2023 - Mika @Monte Carlo Summer Festival - Monaco, August 4th REPORTS/VIDEOS/PICS

[Kumazzz]

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[Kumazzz]

IG story

virgyruisi

 

Big Girl ( MFCers @mellody @Zita dancing with Mika )

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mellody]

2 hours ago, Kumazzz said:

IG story

virgyruisi

 

Big Girl ( MFCers @mellody @Zita dancing with Mika )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Nina! @tiibet

[Hero]

5 hours ago, Kumazzz said:

IG story

virgyruisi

Big Girl ( MFCers @mellody @Zita dancing with Mika )

 

 

2 hours ago, mellody said:

And Nina! 

 

And right at the start you can see me and @krysady too. 

[TinyLove_CJ]

   Would love to read a full report for this gig if anyone's got the time, from the videos it looked so fancy! 😍

[Zita]

16 hours ago, Kumazzz said:

IG story

virgyruisi

 

Big Girl ( MFCers @mellody @Zita dancing with Mika )

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thaaaaaank youuuuu!🙂❤️🙂❤️

[mellody]

Starting to upload my videos... sorry the first ones are very bad picture quality, as we were far away and my phone camera isn't good when it's dark... but I think they still catch the atmosphere, and you can see the development over the first few songs, after Mika clearly said what he expects the audience to do.  

Talk for the intro of Lollipop:

Talk during Lollipop:

OOL

Talk before Ice Cream

Ice Cream:

 

Talk before Big Girl:

Talk during Big Girl:

Big Girl:

 

Beginning of Tiny Love - where unfortunately you can hear what happened all evening - people talking, instead of listening to Mika.

A bit of Tiny Love, where he stole a girl's glasses

Talk during Relax

 

Mika & @Ronzier Mareva during Underwater, the jacket:

 

Mika & Mareva, conducting Underwater

 

Boum Boum Boum, Mika collecting napkins and knotting them together

Boum Boum Boum, the result

Talk before Good Guys:

Good Guys

 

Talk before Yoyo, about the venue

 

Yoyo

Elle me Dit

Talk during Elle me Dit

Talk about the flowers on stage, about languages, and other things:

 

Happy Ending, an absolutely stunning performance!

End of Happy Ending, which was so beautiful and delicate, but sadly got destroyed by some drunk guys behind me, who forgot to buy manners with all their money.

Grace Kelly intro with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Grace Kelly

 

"Merci"

 

Love Today with big flower

 

"Until the next time" / talk during Love Today (when the light went out, Mika went backstage to put on his cape)

 

... and that's it with my videos! Will try to write a report later tonight.

[Kumazzz]

Shutterstock

https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/search/mika-in-concert%2c-monte-carlo-summer-festival%2c-monaco-04-aug-2023

Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr (songwriter, songwriter, composer, musician) singing the "Monte-Carlo Summer Festival" at Sporting, Salle des Etoiles

 

 

 

26 pics

 

Some pics from the page.

 

 

 

 

[Hero]

I've got a mix of photos and video snippets, most of him but also some candid shots of the crowd. They're not great quality, but help give an idea of the atmosphere and his performance.   So I'm just going to upload here, probably across 3 different posts,

 

 

[Hero]

Round 2... 

 

 

[Ax07]

It seems it had been such an overwhelming gig in a very pleasant environment with many heart-warmed MFCers☺️😄

[Hero]

Round 3...

 

 

 

 

[Hero]

Round 4!

[Hero]

Round 5. Sorry, some of my videos are a bit data heavy with being zoomed in on night view, so might not show properly. I'm not tech savvy with videos so not sure if there's a way to cut the file size. Anyway, here they are! 

Um. Apologies for the screaming. And the bad singing.  

 

 

 

 

 One of my favourite moments, the audience finally got the hint! 

  

[Hero]

And some from the table. Don't MFCers scrub up well? 

 

 

[mellody]

1 hour ago, Hero said:

And some from the table. Don't MFCers scrub up well? 

 

Damn, I should have known there'd be Paparazzi at such an event!  

[silver]

Still no actual reports?

[mellody]

Alright, time for a report. I'm actually still working on the one for Tarvisio, but writing this first now, as long as the memories are still fresh. Be prepared, it's long...

 

TRAVEL

So I arrived in Nice on Wednesday, together with my son, for a little holiday. I had decided that he's old enough to leave him at the hotel room on his own while I went to the gig - he got a new book for that and a mobile phone with my number and instructions about different situations... and when I was about to leave, he was just like, yay, finally I can start reading!  (btw he actually read the whole book, until past midnight ) Anyway, Nice is beautiful, the palm trees, a lot of pretty houses with ornaments, beautiful flowers, the turquoise sea, ... my son loved the rather big waves at the beach and spent hours playing in the water, and then again in our hotel pool. On Thursday we went to the botanical gardens, which are near the airport, as that was my son's wish for sightseeing. The entry is free there and it's on a hill, so a great view from up there... but it's quite a trip from the city centre and you could see that it's not very well kept and that it had been a bit too dry for the plants. Anyway, he liked it and took a lot of photos.

On Thursday evening we met up with Zita and Andrea for dinner near the beach promenade... I loved chatting with the girls, and my son wanted to try snails... and decided that it goes on the top 3 of his list of favourite food.  He has an expensive taste.

 

MY STUPIDITY

Zita had rented a car and we had agreed that she'd take me back from the venue to Nice after the gig, as there was no public transport during the night. But I wasn't aware that she had also planned to take us from Nice to Monaco, so that took me by surprise, and me with my different fears about driving in a car, I ended up deciding that I'd be going by train as I had planned, and Zita, Andrea and Nina would only pick me up at the station in Monaco, from where it was just 9 minutes to the venue. But that certainly was my worst decision of the week. The train ride was relaxed and super short with 20 minutes, but when I arrived, I noticed that the station in Monaco was a) underground and b) HUGE. It had at least 2 exits in completely different places. This city is built on a cliff and there were stairs and lifts in the station like in that of a huge city, and I was pretty overwhelmed. And when I tried to communicate with Zita where I should go, I realized that Monaco is not EU, so there's no EU roaming, and 2 minutes later my balance was used up and I still had no idea where to go.  Of course I tried both exits, but didn't see Zita at either of them. So after 20 minutes of waiting and running back and forth and starting to feel really stressed and sweaty, after all the time I had invested in looking decent for that event, I decided to look for a taxi. Which also was easier said than done, I nearly panicked at some point because I feared I would miss the event. I couldn't even check Google Maps to see where I needed to go, or make any calls. You don't realize how much our life relies on the internet and mobile phones until you're in a situation like that. After another 15 minutes of walking in different directions I found a hotel and the receptionist was so kind to call me a taxi, which arrived 10 minutes later and cost me 20€.  So, long story short, I mentally kicked myself and didn't arrive with the most positive energy. Was very glad then to see Zita, Nina and Andrea in the queue waiting to go in - they had waited in front of one of the entrances of the station but we didn't see each other.

 

THE DINNER

I think it was shortly after 8pm when we went in, but there still were people arriving for about an hour more, and the dinner started half an hour later than planned, so there was enough time. The entrance was ON the stage, which I only realized when we had walked down the stairs. We had a table in the back, on the pedestral at the back of the hall. The view was ok, but far away, so my mood didn't really lift and I thought, what a sh*t decision to go to this, when we have to stay seated all evening - Mika can't even come through to us there. The look at the choice of wines didn't really lift my mood. No getting drunk, with these prices. You'd have been sober the instant you got the bill.  I ended up sharing the cheapest and smallest bottle of wine on the menu with Nina, it was still 45€... at least it was a good wine. In return I bought no water (which would have been another 11€ for a big bottle) but drank the tap water in the bathroom. I gotta save *somewhere*  

 

Shortly after 9pm the dinner started. Each table had their own waiters (not sure how many, I think 2 or 3 for one long table). I had been sceptical about the first course, as I never liked tuna. The tuna I know smells fishy, like cat food, and just the smell of it makes me want to stay away from it as far as possible. But this was nothing like it. I think it was partly raw, but it didn't smell or taste like fish at all. Then there were all the other things, vegetables and pomegranate, coriander falafels and chickpeas cream, radish, carrots, cucumber slices rolled to little roses, all very colourful and delicious. I felt like the rat in Ratatouille, which finds the perfect taste in the combination of different types of food. Wow. Unfortunately the second course couldn't keep up with that. The fish was very tender and the taste was good, but my piece of fish was completely bony, I think I found at least 20 fishbones in this little piece, while the others had none or maybe one. I also didn't like the sauce that came with it. The roll with the mushrooms was ok. The dessert was beautiful, with raspberries and little bits of edible gold on top of the butter cream, and a musical note made of red chocolate (I suppose it was white chocolate mixed with food colouring, but not sure). It was delicious too, tho without the Wow effect of the first course. Unfortunately the photos I took of the food didn't turn out very well, because of the light.

 

There was a band playing during the dinner, according to the Menu the "Mack Mackenzie Band", playing jazzy versions of classic and modern songs like "What a difference a day makes", "Mack the knife", "Americanos", or "Something stupid". I loved them, it wasn't too loud but still a nice and entertaining background sound, and I knew almost all the songs they played. I wouldn't have minded to watch them as a real support act, and dance to their music, instead of being distracted by my dinner.

 

At some point the huge panoramic windows of the venue were opened. I didn't see how they did that, I suppose they went down into the floor, but suddenly the terrace was accessible right behind us. It was then that we decided this was, although even further away than our table, a perfect place to watch the gig and dance, because no one could complain about us standing in their view.

 

After the dessert they brought 2 plates of pralinés for each table and they were supposed to bring coffee, but then suddenly the Lollipop intro started, so the chocolates and the coffee had to wait...

 

THE GIG

Mika started the concert in his green glitter suit, on the piano for Lollipop. My view wasn't much better than what you can see in my video above, and I didn't understand much of what he said either, except for the usual story of the pink girl in the grey town. But I loved the atmosphere, this venue with its elegance and the huge open windows gave it a special feeling, maybe can be described as solemn, but in a good way. We danced and had a good time at our window place, but weren't sure if Mika had seen us and we wondered a few times if we should just try to go to the front, but were worried they'd send us back, and I kept saying, let's wait until Big Girl... and that was a perfect decision as he came over, in his stunning white suit with the big fluffy flower. It was the first time I got to dance with him for Big Girl in the crowd, because usually I'm in the front, thus far away from where he dances. You can see it in the video that was posted here, but apparently time slows down when something like this happens. The moment felt much longer to me than it really was. Mika was there, right in front of me, dancing and singing, I could hear his voice without the amplification, saw his eyes, his curls, the white suit, I danced and jumped, he held his mic to us to sing along, first to Nina, then to me, and then he was gone again. From that moment, my mood was fantastic.  

 

The front part of the stage was a dancefloor while people entered the venue and during the support act - it could be lowered to floor level, so that's what Mika asked the venue to do, he wanted a dancefloor instead of a big stage, so people could come to the front. You can hear it in my video, he says that it's the smallest venue of this tour, but the biggest stage, and if they please could lower the stage. But it seems they told him no. Maybe it'd have been a security risk, or they were worried that their VIP's in the front seats might not see well anymore - however, the stage stayed as it was. At least Mika got people to stand up. And then we used the chance and just went to the front. There were some people standing there already, and the venue didn't send them back to their chairs, so we had hope. First we were near the center in 10th row or so, then Nina went one aisle further where Mareva was, and I went to the corner of the stage, as it looked the most empty to me, and after a while I ended up in 2nd row because some people in front of me went to the back at some point. A really good place, and from then on I could enjoy the gig the way I always do, dancing and singing and having fun.  Also the people next to me were really into it, I loved that. Just the drunk guys behind me were annoying at times, but luckily also not all the time. During Happy Ending I really could've kicked them, that was so disrespectful! See my videos. You could see that Mika was annoyed by it too, I felt sorry for him, but I enjoyed the song anyway... his voice was so good, it took my breath away for a moment.  My 2nd fave moment after the one during Big Girl. I also loved hearing Grace Kelly in this particular place, as she's what I always think of when I think of Monaco. And all the times Mika came over and looked at me - he kept on giving attention to his fans - the Italians were on the right I think, I saw Manuela there at least, and he even mentioned the Italian guests a few times (there were more Italians than the MFCers I think). And he said that he's not sure which language to speak, haha! So he spoke mostly French, but also some English. As you might have seen in the videos (I filmed the beginning, I think Nina has the whole video of it), Mika got Mareva on stage to conduct the crowd with him for Underwater - well, I guess he invited her up because of her handmade Underwater jacket, which looks fantastic! The conducting was fun and chaotic, lol!  I hadn't expected him to bring a fan on stage at this gig, but Mika always manages to surprise us.

 

The setlist was the usual one, with the French songs, and Good Guys as an extra. I had the impression that people were a bit confused about Overrated, as that's probably not a widely known song amongst non-fans. Some of them looked a bit puzzled.  But it was a very unusual crowd anyway, compared to other gigs. Of many of them I'm not even sure why they were there. Do they go to all of the Monaco Festival gigs, maybe? Did they come just for the dinner and thought "oh well, let's see who this Mika is" (in that case they probably were surprised, haha! ) - or maybe for some he was just "the Grace Kelly guy", I don't know. But there also were people who obviously liked his music, some of them very engaged, others more keen on a seated gig than the party that it turned out to be (like the VIPs at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival). It seems he saw some people from Lebanon, he greeted them at some point... and I guess he knew some people in the front, during the first songs while we were still in the back he interacted with 2 or 3 people, one of them got his green glitter jacket, he hung it around their shoulders... so I think he must've known them, he wouldn't give his jacket to some random person I think. Several children were there as well, I wouldn't have expected that at such an event. I mean, the dinner didn't feel very stiff to me, as I had feared - probably also because I was with the other MFCers at the table, so I wasn't worried too much about super accurate table manners or anything. Still, knowing my son, I'm sure he was better off staying in the hotel. He's already too old now to like everything that I like and recently asked me why I go to see the same gig so many times, with the same songs.  I asked back why he wants more than one plant of each species (he collects carnivorous plants), and with that the topic was through, at least for this time.  

 

Btw, I read somewhere today that it was about 700 people. It was definitely more than the 300 that they had told Andrea before - I'm thinking it might have even been the 950 that was given as the maximum capacity for this venue layout, it seemed pretty full.

 

It surely wasn't Mika's favourite gig of the tour (not mine either), but he looked happy when he said goodbye ("until next time", in French) - Not sure what his expectations were, but to me it was much better than I had expected (especially when I arrived ), and it was lovely to know that a bunch of MFCers were there, even if we weren't all together during the gig.

 

AFTERSHOW

After the gig we went back to our table, to find that Anne had payed the bill for the drinks, and we gave her the money for it. Then I ate most of the remaining chocolates because I wanted to be sure not to leave out anything that was included in the ticket price (except for the cold coffee ) , and we went outside to wait for Mika. All the posh people were waiting too, but not for Mika but for their cars (there was a parking service), it took quite some time until everyone had their car. Zita ended up having to re-park her car in different places a few times, but in the end the venue staff helped her to find a good place where she could park the car - they didn't seem surprised that some fans wanted to wait for Mika. It was just our group and 2 or 3 more people in the end when Mika came out. Unfortunately Prisca and Andrea already had to leave, to catch their flights in Milan, but I think the rest of us was still there. There were barriers and it was all calm, but you could tell that Mika wasn't in the mood to stay very long. He spoke quietly to protect his voice (mostly with Nina, he was so sweet to her! ), signed a few things and took some gifts. I asked him to sign the menu card I had taken with me as a memory of this special event and he did, but only his name, nothing more, no heart or X or anything. I hadn't asked him for his autograph for years, and also before that I mostly did it because I hoped he'd draw or write something sweet for me (which he mostly did), and I guess that's what I hoped too this time, as he didn't speak much. So well, his signature as such doesn't really have a meaning to me, so maybe I won't keep this menu card as a memory after all but give it away as a prize for the next MFC competitions, as I know that for other fans it might mean a lot.

 

Mika looked gorgeous in this silky shirt with the flowers and butterflies. He wore his golden necklace that he had bought in Mexico, but I still couldn't figure out what it is. I had thought it was a torch, but now seeing it from up close I think it's something else. Maybe just some art sculpture. For a moment I thought of asking him, but he didn't seem interested in speaking with me, so I didn't. When he left, we did our little mexican wave for him when he passed by in the car, because even in this posh place it's still us and him and I love keeping up these little traditions. But couldn't see his reaction, as he was in the back of the car with black windows. I hope he liked it.

 

Then we drove back to Nice, I drove Zita crazy because I'm the worst possible passenger in a car and all those tunnels and steep roads didn't help, but all went well and thank you so much Zita for putting up with me... I really need to work on this.

Was fab seeing everyone, especially Anne as we hadn't met at any of the other gigs this year!

 

I might upload a few photos tomorrow, of the food and group pix and other things I mentioned, but for now I think there's enough to read.  Some of my photos of the gig and M&G are in my story highlights on Instagram, and some more here on my German fan account:

 

 

 

 

 

Sieh dir diesen Beitrag auf Instagram an

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Deutscher Mika Fan Club (@dmfc_mika)

Edited August 7, 2023 by mellody

[mellody]

1 hour ago, silver said:

Still no actual reports?

 

sorry, took a while.

[Hero]

11 hours ago, silver said:

Still no actual reports?

I might do one in a bit, still tired and back at work now. But Karin's is a good one. 

[silver]

12 hours ago, mellody said:

 

sorry, took a while.

 

Worth the wait   Nice report.

 

 

[TinyLove_CJ]

12 hours ago, mellody said:

 

sorry, took a while.

 

Definitely worth it though! Thanks Karin 😊

[virgi]

13 hours ago, mellody said:

He wore his golden necklace that he had bought in Mexico, but I still couldn't figure out what it is. I had thought it was a torch, but now seeing it from up close I think it's something else. Maybe just some art sculpture.

Yes, in the Italian interview with Gianluca Gazzoli (which is now subtitled!) Gianluca asks him what the necklace was, and he explains that the best jewellery shops in the world are the tourist shops in museums where they reproduce art pieces into earrings or necklaces etc. So yes, it should definitely be some Mexican piece of art!

 

 

Thank you for the detailed report!

Edited August 7, 2023 by virgi

[mellody]

A few photos & clips to illustrate my report:

 

Same place, different view - the coastline of Monte Carlo vs the view on the sea

 

 

MFC table group pic

 

First course

 

Second course

 

Dessert

 

Dinner band (I took 2 more videos of them, but you can barely hear the music there, as people were talking so loudly), and a view on the venue. I actually notice in my videos that the windows were first closed, then open, then half open, and then open again.

Lowered stage, after the show:

 

People waiting for their cars, while we were waiting for Mika - I actually took the pic because of the red light sculpture that looks like it could be one of Mika's big flowers.

 

And us waiting for Mika:

 

Another pic of Mika after the show, he just turned away but it's a nice photo to admire his eyelashes

 

On our way home... in Monaco even the street glitters!

 

 

[Vero Bott]

20 hours ago, mellody said:

Alright, time for a report. I'm actually still working on the one for Tarvisio, but writing this first now, as long as the memories are still fresh. Be prepared, it's long...

 

TRAVEL

So I arrived in Nice on Wednesday, together with my son, for a little holiday. I had decided that he's old enough to leave him at the hotel room on his own while I went to the gig - he got a new book for that and a mobile phone with my number and instructions about different situations... and when I was about to leave, he was just like, yay, finally I can start reading!  (btw he actually read the whole book, until past midnight ) Anyway, Nice is beautiful, the palm trees, a lot of pretty houses with ornaments, beautiful flowers, the turquoise sea, ... my son loved the rather big waves at the beach and spent hours playing in the water, and then again in our hotel pool. On Thursday we went to the botanical gardens, which are near the airport, as that was my son's wish for sightseeing. The entry is free there and it's on a hill, so a great view from up there... but it's quite a trip from the city centre and you could see that it's not very well kept and that it had been a bit too dry for the plants. Anyway, he liked it and took a lot of photos.

On Thursday evening we met up with Zita and Andrea for dinner near the beach promenade... I loved chatting with the girls, and my son wanted to try snails... and decided that it goes on the top 3 of his list of favourite food.  He has an expensive taste.

 

MY STUPIDITY

Zita had rented a car and we had agreed that she'd take me back from the venue to Nice after the gig, as there was no public transport during the night. But I wasn't aware that she had also planned to take us from Nice to Monaco, so that took me by surprise, and me with my different fears about driving in a car, I ended up deciding that I'd be going by train as I had planned, and Zita, Andrea and Nina would only pick me up at the station in Monaco, from where it was just 9 minutes to the venue. But that certainly was my worst decision of the week. The train ride was relaxed and super short with 20 minutes, but when I arrived, I noticed that the station in Monaco was a) underground and b) HUGE. It had at least 2 exits in completely different places. This city is built on a cliff and there were stairs and lifts in the station like in that of a huge city, and I was pretty overwhelmed. And when I tried to communicate with Zita where I should go, I realized that Monaco is not EU, so there's no EU roaming, and 2 minutes later my balance was used up and I still had no idea where to go.  Of course I tried both exits, but didn't see Zita at either of them. So after 20 minutes of waiting and running back and forth and starting to feel really stressed and sweaty, after all the time I had invested in looking decent for that event, I decided to look for a taxi. Which also was easier said than done, I nearly panicked at some point because I feared I would miss the event. I couldn't even check Google Maps to see where I needed to go, or make any calls. You don't realize how much our life relies on the internet and mobile phones until you're in a situation like that. After another 15 minutes of walking in different directions I found a hotel and the receptionist was so kind to call me a taxi, which arrived 10 minutes later and cost me 20€.  So, long story short, I mentally kicked myself and didn't arrive with the most positive energy. Was very glad then to see Zita, Nina and Andrea in the queue waiting to go in - they had waited in front of one of the entrances of the station but we didn't see each other.

 

THE DINNER

I think it was shortly after 8pm when we went in, but there still were people arriving for about an hour more, and the dinner started half an hour later than planned, so there was enough time. The entrance was ON the stage, which I only realized when we had walked down the stairs. We had a table in the back, on the pedestral at the back of the hall. The view was ok, but far away, so my mood didn't really lift and I thought, what a sh*t decision to go to this, when we have to stay seated all evening - Mika can't even come through to us there. The look at the choice of wines didn't really lift my mood. No getting drunk, with these prices. You'd have been sober the instant you got the bill.  I ended up sharing the cheapest and smallest bottle of wine on the menu with Nina, it was still 45€... at least it was a good wine. In return I bought no water (which would have been another 11€ for a big bottle) but drank the tap water in the bathroom. I gotta save *somewhere*  

 

Shortly after 9pm the dinner started. Each table had their own waiters (not sure how many, I think 2 or 3 for one long table). I had been sceptical about the first course, as I never liked tuna. The tuna I know smells fishy, like cat food, and just the smell of it makes me want to stay away from it as far as possible. But this was nothing like it. I think it was partly raw, but it didn't smell or taste like fish at all. Then there were all the other things, vegetables and pomegranate, coriander falafels and chickpeas cream, radish, carrots, cucumber slices rolled to little roses, all very colourful and delicious. I felt like the rat in Ratatouille, which finds the perfect taste in the combination of different types of food. Wow. Unfortunately the second course couldn't keep up with that. The fish was very tender and the taste was good, but my piece of fish was completely bony, I think I found at least 20 fishbones in this little piece, while the others had none or maybe one. I also didn't like the sauce that came with it. The roll with the mushrooms was ok. The dessert was beautiful, with raspberries and little bits of edible gold on top of the butter cream, and a musical note made of red chocolate (I suppose it was white chocolate mixed with food colouring, but not sure). It was delicious too, tho without the Wow effect of the first course. Unfortunately the photos I took of the food didn't turn out very well, because of the light.

 

There was a band playing during the dinner, according to the Menu the "Mack Mackenzie Band", playing jazzy versions of classic and modern songs like "What a difference a day makes", "Mack the knife", "Americanos", or "Something stupid". I loved them, it wasn't too loud but still a nice and entertaining background sound, and I knew almost all the songs they played. I wouldn't have minded to watch them as a real support act, and dance to their music, instead of being distracted by my dinner.

 

At some point the huge panoramic windows of the venue were opened. I didn't see how they did that, I suppose they went down into the floor, but suddenly the terrace was accessible right behind us. It was then that we decided this was, although even further away than our table, a perfect place to watch the gig and dance, because no one could complain about us standing in their view.

 

After the dessert they brought 2 plates of pralinés for each table and they were supposed to bring coffee, but then suddenly the Lollipop intro started, so the chocolates and the coffee had to wait...

 

THE GIG

Mika started the concert in his green glitter suit, on the piano for Lollipop. My view wasn't much better than what you can see in my video above, and I didn't understand much of what he said either, except for the usual story of the pink girl in the grey town. But I loved the atmosphere, this venue with its elegance and the huge open windows gave it a special feeling, maybe can be described as solemn, but in a good way. We danced and had a good time at our window place, but weren't sure if Mika had seen us and we wondered a few times if we should just try to go to the front, but were worried they'd send us back, and I kept saying, let's wait until Big Girl... and that was a perfect decision as he came over, in his stunning white suit with the big fluffy flower. It was the first time I got to dance with him for Big Girl in the crowd, because usually I'm in the front, thus far away from where he dances. You can see it in the video that was posted here, but apparently time slows down when something like this happens. The moment felt much longer to me than it really was. Mika was there, right in front of me, dancing and singing, I could hear his voice without the amplification, saw his eyes, his curls, the white suit, I danced and jumped, he held his mic to us to sing along, first to Nina, then to me, and then he was gone again. From that moment, my mood was fantastic.  

 

The front part of the stage was a dancefloor while people entered the venue and during the support act - it could be lowered to floor level, so that's what Mika asked the venue to do, he wanted a dancefloor instead of a big stage, so people could come to the front. You can hear it in my video, he says that it's the smallest venue of this tour, but the biggest stage, and if they please could lower the stage. But it seems they told him no. Maybe it'd have been a security risk, or they were worried that their VIP's in the front seats might not see well anymore - however, the stage stayed as it was. At least Mika got people to stand up. And then we used the chance and just went to the front. There were some people standing there already, and the venue didn't send them back to their chairs, so we had hope. First we were near the center in 10th row or so, then Nina went one aisle further where Mareva was, and I went to the corner of the stage, as it looked the most empty to me, and after a while I ended up in 2nd row because some people in front of me went to the back at some point. A really good place, and from then on I could enjoy the gig the way I always do, dancing and singing and having fun.  Also the people next to me were really into it, I loved that. Just the drunk guys behind me were annoying at times, but luckily also not all the time. During Happy Ending I really could've kicked them, that was so disrespectful! See my videos. You could see that Mika was annoyed by it too, I felt sorry for him, but I enjoyed the song anyway... his voice was so good, it took my breath away for a moment.  My 2nd fave moment after the one during Big Girl. I also loved hearing Grace Kelly in this particular place, as she's what I always think of when I think of Monaco. And all the times Mika came over and looked at me - he kept on giving attention to his fans - the Italians were on the right I think, I saw Manuela there at least, and he even mentioned the Italian guests a few times (there were more Italians than the MFCers I think). And he said that he's not sure which language to speak, haha! So he spoke mostly French, but also some English. As you might have seen in the videos (I filmed the beginning, I think Nina has the whole video of it), Mika got Mareva on stage to conduct the crowd with him for Underwater - well, I guess he invited her up because of her handmade Underwater jacket, which looks fantastic! The conducting was fun and chaotic, lol!  I hadn't expected him to bring a fan on stage at this gig, but Mika always manages to surprise us.

 

The setlist was the usual one, with the French songs, and Good Guys as an extra. I had the impression that people were a bit confused about Overrated, as that's probably not a widely known song amongst non-fans. Some of them looked a bit puzzled.  But it was a very unusual crowd anyway, compared to other gigs. Of many of them I'm not even sure why they were there. Do they go to all of the Monaco Festival gigs, maybe? Did they come just for the dinner and thought "oh well, let's see who this Mika is" (in that case they probably were surprised, haha! ) - or maybe for some he was just "the Grace Kelly guy", I don't know. But there also were people who obviously liked his music, some of them very engaged, others more keen on a seated gig than the party that it turned out to be (like the VIPs at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival). It seems he saw some people from Lebanon, he greeted them at some point... and I guess he knew some people in the front, during the first songs while we were still in the back he interacted with 2 or 3 people, one of them got his green glitter jacket, he hung it around their shoulders... so I think he must've known them, he wouldn't give his jacket to some random person I think. Several children were there as well, I wouldn't have expected that at such an event. I mean, the dinner didn't feel very stiff to me, as I had feared - probably also because I was with the other MFCers at the table, so I wasn't worried too much about super accurate table manners or anything. Still, knowing my son, I'm sure he was better off staying in the hotel. He's already too old now to like everything that I like and recently asked me why I go to see the same gig so many times, with the same songs.  I asked back why he wants more than one plant of each species (he collects carnivorous plants), and with that the topic was through, at least for this time.  

 

Btw, I read somewhere today that it was about 700 people. It was definitely more than the 300 that they had told Andrea before - I'm thinking it might have even been the 950 that was given as the maximum capacity for this venue layout, it seemed pretty full.

 

It surely wasn't Mika's favourite gig of the tour (not mine either), but he looked happy when he said goodbye ("until next time", in French) - Not sure what his expectations were, but to me it was much better than I had expected (especially when I arrived ), and it was lovely to know that a bunch of MFCers were there, even if we weren't all together during the gig.

 

AFTERSHOW

After the gig we went back to our table, to find that Anne had payed the bill for the drinks, and we gave her the money for it. Then I ate most of the remaining chocolates because I wanted to be sure not to leave out anything that was included in the ticket price (except for the cold coffee ) , and we went outside to wait for Mika. All the posh people were waiting too, but not for Mika but for their cars (there was a parking service), it took quite some time until everyone had their car. Zita ended up having to re-park her car in different places a few times, but in the end the venue staff helped her to find a good place where she could park the car - they didn't seem surprised that some fans wanted to wait for Mika. It was just our group and 2 or 3 more people in the end when Mika came out. Unfortunately Prisca and Andrea already had to leave, to catch their flights in Milan, but I think the rest of us was still there. There were barriers and it was all calm, but you could tell that Mika wasn't in the mood to stay very long. He spoke quietly to protect his voice (mostly with Nina, he was so sweet to her! ), signed a few things and took some gifts. I asked him to sign the menu card I had taken with me as a memory of this special event and he did, but only his name, nothing more, no heart or X or anything. I hadn't asked him for his autograph for years, and also before that I mostly did it because I hoped he'd draw or write something sweet for me (which he mostly did), and I guess that's what I hoped too this time, as he didn't speak much. So well, his signature as such doesn't really have a meaning to me, so maybe I won't keep this menu card as a memory after all but give it away as a prize for the next MFC competitions, as I know that for other fans it might mean a lot.

 

Mika looked gorgeous in this silky shirt with the flowers and butterflies. He wore his golden necklace that he had bought in Mexico, but I still couldn't figure out what it is. I had thought it was a torch, but now seeing it from up close I think it's something else. Maybe just some art sculpture. For a moment I thought of asking him, but he didn't seem interested in speaking with me, so I didn't. When he left, we did our little mexican wave for him when he passed by in the car, because even in this posh place it's still us and him and I love keeping up these little traditions. But couldn't see his reaction, as he was in the back of the car with black windows. I hope he liked it.

 

Then we drove back to Nice, I drove Zita crazy because I'm the worst possible passenger in a car and all those tunnels and steep roads didn't help, but all went well and thank you so much Zita for putting up with me... I really need to work on this.

Was fab seeing everyone, especially Anne as we hadn't met at any of the other gigs this year!

 

I might upload a few photos tomorrow, of the food and group pix and other things I mentioned, but for now I think there's enough to read.  Some of my photos of the gig and M&G are in my story highlights on Instagram, and some more here on my German fan account:

 

Thank you for a fantastic report, just reading it I almost feel like I was there