTLE, BLU YAZMINE, ENDEMOL, BALLANDI or directly for BROADCASTERS (in particular over the years'80 / '90 I've signed for MEDIASET Show as' MATRICOLE ',' METEORE ',' IL BRUTTO ANATROCCOLO',' VIVA NAPOLI '...) and  I've worked for very important TV shows from TALENT to REALITY, GAME and QUIZ, working with ARTISTS of great stature. Shows seen by several million viewers, such as' L’ISOLA DEI FAMOSI 'that in the final episode of the second edition reached a peak of 73% share, a truly impressive number.

 

Then, as partner of the company with my husband Carlo I like to present and pitch new shows to broadcasters and I feel this part of my job very stimulating and exciting.

Let’s move to Mika, the great international artist. How did you meet him and how do you work together?

In my life there are two important men, they are both called Michael.
One is Mike Bongiorno and I shared many important part of my professional life until September 2009 working for the quiz show RISKYTUTTO for Sky Italia and the other is Mika.
We met for the first time in 2013 for XFactor and there was an alchemy between the two of us!
I remember being immediately 'kidnapped' by his style, his kindness, but above all by his intelligence and his ability to 'learn'.
He had started studying Italian for a few months and already spoke it very well.
Artistically, then, it is incredible.
During the 3 years of X Factor our relationship has grown, above all thanks to a docureality that we have created together Il Viaggio di Mika, in which I filmed him in several situations in Italy and abroad, during his concerts, while he was shooting a video clip on the slopes of Etna, when he was a guest on an important television program in New York ...
In that context, I was able to understand even more his artistic greatness.
In 2016 I was with him in CasaMika, the one-man show produced by Ballandi for Rai. The show also won a Rose d’Or as best format in Europe.
In addition to being a very good singer and musician, he knows how to present a TV show, supporting intense monologues, but he also knows how to manage hilarious moments, he knows how to interview with precise and punctual interventions (he has a great listening ability), I consider him a unique talent and it is wonderful to work with him, it is stimulating because he is also an extraordinary Artistic Director, he takes care of everything down to the smallest detail, from graphics to costumes, to lights ...
I remember the nights after rehearsals until 3 am in his dressing room to 'build' the new episodes and not feel tired for the joy of what was being created.
Even when he goes as a guest in a program, he personally and totally studies his performances, making use of the collaboration of his trusted team, of which I am a part, and his performance becomes a show within the show.
For example, when he was a guest in 2020 at the Sanremo Festival, he first performed some of his choreographed pieces with a Gospel Choir that came from France and after a moment of great television impact he changed 'register' and atmosphere passing to a profound monologue before to perform the tribute to De Andrè with 'Love that you come, Love that you go'.
It was pure emotion and the emotion became even more intense with Eurovision Song contest 2022.
Working with him is something magical, like his piano.

For me it was a unique experience, we worked inside a giant machine with incredible production dynamics and knowing that we were part of a program that was followed by 160 million viewers, well, the thrills come.

 

How many shows did you produce in more than 40 years? Is there more? what else do you want to produce? any dream in the drawer?
 

Actually Un Sogno nel cassetto (A Dream in the drawer)  was the title of the first program I made with Mike.
I was very young with a great desire to do and, if I look back, I consider myself truly lucky and privileged to have certainly achieved many more dreams than I could have wished for.
Among other things, the word dream is present in many format titles I invented, perhaps because I am an incurable romantic.

And then maybe I have a dream in the drawer. 
I would like to found a LAB with authors and directors of all ages to create new made in Italy formats to be distributed all over the world.
Maybe we need to learn to be a little less individualistic and to do more TEAM because I am sure that with our creativity and our Italian 'spirit' we could really achieve great things and who knows that this may not become my new challenge for my first 60 years. years!

 

 

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[krysady]

4 hours ago, SusanT said:

Here's an interview with Martinengo in which she talks about Mika

Thank you very much for posting, it's so nice to read her words about his way of working and his multi skills. We could see that during CasaMika, but it's still nice to hear it from someone who worked directly with him 

[mellody]

As it seems to become a longer conversation about bullying/harassment, I moved the posts about this topic to the thread where the same discussion is going on, so we have it all in one place instead of 2 different conversations and we can focus on the gig on here.

 

[Prisca]

On 9/22/2022 at 9:21 PM, Serenamiglio_ said:

The first thing we thought once we saw their FA was that people might get confused...and unfortunately that was the case....! Without the good guy sheets people would have just raised ours, even if they didn't read the instructions, or if they didn't know the song, they would have followed what the audience (where we all were😂) was doing, ! Nevertheless, the Good Guys moment was really suggestive and he really liked it, so that's good! 💫

And I kind of feel guilty that so few green papers were lifted. After all, I was there in the front row. However, I just lifted my green sheet and didn't tell the people behind me to do the same. I eventually turned around and saw good guy sheets EVERYWHERE.

 

On 9/22/2022 at 9:21 PM, Serenamiglio_ said:

Unfortunately, few people were able to raise the crown, as Karin said, everyone was in front of the stage and left papers on chairs.😞

Instead, the fan action of hearts had a beautiful effect! And I am very happy about it! I'll put up a little video❤️ 

Is interesting, from my perspective it looked like the crown fan action was more successful than the hearts fan action. Many had the crown papers raised in the centre, though not perhaps in the front. But I didn't see so many hearts, but I saw a lot of mobile phone lights in the back. And Mika has certainly seen the crown fan action.

 

He was standing on the stage right in front of me, looking at me too, and if you can judge by his reaction, he also read the lyrics "our king".

[crazyaboutmika]

Just a crazy idea but I was wondering if we could make a compilation of all the movies fans took at Verona to recreate the whole concert

It would be so fantastic

[TinyLove_CJ]

3 hours ago, crazyaboutmika said:

Just a crazy idea but I was wondering if we could make a compilation of all the movies fans took at Verona to recreate the whole concert

It would be so fantastic

 

That could take a lot of doing, there's so many great videos from fans! 😁

 

(And you might need permission from people to use their videos anyway)

 

Still hoping the concert was filmed by Mika's team anyway! 

Edited September 30, 2022 by TinyLove_CJ

[crazyaboutmika]

16 minutes ago, TinyLove_CJ said:

 

That could take a lot of doing, there's so many great videos from fans! 😁

 

(And you might need permission from people to use their videos anyway)

 

Still hoping the concert was filmed by Mika's team anyway! 

Yes I know that's why I said it was a  crazy idea  but I hope to see it on TV or DVD soooo muchhh  that it came to my.mind   

[TinyLove_CJ]

4 hours ago, crazyaboutmika said:

Yes I know that's why I said it was a  crazy idea  but I hope to see it on TV or DVD soooo muchhh  that it came to my.mind   

 

Gosh there hasn't been a Mika concert DVD for ages! 

 

Mika if you're reading this please know that your fans desperately want new physical copies of your concerts!!! 😁

[Prisca]

On 9/22/2022 at 11:15 AM, mellody said:

(does he say Holland?!  That was Belgium, but whatever. 😅)

Yeah, I think he got confused because they speak Dutch in Zeebrugge.

 

On 9/25/2022 at 10:24 PM, Anna Ko Kolkowska said:

And finally a surprise. While in the audience, Mika noticed his friend from The X Factor - Manuelito. He ran up to him and kissed him loudly on the cheek :-) I didn't know at the beginning who it was. It all happened very quickly. But then it was reported on social media that it was Manuelito.

I didn't recognise Manuelito on the big screen either and only later while waiting after the concert did I find out that it was him. I had thought that Mika would not kiss just any man on the cheek during the concert. Two days later, at home, I saw the kiss in this video from a different perspective. It looks more like Mika kissed Manuelito on the mouth.

 

 

[mellody]

13 minutes ago, Prisca said:

Yeah, I think he got confused because they speak Dutch in Zeebrugge.

 

I didn't recognise Manuelito on the big screen either and only later while waiting after the concert did I find out that it was him. I had thought that Mika would not kiss just any man on the cheek during the concert. Two days later, at home, I saw the kiss in this video from a different perspective. It looks more like Mika kissed Manuelito on the mouth.

 

 

 

I was surprised at first too, but then I recognized Manuelito on the screen, that's why I wasn't surprised to see him late at night in front of Mika's restaurant.

I didn't ask him to take a pic together, because he looked like he wanted to leave, after taking pix with some other (Mika) fans, but I love the photos I took of him & Michelle, especially the one with the arena in the background.

 

Btw, haven't posted my Mika photos here yet, but most of them aren't good anyway, the stage was too far away. I'll pick the best ones & post them later.

 

 

[krysady]

28 minutes ago, Prisca said:

It looks more like Mika kissed Manuelito on the mouth.

 

That's why I was shocked, because I've seen on the huge screen Mika kissing a guy from the audience on his mouth, that was clear! 

[Hero]

47 minutes ago, Prisca said:

Yeah, I think he got confused because they speak Dutch in Zeebrugge.

It confused me... 

 

47 minutes ago, Prisca said:

I didn't recognise Manuelito on the big screen either and only later while waiting after the concert did I find out that it was him. I had thought that Mika would not kiss just any man on the cheek during the concert. Two days later, at home, I saw the kiss in this video from a different perspective. It looks more like Mika kissed Manuelito on the mouth.

 

 

I love this so much! Such a happy, confident show of affection. 😍❤

 

When Mika loves you, he loves you 100%. 🥰

[Hero]

6 hours ago, TinyLove_CJ said:

 

Gosh there hasn't been a Mika concert DVD for ages! 

 

Mika if you're reading this please know that your fans desperately want new physical copies of your concerts!!! 😁

Oh a DVD of the Verona concert would be wonderful! 

Just in time for Christmas too... hint hint Mika...  🤩

[crazyaboutmika]

6 hours ago, TinyLove_CJ said:

 

Gosh there hasn't been a Mika concert DVD for ages! 

 

Mika if you're reading this please know that your fans desperately want new physical copies of your concerts!!! 😁

Yes please