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31 pointsAs some of you might be aware, there were some issues with the fan actions at Mika's recent Paris show. The promoter, Alias Production, contacted us just before the gig started to let us know they had heard about the proposed fan actions and they felt the large amount of paper involved would possibly create too much of a mess, causing the venue to charge an additional cleaning fee, which in turn would be passed on to Mika Fan Club -- whether MFC had organized the fan action or not. Security therefore confiscated a lot of the paper that fans were trying to bring in. Mika Fan Club does not have a budget, and I don't think any of us want to have to pay for cleaning up a concert venue! I know that many of you are in the midst of planning a variety of fan actions for Mika's upcoming shows, and that many of them involve "props" or items that could cause litter and other potential problems at the venues. So we have talked to the people at Alias, as they are the promoter at most of the upcoming French shows, asking what sort of guidelines they would like any large-scale fan actions to follow. Obviously these are recommendations from Alias, but they are probably good guidelines that any fan action, large or small, should follow. Fan Action Guidelines: Keep in mind that each venue has its own rules and regulations. Everyone and everything that enters the venue must respect security and safety guidelines, including fire safety regulations. The action should be organized by a serious and respectful group of people with a defined leader. Contact the promoter in advance and explain your idea and project with as much detail as possible. For big shows like Zeniths and Arenas shows, it's best to reach out at least 4 weeks before the event. The earlier, the better. Having the request come from the legitimate fan club is usually the best option. The promoter will let you know if the project seems realistic and may ask you additional questions depending on your projects: for example, a full technical notice for anything with a lighting source, and paper must respect some fire safety concerns. You remain responsible for the project, financially and logistically. If the project requires some setting up before doors open, keep in mind that you will not usually be able to enter the venue early. If you are let in early, this is not an opportunity for a backstage tour or meeting Mika and the band! It would be strictly for the needs of the project. Some smaller fan actions may not require promoter approval if they don't require any additional objects, items or logistics. However it's best to check in beforehand just in case. Remember that even though the fan actions are fun and can really enhance the show experience, the priority remains the show itself. The promoters are happy to help with anything that comes from outside, as long as it does not disturb the setting up of the show and therefore the end result that everyone is waiting for. So, what does this all mean? Well, we ask that anyone organizing fan actions really think about what the side effects of the action will be. Will it create a huge mess of the venue that may require additional cleaning? Does it have the potential to create a fire hazard? Will it interfere with other fans' enjoyment of the show -- for example, will it block their view of their stage? Obviously, the MFC can't control what every single person does, but if you want MFC's help and want to say, "this is a Mika Fan Club approved fan action," then you will need to follow these guidelines. What I mean is, you can't say, "I'm with Mika Fan Club so I'm allowed to do this," because that's not automatically true. I realize that many of you have already made quite a few plans and that all of this may be upsetting, but because we act as Mika's "official" fan club, we want to make sure we have a good relationship with Alias and all the other promoters and venues that Mika works with. I appreciate your understanding, and am sure you will have questions so feel free to ask below or send me or one of the other moderators a private message. Thanks. THANKS TO THE MFC SUBTITLE TEAM we also have this information in Italian and French. ITALIAN Come alcuni di voi forse sanno, ci sono stati alcuni problemi con le azioni organizzate dai fan durante l'ultimo spettacolo di Mika a Parigi. Il produttore, Alias Production, ci ha contattato poco prima che il concerto iniziasse per farci sapere che avevano sentito parlare delle fan action proposte e che ritenevano che la grande quantità di carta utilizzata avrebbe creato troppi rifiuti, obbligando la sala a pagare un costo di pulizia supplementare, che sarebbe stato addebitato al Mika Fan Club, che fosse stato MFC ad organizzare le azioni oppure no. La sicurezza ha quindi confiscato gran parte dei fogli che i fan cercando di portare all'interno. Il Mika Fan Club non ha un budget e credo che nessuno di noi voglia pagare per la pulizia di una sala da concerto! So che molti di voi stanno pianificando una serie di azioni per i prossimi spettacoli di Mika, e che molte di queste implicano l'utilizzo di oggetti che potrebbero causare rifiuti e altri potenziali problemi alle sale. Abbiamo quindi parlato con le persone di Alias, in quanto sono i promotori della maggior parte dei prossimi spettacoli francesi, chiedendo che tipo di linee guida vorrebbero fossero seguite per fan action su larga scala. Ovviamente queste sono raccomandazioni di Alias, ma probabilmente sono buone linee guida che qualsiasi azione, grande o piccola, dovrebbe seguire. Linee guida: Considerate che ogni sede ha un proprio regolamento. Tutti e tutto ciò che entra deve rispettare le norme di sicurezza, comprese quelle sulla sicurezza antincendio. L'azione dovrebbe essere organizzata da un gruppo di persone serio e rispettoso con un leader definito. Contattate in anticipo il promotore e spiegate la vostra idea o il vostro progetto con quanti più dettagli possibile. Per grandi spettacoli come Zenith e arene, è bene contattarli almeno 4 settimane prima dell'evento. Prima è, meglio è. Di solito l'opzione migliore è quella di una richiesta proveniente dal fan club ufficiale. Il promotore vi farà sapere se il progetto sembra realistico e potrebbe fare domande aggiuntive a seconda del progetto: ad esempio, una scheda tecnica completa per qualsiasi oggetto abbia una fonte di illuminazione, e la carta deve soddisfare requisiti legati alle norme di prevenzione degli incendi. Rimarrete principali responsabili del progetto, finanziariamente e logisticamente. Se il progetto richiede di essere preparato sul posto prima dell'apertura delle porte, tenete presente che solitamente non sarà possibile accedere alla sala in anticipo. In caso ciò accada, questo non darà in alcun modo diritto ad un tour nei backstage o ad incontrare Mika e la sua band! Sarà strettamente legato alla realizzazione del progetto stesso. Alcune azioni più contenute potrebbero non richiedere l'approvazione del promotore se non necessitano oggetti o questioni logistiche aggiuntivi. Tuttavia, è sempre meglio verificare in anticipo, per essere sicuri. Ricordate che anche se le fan action sono divertenti e possono davvero migliorare l'esperienza dello spettacolo, la priorità rimane lo spettacolo stesso. I promotori sono felici di aiutare con tutto ciò che proviene dall'esterno, purché ciò non disturbi l'organizzazione dello spettacolo e quindi il risultato finale che tutti si aspettano. Quindi, cosa significa tutto questo? Bene, chiediamo a chiunque organizzi fan action di pensare concretamente agli effetti collaterali delle azioni stesse. Possono creare una grande quantità di spazzatura che richieda costi di pulizia aggiuntivi? Possono aumentare il rischio d'incendio? Creerà disturbo agli altri spettatori – per esempio, impedirà loro la vista del palco? Ovviamente, MFC non può controllare ciò che fa ogni singola persona, ma se volete l'aiuto di MFC e poter dire "questa è un'azione approvata dal Mika Fan Club", allora dovete seguire queste linee guida. Quello che voglio dire è che non potete dire "Sono con il Mika Fan Club, quindi mi è permesso farlo" perché non è automaticamente vero. Mi rendo conto che molti di voi hanno già pianificato alcune e che tutto ciò può essere sconvolgente, ma poiché agiamo come fan club "ufficiale" di Mika, vogliamo assicurarci di avere un buon rapporto con Alias e tutti gli altri promotori e luoghi con cui Mika lavora. Apprezzo la vostra comprensione e sono sicura che avrete delle domande, quindi sentitevi liberi di porle qui sotto di inviare a me o ad uno degli altri moderatori un messaggio privato. Grazie. FRENCH Comme certains d'entre vous savent peut-être, il y a eu des problèmes avec les « actions des fans » lors du récent spectacle de Mika à Paris. Le promoteur, Alias Production, nous a contacté juste avant le début du concert pour nous dire qu'ils étaient au courant des actions proposées par les fans et qu'ils estimaient que la grande quantité de papier utilisé pouvait créer trop de gâchis. Cela aurait obligé l'Arena à facturer des frais de nettoyage supplémentaires, qui à leur tour seraient transférés au Mika Fan Club - que le MFC ait organisé les actions ou pas. La sécurité a donc confisqué une grande partie des papiers que les fans essayaient d'introduire. Le Mika Fan Club n'a pas de budget et je pense qu'aucun d'entre nous ne veut payer pour nettoyer une salle de concert! Je sais que beaucoup d'entre vous sont en train d'organiser plusieurs actions pour les prochains spectacles de Mika, et que beaucoup d'entre eux impliquent des "accessoires" ou des objets qui pourraient causer problèmes potentiels dans les salles. Nous avons donc parlé aux gens d'Alias, car ils sont les promoteurs de la plupart des spectacles français à venir, pour leur demander quel type de directives ils aimeraient que les actions des fans à grande échelle suivent. Évidemment, ce sont des recommandations d'Alias, mais ce sont probablement des bonnes directives que toute action, grande ou petite, devrait suivre. Lignes directrices: Gardez à l'esprit que chaque site a ses propres règles et règlements. Tout le monde et tout ce qui entre sur le site doit respecter les directives de sécurité et de sûreté, y compris les règles de sécurité incendie. L'action doit être organisée par un groupe de personnes sérieux et respectueux avec un leader défini. Contactez le promoteur à l'avance et expliquez votre idée et votre projet avec autant de détails que possible. Pour les grands spectacles comme ceux dans Zeniths et Arenas, il est préférable de prendre contact au moins 4 semaines avant l'événement. Le plus tôt est le mieux. La meilleure option est généralement une demande provenant du fan club officiel. Le promoteur vous fera savoir si le projet semble réaliste et pourra vous poser des questions supplémentaires en fonction de vos projets: par exemple, un avis technique complet pour tout ce qui a une source d'éclairage, et tout papier doit respecter certaines règles liés au risque incendie. Vous restez responsable du projet, financièrement et logistiquement. Si le projet nécessite une mise en place avant l'ouverture des portes, gardez à l'esprit que vous ne pourrez généralement pas entrer à l'avance. Si vous êtes admis avant l'ouverture des portes, ceci ne vous donnera pas occasion de faire un tour dans les coulisses ou de rencontrer Mika et son groupe ! Ce serait strictement pour la réalisation du projet. Certaines actions plus contenues peuvent ne pas nécessiter l'approbation du promoteur si elles ne nécessitent pas d'objets ou de logistique supplémentaires. Cependant, il est préférable de s'informer à l'avance au cas où. N'oubliez pas que même si les actions des fans sont amusantes et peuvent vraiment améliorer l'expérience du spectacle, la priorité reste le spectacle lui-même. Les promoteurs sont heureux d'aider avec tout ce qui vient de l'extérieur, tant que cela ne perturbe pas la mise en place du spectacle et donc le résultat final que tout le monde attend. Alors, qu'est-ce que tout cela veut dire ? Eh bien, nous demandons à quiconque organise des actions de fans de réfléchir vraiment aux effets secondaires. Créeront-elles une grande quantité de gâchis qui pourrait nécessiter un nettoyage supplémentaire ? Peuvent-elles créer un potentiel risque en matière d'incendie ? Peuvent-elles gêner les autres spectateurs – par exemple bloqueront-elles leur vision de la scène ? Evidemment, le MFC ne peut pas contrôler ce que fait chaque personne, mais si vous voulez l'aide du MFC et que vous voulez dire, "cela est une action de fan approuvée par le Mika Fan Club", alors vous devrez suivre ces directives. Ce que je veux dire, c'est que vous ne pouvez pas dire "Je suis avec le Mika Fan Club, donc je suis autorisé à le faire" parce que ce n'est pas automatiquement vrai. Je me rends compte que beaucoup d'entre vous ont déjà fait pas mal de plans et que tout cela peut être bouleversant, mais parce que nous agissons en tant que fan club "officiel" de Mika, nous voulons nous assurer d'avoir de bonnes relations avec Alias et tous les autres les promoteurs et salles avec lesquels Mika travaille. J'apprécie votre compréhension et je suis sûre que vous aurez des questions, donc n'hésitez pas à les poser ci-dessous ou à envoyer un message privé à moi ou à l'un des autres modérateurs. Merci
27 pointsThese are the lyrics as I hear them, after about a thousand listens! [ brackets ] around what I'm not positive about. When I hear that sound I know what's coming around 39 degrees Too hot for the breeze [bees?] Grass is turning yellow Streets are slow and mellow Faucet keeps on drippin' And the clock it keeps on tickin' Swimming pool is laughing with its shiny brand new teeth Laughing at my body as it's sweltering with heat Smell of colored plastic Baking in the sun Sweet just like frustration My senses [sex is?] on the run I want your ice cream (I want it) lying in the sun I want your ice cream (I want it) melting on my tongue I want your ice cream (I want it) Whatcha waitin' for I want it Ice cream every bite All I want is more [Still working on the second verse where they're coming down the runway but the sound is so fuzzy...] [something] car [something] far Lose the space to stand in Temperature's so hot Everywhere I'm so heavy [something] [something] Til then I've ever been Swimming pool is laughing with its shiny brand new teeth Laughing at my body as its sweltering with heat Smell of colored plastic Baking in the sun Sweet just like frustration My senses (sex is?) on the run I want your ice cream (I want it) lying in the sun I want your ice cream (I want it) melting on my tongue I want your ice cream (I want it) Whatcha waitin' for I want it Ice cream every bite All I want is more And yes, it's a very Prince meets George Michael vibe, that's the first thing I said as soon as I heard it! It is SO DAMN GOOD!
26 pointsHi all! Wanted you all to know that we are looking at ways to improve the Mika Fan Club website -- we're 13 years old and we need a makeover! Well, maybe not a HUGE makeover, but we think there are lots of little things we can do to make things better around here. In addition, Invision, which hosts MFC and is the software that the site uses, will be releasing a new version with a number of improvements soon. So you might be noticing some changes to some things -- nothing major, don't worry! For one thing, we've made some tweaks to our home page here: https://www.mikafanclub.com/index.html/ We have a News Blog there now, which we'll try to keep updated with the latest big news of the day. And we'll also try to add more photos there as well. Also, we've given the MFC Subtitling Team's videos a little more visibility by adding a special tab along the top of the main menu you see across the top of every page in the dark gray bar. That link will take you directly to the Subtitling Team's thread and all of their fantastic translated and subtitled videos, making it easier for you to find them. Stasera Casa Mika, the latest Mika interviews and television appearances, all just one click away! We have a few other changes in mind that we'll be implementing in the next few months, and we're also open to any ideas/suggestions you might have. (Yes, we know, you want an app -- we're looking into it!) Let us know what you think!
26 pointsTêtu interview in English Mika I wanted to love men freely Interview Romain Burrel Photos Jules Faure Stylist Nicolas Dureau We hadn't seen him in a long time. Mika takes advantage of his new album, My name is Michael Hoolbrook to speak freely about sex, show business and politics. And he speaks loudly. It's difficult to escape Mika. It's quite simple, the singer is everywhere. In a talent show on TF1, in commercials, in the evening news, in the subway. Omnipresent to the point of becoming invisible. Conscious of the fact that he might blend into the background, the singer understood he had to go back to music, setting all other matters aside. But twelve years after his first album and after six seasons of The Voice, does Mika still has things to say? Causes to defend? enough music in him? Yes to all three. His new album is also the best since Life in Cartoon Motion. This CD which is soberly called My name is Michael Holbrook (the real name of the British singer) as a promise of transparency. Because actually there are two Mikas. The one who doesn't know how to say no to a prime time TV show, obsessed by the idea of being a popular artist. And the one who wants to be a respected songwriter. During those last years, the face of pop music has changed, pushing to the front of the stage a whole generation of openly queer singers with sharp songs and versed into the socials. At the age of 36 the singer now feels on his neck the breath of Years and Years, Christine and the Queens or Troye Sivan. They all seem indifferent to the fact that when Mika came out to the American magazine Instinct in 2012, Mika and others as well of course, opened the way, rolling out the red carpet to a rainbow pop music and to the top of the charts. The singer has already ten years of career and he also took a few blows, but he is still ready to kick as he is proving in this wild interview in which he answered to questions with a rare and pleasant openess. Q: It's been a while since we hadn't talked about music together. If we wanted to see you, you were on TV in The Voice. Didn't you feel like singing anymore? A: My music requires great determination. I am not the kind of artist who can go and buy songs in one place or another. Even if it has become the truth in that business. Today records are made by boards with 14 accredited writers. And there is the record company in the USA, in France, in England...and all these people decide on what will be on the album. As for me, I write my songs. And I need to feel a full commitment. This feeling had shifted away from my daily life, it is true. For this record, I had to recover my colors, my spirit and a certain candor. I needed to step back. Q: Was TV too time consuming? A: TV shows are expensive to make, so they are made in a short span of time. I record a certain number of shows during a very intense period, and then they are aired over several weeks. I didn't realize that I was omnipresent. But I wanted to go back to the only thing that really gives me a sense of value: music. If I had let TV take over music, it would have changed me. I would have become more smooth. And it is something that terrifies me. Artists are like lovers. They have to be honest. I am extremely conscious of the very hard truth of my work. The only was to stay fresh is to stay involved, to evolve. I want to stay curious, but : On this album, we discover another Mika, almost activist. For exemple in Sanremo video, you disclose homophobia... A: The video depicts Italy at the end of the sixties, when being homosexual was not criminal, but where intolerance was very strong, with terrible consequences: you could lose your family, your job, you had to live a double life. You were exposed to hatred, to betrayal. I wanted to tell about that history which took place not so long ago and whose stigma still persist today. The week before the video was released, Sanremo mayor was saying everywhere how proud he was that I had dedicated a song to his city. Then the video was released. I don't know what he thought about it. ( He bursts into laughter) I don't like to make promotional videos but I figured as long as I'm doing one, it might as well tell something. What's the point of being stubborn if a 17 years old American girl can do an extremely efficient pop music video? I'm thinking about Billy Eilish - who I love. It's very pop, it's not a fake grunge produced by Dr Luke. The new generation is more genuine and less Kardashian Pop, today is Swedish people writing for Disney Club people. It can be seen as fabulous - and I'm the first who likes the melodies - but that kind of pop has nothing to say. Q: Can a popstar who gets involved make a difference? A: An individual can make the difference. Who cares if I'm a pop star? I have a certain voice, but it doesn't count more than another. It is the same when I talk openly about the couple I am in. I have been with the same guy for thirteen years. Through love, I found the trust to come out. First to my mother, who had always known it and who didn't give a care. To my sisters, for whom it was a lot more difficult to accept that I was gay. To my friends as well. And within an industry that was harassing me to do it for the sake of the media. My coming out made me stronger. It allows me to go and do concerts in countries that however are intolerant about my sexuality. Q:In a recent interview, you were telling about journalists who had put pressure on you for you to come out.... A: It was atrocious. I felt stalked. I feel chasing people to force them to come out is very old fashioned. Today the concept of fluidity is better understood and also the idea that things take time. That what you express through your sexual awakening also has a value. And it's not because at one point in hid career an artist is not ready yet to label himself sexually that what he lives is a lie. Following him to rip an intimate truth out off him, that is gross. All those people care about is the media impact and money, they couldn't care less about the human being. Q: Was life difficult for you at that time? A: I was mostly disappointed. I wanted to go on my journey to reach peace with myself. I wanted to be able to love men freely and express this desire I have always had in me. I understood I was gay as early as my eight year! When a gay media went and interviewed Jimmy Sommerville and Patrick Wolf so they would make comments about my sexuality, I felt a deep disillusion towards people that I admire however: "You craddled my teenage years. You have shaped my desire and inspired this balance that I'm seeking to reach each day of my life. And there, you judge me whereas you don't even know me?" I am not mad at them. It was the contest that I found despicable. I don't think they were spiteful. Except maybe Patrick Wolf. Today, if I am totally open about being gay, it doesn't mean I will try to give lessons to others. Q: In "Blue" you sing "blue is a feminine color". It is in order to piss off French right wing people who demonstrate against gay mariage and gay family? (La Manif pour tous) A: Totally! Things are not binary. I think formal labels of sexuality are old ideas. But that doesn't mean we must stop defending homosexuality and trans people. It's an exemple of the kind of political involment you can afford when you are a popular star. Q: On the record, there is also Ice Cream, a very erotic song in which you tell about your irrepressible desire to suck d****... A: Totally. But with a naive spirit. It's a wink to Lollipop in my first album. Back then, many people had not understood the lyrics: " Sucking too hard on your lollipop or love is gonna get you down" (laughs) It is a sexual song like "Les sucettes" by France Gall which I love. (Lollipops by Serge Gainsbourg) At a gig, the audience doesn't always know the meaning of the lyrics. And I must confess I find it fun. It's good to talk freely. Why would only straight people be allowed to talk about their wife or their husband? Why can't we talk about sex? As for me, the first time I slept with a boy, it was a disaster! Humiliating! I was 15 years old - I think - and I didn't understand anything. People should said more often that gay sex is not easy. Now it makes me laugh, but it wasn't always the case! It should be possible to talk about it. Q: There is a song called Dear Jealousy. Is it in your nature to be jealous? A: I am insanely jealous. Even paranoïd. You know I live a rich life, but life is always s*** with me. I am always between two planes and three countries. I always have something to say, always a story to steal into my relatives intimate life tp put it into my songs. It creates a stress. It's really not easy to live with someone like me. That's why I am extremely grateful to Andy (his partner) There isn't a "dark" Mika. But there is Mika the fighter. I want to defend my point of view. I get infuriated on my own. I never yield, never. It's exhausting. Q: Is it easy to be faithful? When you are a pop star it's hell to be chased all the time by girls and boys, isn't it? A: With Andy, we trust each other. Our relationship was born in atypical circumstances. Just before I met him, I was in a very short but very intense relationship with a guy from Northern Ireland. A character of Trainspotting. Very handsome. We were breaking up all the time. I was crazy about him, but he was not at all crazy about me. (Laughs) It is very cruel to live with a guy who has very high highs and very low lows, who takes drugs and so on...It was very hard on me. One night he went totally mad and he threw me out at 4 AM. I was in my boxers in the area of Shepherd Bush in London and he threw my belongings through the window. I was in such a state of shock that I vomited. I had imagined such a movie about the two of us in my head. The next day, I order a beer in a little pub and Andy was there. We start talking. We get on well. He lived outside of London so I offered him to get him to Victoria station in a taxi. When we were about to say good bye, he says to me: -"I want to stay with you."-"Do you mean tonight?" - "No for life." I wasn't interested at all. As for him, he was totally convinced. Andy believed in our story for the two of us. Q: Where you going out in gay London at night? A: Of course. As soon as I turned 14, I hang around at night in the gay area. At Earl's Court, I went to school. And in Soho, there were the gay bars, the prostitutes, people who told me how to manage the night. There was this wonderful nightclub, l'Astoria. All the balloons and the confettis at my gigs are inspired by the end of the evenings in Astoria. I knew the guys at the door and I never paid. From time to time they waited to get their reward and I had to escape before giving it to them! This shaped my teenage years. In the day I sang Schubert, Brahms at Westminster School, at night I went out. My first songs were born from this: Love Today, Grace Kelly. Q: Do you have friends among openly gay stars? A: Not really. I find we deeply lack a sense of community. At any rate one thing is sure I don't belong to EltonJohn gang... (He stays silent for a while and smiles mischeavously) But, thanks to instagram, artists start talking together. Since several weeks we talk everyday Sam Smith and I. However we never met physically. The only one I listen to is Ian McKellen. He has helped me a lot. I call him "my London grandma." (Laughs) I often phone him to ask for his advice. At the beginning of my career, he told me: "One day you will realize that your sexual preferences are not only relegated to your bedroom, they are a background for inspiration that will open many friendships. Not only to gay or bi friends, but also heterosexual friends who love life." He was right. One day I called him to tell him I had been given the medal of chevalier des arts et des lettres. He told me: "oh my dear, don't be so vulgar! Listen, I have all the medals. You have to wear them with pride, but inside your jacket. Q: Not long ago you were invited at the Elysée. Do you have time to give to messages to politicians when you meet them? A: I try. But when you talk with a man like Emmanuel Macron, you're talking to a professional politician.This is not the kind of meeting that will win a positive decision. Yet you have to do it all the same. The experience that marked me the most in my adult life is when I went to visit a shelter for young LGBT+ refugees in Beirut. They came from Irak, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Syria. While listening to their stories I understood their sufferings. In the world, there are more than 70 countries where men homosexuality is illegal, punished by death, corporal punishments or total discrimination. If it is found out that you are gay, you can lose everything in a day. And it is a reality in countries that sometimes have strong links with France, like Algeria, Marocco or Lebanon too. This last one is important for me, because this is where I have my roots. I am uprooted, but I know my privileges. Q: Should France do more for LGBT+ migrants? A: I think we forget the humanity of those people. We have to tell their stories. So that refugees don't become statistics. Because today, we have so much information about people who died in trucks, about people locked in cages and so on...Can we tell the truth about Kadhafi? That he got money from many developped countries to secure the fronteers and prevent refugees from coming to Europe? Those I met in Beirut had all ages - there was a gay man who was 65 and a young trans girl who was 15. All of them were rejected by their families, chased by extremists, betrayed by their friends, their country - but also by the country in which they seeked asylum - thrown into the street by landlords who didn't want "freaks." So where do they go those people? They are perfect to be used by prostitution or smugglers rings. They have no money, no support, no political protection...They don't exist. We have to tell their stories to give them back their humanity. @Kumazzz .
25 pointsElectric energy in Brooklyn tonight! Mika is so comfortable in his skin and in his songs, and he shared that with us tonight. Some thoughts in no particular order: In the intro, there is a recording of Mika talking all about love: how love created the universe, and lit up the sun, and how the sun created all of us with its yellow light. During this recording the band is all on stage waiting, and you don't see Mika at all, and then he just runs on all at once! Red! Suit! Frilly! Shirt! CURLS!!! And Velcro Shoes???? Dear Jealousy was the second song he played (I think) -- beforehand, he talked for a bit about he hasn't been on tour in four years, and he is starting something new. To start something new, you have to start with new music, and this song was acknowledging something new...basically, how he is a "jealous bastard." 😂 Crowd reaction was great, it felt like everyone around me was either familiar with the song or caught on really quickly. The venue itself had great sound, high ceilings, and a very wide stage that meant a lot of people could get close. Mika did a good job of walking back and forth and giving energy to every corner of the room. Mika was really hamming it up, saying "this song is for my aunties..." he named all of the aunties, some of whom were here tonight, and his mother. Then he said "you'll see why I'll be getting 56 slaps in the face when you find out what song this is" -- then launched into Big Girl. The gig was also RECORDED, which was at first apparent because of the team with the huge camera who walked around filming for most of the concert. Mika also mentioned the name of an accomplished sound engineer who reached out to him about turning a show on this tour into a live album. Mika was saying he's never dropped a live album before! So this was the show that's going to be mixed into an album. When we were leaving the venue, they opened up the side door and you could see into what looked like all the sound engineers mixing right there. Setlist was almost the same as last night, with the omission of Sanremo Lots of LICM songs tonight, followed by TOOL. Plus all the new stuff! Funny, because I think those were the two albums he toured most on in the U.S. so it makes sense to stick within those tracklists. Sofia (not sure of MFC handle) gave Mika a cool jacket (I have photos below) with embroidery and patches that were relevant to the tour. He put it on and it fit perfectly! The renditions of the older songs are some of the best I've seen. Lollipop and Love Today really stand out. Lollipop, they start with a bit of a dueling pianos soundfest that resolves into what the crowd eventually recognizes as Lollipop. He had a spiel beforehand about how his mom told him to avoid the girl next door, but she didn't need to worry about the girl next door...it was the boy next door! Love Today he had the balcony and the floor wave at each other, then told us all to close our eyes and dance our hearts out because no one cares how you look. Encore was GK and a Tiny Love reprise that ended with Mika riffing off the theme of getting and staying high on a tiny love. He said "stay high!" as the last message before he went off stage. The new tracks were great, though the sound made Blue a little difficult to understand. Technically it is a very challenging song, and Mika sings most of it solo with very basic accompaniment. Very cool to see it live, and I'm looking foward to hearing it a couple more times. TOMORROW is a CLASSIC already, the chorus is so catchy and cleverly timed -- it's just doing what Mika does best: clever lyrics, interesting melody, timing that's a little different. He gave us the intro, that this song is about being "15 cm" away from someone in the back of an old Mercedes Benz and making a mistake that you may or may not regret. Pink is the color of sin. Especially when you grow up as a Catholic boy -- because pink is also the color of passion. He used this intro to talk about Origin of Love. This kind of comment is touching to see as a fan who has followed him for so long. He's so much more comfortable in his own skin and sexuality, and open in expressing that. One of the great joys of following Mika over the years is seeing him grow and process this part of his identity through music, and being able to process alongside him. He's come a long way. Show ended around 10:30pm, Mika came out around 11:30pm to sign. There was a big crowd and he must have spent about 20 minutes talking, taking photos, and autographing with everyone. He really made his way around the crowd and took time to talk to those who were at the front. Several times during the concert, he had mentioned how he hasn't been here in four years. So it seems he's making the time to get to know his fans over here. We are lucky! Some photos:
24 pointsMika will be interviewed at "Il Tempo Delle Donne" Teatro Dell'Arte during La Triennale di Milano the 8th of September 2017 at 11h00. Free Entry http://iltempodelledonne.corriere.it/2017/programma/
23 pointsNot that there are any yet, but it's good to be prepared
23 pointsMika quote of the evening, before he got in the car: "see you soon with new music!" - and he looked really happy and excited. I asked him about the tour for next year, but he can't say anything yet - just that it's "a lot". I guess the Voice recording was nice too, though I have no comparison to others - I did enjoy myself, and others who are there more often said it was a really good one. But let's face it, I didn't travel to Paris for that, but to see Mika, and that was worth it. He even dug out a few German words for me. Fangurl mode, lol. ... I'm off to bed now, early train tomorrow.
22 pointsHello, everyone! Just a quick report from Cloud Nine -- that's where I am on this morning after the amazingness that was last night! Yes, I am fangirling big time! You'll see some of my photos on my Instagram @dcdeb52 and on the MFC's Insta and stories @mikafanclub Lighting was pretty awful for photos from where I was standing -- at times I felt like *I* was in the spotlight more than Mika! Anyhow, the show was absolutely amazing. Yes, I'm a fan, I'm supposed to say that, but Mika was overflowing with joy last night and it spilled out onto all of us. He was so happy to be in NYC and on stage again, it was infectious. So many new songs on the setlist -- and 18 songs altogether, so a nice show, which was over way too soon. Highlights of the evening for me: Hearing Jealousy, Tomorrow, and Blue for the first time -- and hearing him explain a little bit where these songs came from. Fantastic version of Happy Ending -- but has he ever done a bad version of this lovely song? Tiny Love live in person was... I hate to use the word amazing again, but it was. So so so good. His voice... and the different segments of the piece come together so beautifully. I really can't say enough about it. Finally, my personal favorite moment. During Sanremo, I had to stop taking photos -- I just FEEL it so much. I really love all of the new songs, but Sanremo speaks to me in a special way. I ❤ it. And I ❤ our pop star. Very much. Gorgeous, talented and very, very sweet. Makes me realize just why I've been here for the past 12 years. Afterward, we waited a little more than an hour before Mika finally came out -- he posed for some photos and signed some things, and very kindly took a group photo with some of us from the MFC. Special shout out to my Italian and French friends who were looking out for me. And another shout out to all the international fans there -- it's amazing to me what a diverse and friendly community we have here. Thank you all! Looking forward to tonight even more, now that I know what to expect! See you there!
21 pointsI have never been able to write a report before as this was my first Mika event but i can write one now! i arrived at the venue kinda late - around 6:40 in the afternoon- because of traffic in London. It took us a while to find the correct line but we found it eventually. There were a few people trying to buy tickets from people in the queue and i was looking out for some friends i was hoping to meet that i had been speaking to on twitter. i was very nervous in London, because my shirt and bowtie kinda made me stand out and London isnt the safest city in the world. My friend Blake who was with me grew up a Londoner so we knew that we had to stare at the ground and not make eye contact with people as that is whats expected in london. When i joined the queue i put my trans pin badge on ( i put it on sideways and my mate had to fix it in the venue later. The line to get in was moving pretty quickly at 7:00. It was a bit gross because the standing line had to stand next to rubbish bags in a dodgy alleyway, but i was too excited to care. Some MFC members handed us a piece of paper with "we missed you" and cardboard hearts to be held up after the first song and tiny love. The venue was already pretty full when we got in. I didnt really get a good view of the stage and only got a brief glimpse of Mika a few times, but i did get to watch Zuleika dancing up on a balcony with some other people who looked vaguely familar and Mikas nephew. I think the rest of Mikas family was there but i couldnt see them. Im kinda glad i wasnt at the front though because someone on twitter told me there was fighting and I definitly wouldn't want to be involved with that o_O Mika's voice was FANTASTIC. You can really hear the benefit of those high notes. I was screaming along to every song and i started losing my voice by the second song. I completely lost it at "We are Golden" and also had to take my asthma inhaler because i LOVE that song so i was extra loud for that song. There was a lot of mentions of some guy who broke up with Mika in the alleyway behind Shepard's Bush. Mika said he was still bitter about it years later which I thought was really funny. Poor mika. Even though i couldn't really see Mika, i still had lots of fun. The setlist was fantastic, his voice was fantastic. My friend Blake has a crush on Max, who he describes as "beautiful". Mika ran off stage and returned wearing his grandmothers shirt and i honestly wasn't surprised. I looked up at Zuleika and she was laughing. Near the end, all the lights went off and everyone was screaming and shouting "Mika" and he came on and sung Grace Kelly, Tiny Love reprise and Stay high. My parents could hear both Mika and the crowd singing from halfway down the street and could even tell us some of the songs that were played because we were a bit loud. i stayed behind a bit at the end to meet one of my mates from Italy who I was giving some PG tips teabags too, and then we had to drive back home. I didnt get back in until gone 2:00 in the morning so i had to leave my review until today. This show was one of the happiest experiences of my life. If mika does another London show I definitly want to get tickets, and i cant wait to see the videos from the rest of the Tour
21 pointsFor the longest time I've had the thought that I wanted someone to write about Mika, this fandom, and Casa Mika/the impact of Casa Mika. I finally thought, no one else is going to write it, so I will! I have a tumblr called "Bad Bad Movies" which I started to write reviews and articles about movies and TV shows I love. I really love bad old sci fi films, so that's what I named my blog. I've got some posts about bad sci fi in my drafts, but this is my first post because I felt like it was just inside me and I had to get it out. I really love writing and loved writing papers for my University classes, and now that I've graduated I really missed writing things. What I've wanted was specifically for someone to write a journalistic, almost academic essay about Casa Mika and all it means to people, so that's the perspective I wrote it from - a sort of neutral journalistic perspective and as if I was talking to an audience who had no idea who Mika was. Hopefully if my blog attracts some followers and becomes popular some other people will read this and maybe check the show out! But of course y'all should be the first to read it, because no one else will appreciate it more! Warning: it's rather long Hope you all enjoy! http://badbadmovies.tumblr.com/post/178330041491/themagicofmika
21 pointsThat's complicate. I'm trying to tell what I felt/understood in the past 3 years, as an external person before, and then as a member. I don't know how or if this could help, as is not only about the site itself, but about the FC in general. I hope not to be misunderstood, but I'm going to be frank. I honestly didn't want to sign up at first. I read on the net about bad behaviours from people from MFC, and that on the site everybody act like friends, and then in person they treat you very badly. As I continued using MFC as a visitor, I considered joining anyway, because that would have offered me those advantages you said, from M&Gs to tickets; but if it hadn't been free, I would never had signed up. There are many positive aspects of being a member, but there are also many things that don't work as they have to in my opinion. I find that sometimes there's a big lack of organisation, and it even seems that Mika's staff don't communicate with MFC INTENTIONALLY. Maybe they do so to avoid the unpleasant situations that happen often, but in this way people act on their own, without the FC mediation, and that create chaos and those situations the staff probably don't want. So people thinks MFC is useless and leave it, or at least, they aren't active normally, but when some opportunity show off, they suddenly come back and then disappear again, with a very strange timing (and/or luck). They do so even with other people. If you give them more possibilities to see Mika, both in a correct or incorrect way, you become a big friend of them; but if you are useless they abandone you. Thanks God I found very nice people too, that always helped me and were here for any questions or problems. But the bad feelings I had before joining sadly didn't went away; instead I now was SURE about what happened in some events, while with other media only I thought there were just impressions. This athmosphere, where fans are in competition with each other, so if I know Mika would be guess at xxx I won't tell you so I'll have him only for me, or fans that overtake the official fan club, doesn't make you want to join, does it? There are also some things I don't understand. Why do some country have more rep than others? Are they elected in some way? Is there a reason in this difference? Why (apart from the yearbook and Mika's birthday) the FC doesn't organise presents (I mean, in big occasions, not always), even if fans suggest it and offers to organise? In refusing, again, people will act on their own, in small or big groups not well organised, and everybody will be pissed off, those who were not aware of the thing and would have loved to participate, the FC, that have to explain it was not an official gift and Mika not expected to thank the fanclub... Why we don't take action against people who have bad behaviours? Not only online but, I don't know, for example preventing them from entering next event, as they do for football: after being warned you can't play next match. I do know MFC is not the police, but sites normally have rules (I know MFC have them too) and normally if you do not follow them we take action against you. Please note I'm talking about GENERAL FEELINGS after SURFING THE NET 3 years, as I went IN PERSON at only 2 events being a member. Then we can talk about the site's graphic and logic. It's difficult to find what you're looking for and not obvious where to go - excluding the research option, that doesnt work all the time (sometimes it tells "no result" when the word I type exist in titles and in threads too). I have difficulties in writing with my phone, some words magically disappear after typing them and I can't underline/change colour/size etc (but maybe is my phone's fault). Plus I noticed many people have troubles in understanding/writing english, but here we can do nothing (it's only a fact. Many people tell they don't use the site because "it's in english!!!") Finally, maybe someone find twitter, facebook or instagram more simple and faster than MFC. Sorry for writing this at night, that doesn't help my english, nor in writing clearly.
21 points***NEWS*** Today, on the occasion of the first recording day for Stasera Casa Mika, he'll get a bouquet of flowers, courtesy of Mika Fan Club, on behalf of us all. Next week we'll post pictures of the flowers and the card.
20 pointsHello everybody 😊 Here the live from today 26.04.2020 😉😘 #CookingWithMika mikainstagram_94638413_572510433381070_6432242854709428224_n.mp4
20 points@virgi is an AMAZING discoverer !! Thanks a lot for posting !!! edited 11 clips into one.
20 pointsMy report about the second live...it's long Here is my report about Saturday night Please skip the second part if you haven't watched The Voice 2nd live yet. I had seen that our awesome MFC fairy ticket was offering two pairs tickets to go to The Voice but I had to be sure to be able to go (which is always complicated as I live with a whimsical pumpkin) I was dying to see Mika again as I hadn't seen him since Bobital (on stage) and I really wanted to see him and hopefully be able to talk with him again Before I decided to enter I asked my daughter if she would go with me (which would probably have the magical power to distress pumpkin) and she said she was free on that week end so I decided to participate. And I won two ticks so I was thrilled at the idea to see Mika and on the other hand I almost couldn't believe it...and I worked many hours that week so I was a bit short of time to get ready...I packed my chicken and TOOL Korean magazine but I couldn't find my book...or the red wine bootle I bought a long time ago for him...never mind I was so happy at the thought of seing him again...I had four questions to ask him... Strangely the day before my daughter's cat had three cute kittens and someone called me for a job interview... So we left a bit later than planned my daughter and I as I was waiting for that lady who never showed up... It was a sunny day and the 500 kms drive went well. The funny thing is that because of a strike we didn't get to pay for a part of the highway which was nice. As we got into Paris I was getting worried that we would be too late as we had to be at the studio 217 at 6 PM but we got there just in time so I was very relieved. We got in and I swear I started beaming with joy as soon as I got the red stamp on my hand. We waited a bit then walked a bit then we got outside and finally into studio 217. We had to give our phones coats handbags everything except our clothes basically. They checked women with a machine and men by hand...someone got caught with a phone in their socks We got fed with the traditional sandwiches. For obvious Mika fans reasons I took the chicken sandwich as always. (And my daughter did like me ) We got little water bottles as well one with the chicken sandwich and more as the evening went on. We had seated places which was great. I had a nice view on Mika's seat After waiting a while then getting instructions and warm up was over we watched the show which I found a lot more emotional for real than on TV. I cried when Frédéric sang although I had never cared for the original version by Jonaz I listened to the lyrics for the first time and I was overwhelmed. He is one of a kind like Mika with an exceptional personality, a great voice and he can also create emotional roller coasters when he's on a stage. He had the longest standing ovation ever and the public voted for him. Mika had a hard time chosing between Casanova and Guillaume, his two candidates. He said the f word, then he said he was told he wasn't allowed to use swear words then right after he said "couilles" which is the rude word for testicules in French and I was like oh my Mika only you can do this but he meant he had pushed Casanova to bare himself in front of the public but not litterally However it was hard for Mika to chose and he got very emotional so Zazie got up and hugged and kissed him... which cheered him up...all fans including me wanted to be Zazie at that moment Later during one of the commercial break Mika removed his jacket and he went backstage. I thought he was hot but next thing I saw was Mika in his white t shirt who kept pushing back into his chair someone who was wearing his jacket and who was trying to get up and out of the chair...someone who was Fortune He was released before the end of the commercial break though too bad It seemed to me the make up artist and hairstyler also pampered Fortune while he was there I think Mika was particularly hyper and mischevious on that day as before the show started he had Florent Pagny's dog with him and he brought it on stage as well Not the same size as Melachi or Amira so he was carrying it into his arms. The whole show was very entertaining with lots of fog, lots of special effects, dancers of both sexes even the crazy horse girls, a very impressive flying cage for Xam and a disco ball that Guillaume rode on Miley Cyrus style However I watched Mika a lot more than anyone else I was so happy to see him again At some point during the show my daughter remembered she had left her credit car in her car and got afraid someone might have tried to break into her car as it was visible but I told her it was a lucky day and that nothing bad would happen. We went back to her car as soon as we were allowed to leave the studio and the car was fine indeed. She moved it so we would be as close as possible to studio 217 as I was hoping to see Mika when he would leave the studio. There were mostly Mika fans there waiting and two people waiting for Florent Pagny but they ended up leaving. There were up to three guards and at first they told us to move to the end of the road instead of waiting in front of the entrance. One of us was even saying to us that Slimane and Florent Pagny had left. I guess he wanted to discourage us but it was his first year working at The Voice studio and we told him we (Mika fans) had many years of experience as far as waiting for Mika and I told him that he was only a rookie which silenced him... after some time all the guards were gone so we discreetly moved right back in front of the entrance. We could see Mika's Peugeot that was there. Around 2 PM his mum got out the studio and into the car followed by his brother and his sister. A few minutes later Mika got out of studio 217. There was a group of fans close to the car and I was in the other group on the opposite site of the road. Mika said to both groups: "You should go to bed." but he didn't get into the car immediatly and Wildroachfire started talking to him about the show and he answered to her then she asked for a photo with him and he said ok but not for each person. I was close to him and to Wildroachfire and I asked him for a group pic and he agreed which made me very happy for all of us. And I was right by him for one of the pics almost touching him but only the top of my head is showing on that photo but I had never been so close to him There were more photos taken. Three people took different group photos. I was too happy and Mikafied to do anything else than feeling happy and smiling. My chicken had stayed in my bag on the other side of the road but it didn't matter. Sorry as I couldn't ask any questions I had meant to ask to Mika (I had four of them) but I was floating high on my pink cloud plus it went very fast so all I said to him was I asked for a group pic and also thank you several times as he was leaving because he had been so sweet and kind to spend this moment with us which really means the world for us. I was kind of speechless unlike the first time I had talked with him as there were many people around and I was so eager to speak with him but this time we were a small group and the encounter was so natural and sweet that words were not necessary and we were all happy to be together I'll never thank Mika enough for spending this blissful moment with us nor MFC for the ticks nor my daughter who helped organizing the trip and who was ok to wait for me in the car after the show in spite of a big headache she got after the show. She would have waited outside with me and she would have been on the photo too if she had felt well. A very kind Mika fan gave her a med but she was a sweetheart to wait for me as she needed to get some sleep but she knows how much it meant for me if I could meet Mika. The whole day the weather had been dry and rather warm but right after Mika left it started raining.We were exchanging pics with our phones and the first raindrop of the day started falling. Thanks a lot to Wildfireroach for helping me and the others getting all the photos. and to everyone who shared them I forgot to mention I met Chriss and also Boucarilla who were in the group and another French fan but she only realized that we knew each other online when she saw our group pic. I'm still on my Mika cloud and I think I'll stay up there for a while Guys forgive me for not asking him the questions I was supposed to for MFCers but it just wasn't the right time I guess... One thing I can say for sure is that Mika loves his fans and that we are lucky to have such a good guy in our heart because he really cares about us as much as we care about him
20 pointsHi all, This morning I called ProOffice in The Netherlands and they were amazed by the amount of orders. They will send every one who ordered a mail, regarding shipping costs and the time of delivery. They will ship to any country. If I can help with anything, like address etc, just ask and I can help. Maybe I can give an example: Voornaam: Ingrid (surname) Achternaam: Luberti (backname) Straatnaam: Kapteynstraat (streetname) Huisnr: 107 (house number) Toev: - (maybe app number in cause you live in a flat) Plaatsnaam: Hilversum (town) Land: The Netherlands (country) You can pay by PayPal or ideal(which is immediately by bankcard). You do not need to fill in any company name if you pay by those two. I still laugh when I think back at my phonecall, the guy couldn't stop laughing and being amazed by orders from Korea, Japan, Finland etc :)))))))))
20 pointsBy now, many of you will have read the very sad news of the passing of one of Mika Fan Club's original members, FREDDIESDOUBLE, or as he was known in real life David Bellamy. David was a very welcoming presence here on MFC, especially in the early days, and he was instrumental in shaping this place. We worked together very closely for a long time, trying to make Mika Fan Club the community it has become today. I'm very, very sad to hear of his untimely death at such a young age. Words fail me, really. His memory here at Mika Fan Club will surely live on.
20 pointsMany years ago, a rather odd animation with a silly song "Lollipop" was shared around by my furry friends. It was quite a hit in the community, but it seems most thought it was just an animation project that someone had managed to make a catchy song to. Including me and my wife. At one point around a year ago, we even added it to one of our Spotify playlists. We somewhat managed to still thing this was a silly "made for a fun animation". But fun songs are important, and a couple of weeks ago, I decided to see if the creator of this melody had made other fun things that we could possibly enjoy. Two weeks ago, I clicked on the "MIKA" word next to Lollipop, to see what Spotify could show me. I had no idea... Spotify played "Grace Kelly" - I had heard this one before. This was the same guy that did Lollipop? What a song, but mostly WHAT a voice! My curiosity peaked. This guy had TWO good songs? Spotify gave me "Elle me dit" - Now I drew the conclusion that MIKA was a french artist. This was just a really cool song! Appearing rather simple disco style, but with a twist that gave it quite an appeal. This really was not my kinda music, and I LOVED it. Spotify gave me "We are Golden" - And I was sold. I was pulled right back to the 80s. I knew I had found gold. I had heard 4 melodies. They were all amazing. They were all COMPLETELY different. It was even difficult match these to the same singer, indicating a voice talent that could put even the best singers of the 80s to shame. It was through listening to "We are Golden" as I started to feel angry. Apart from "Grace Kelly", that I had heard some time long ago, this wasn't on the radio. This was not played... anywhere... I had been bombarded with music like "Dark Horse", lost track of how many times I had tried to close my ears as "Diamonds in the Sky" was played. But this... This was just friggin AMAZING, and somehow, it was ignored? I broke my rule of not listening to music I did not already know while I was at work. Whenever I hear music I have not already heard, my brain works overtime analysing, and working becomes a tad more tricky. Spotify gave me Boum Boum Boum, and Wiki told me that MIKA was not French, but had true language skills. Spotify kept playing. Then came Stardust - It was like hearing Per Gessle sing one of his love ballades together with someone that was not Marie Fredriksson. It was Roxette, just better. And being a huge Roxette fan in the 80s, I do not add "just better" easily. How in the world could this guy sound like Freddy Mercury in one song and Per Gessle in another? Dang, this song was the best I had heard in like.. well.. I have no idea.. This was instantly my MIKA favourite song. It could not get better than this. Then came "Good Guys"... At this point I felt blessed that the guy that sits next to me at work was not at the office. I was in tears, how in the world could a person write this so beautifully, sing it so beautifully. I was proven wrong, Stardust was left in the dust, and I had now stopped questioning what this guy was capable of doing. I shipped off several links to songs to my wife and told her "This is the guy that did Lollipop... Please listen to this... like.. NOW!" In one day I had gone from "I wonder if this person that made Lollipop did anything else worth listening to" to feeling like the world had been granted a genius of the scale of David Bowie. I was in love, I felt like a teen, fanboying over hits after hits from an amazing artist. Only that.. they were not hits... I was in joy of my discovery and in anger of this being kept away from public waves. Why wasn't´t this guy the most popular artist right now? Was I really mistaken, could the music really be no good, just somewhat appeal to me? I got home, "Good Guys" was playing. "I have been playing Good Guys and Stardust on loop all day!". We spent the evening exploring even more songs. I most definitely was not alone. That day, MIKA had gained at least two new superfans. It has been around two weeks, and MIKA has been about the only thing we have listened to. "The more we hear of his music, the more depressingly obvious it is that MIKA is seriously the most underrated musical genius of our time." - my wife wrote on Facebook. "Lets party", "Any Other World" are other musical master pieces. They are more proof that MIKA isn't just a "good musician". He is nothing short of a musical genius. "Hello, I am Panduck, and I am a MIKA superfan - it took me 4 songs to realise". I am a hobby composer (reason for being overly analytical when listening to music), feeling both like I have gotten more inspiration and fear, because dang, my music would be stupid compared to this guy. Both me and my wife are members of the furry fandom, where "Lollipop" became quite a hit some years back, and we have been surprised that the fandom, where straight people are in a minority, had not embraced MIKA more. We have found a few that are, but most do not even know him. We are both turning 45 soon, and I am not at all surprised that many MIKA fans are our age. We grew up with many of the "good guys" being played on the radio. MIKA brings back memories and feelings. But he does not copy the style, he reinvents and expands it. Thank you for ALL the music! Please, do not stop. The world needs your music!
19 pointsAww that story about him and Andy! Quick summary: Mika came out of a bad relationship with that guy who threw him out at 4am in Shepherd's Bush, the story he told in London. The next day, he met Andy in a pub, and when they separated, Andy told him he wants to spend the rest of his life with him. Mika wasn't interested, but Andy believed in it so much that it was enough for both of them. Well done Andy!! When I read some of Mika's answers, I think Andy must have really strong nerves to stay with Mika for all those years! Seems Mika knows what he has in him though. Makes me very happy to know they have each other!
19 pointsLet's hope there'll be some action in this thread soon!
19 pointsMy first gig! I guess I picked a killer one too. All the lovely people I met said Mika just had so much extra energy tonight and it was definitely for the live DVD. I was in the front row so I was definitely filmed for that, look out guys... I have never been to such an incredible show. Like it not just because I love Mika so much, he just put on such a great performance and the crowd echoed the energy right back. It was ecstatic. It was more than I was hoping for. I was a complete mixture of emotions all day, and it all came to a boiling point when Mika came to the stage door greet some of us. There were probably 100 people outside and I knew I probably wouldn't get to see him because I was nowhere near the front. I eventually manuvered myself to the second row of an area where it wasn't as congested, but it didn't seem hopeful and I understood that. I started crying because he was just like... There and a moment I couldn't even dream of happening when I was so much younger was literally like unfolding before my eyes. I also think I am a little emotionally unstable right now because I'm just struggling with mental health issues too. But that's another reason why Mika and his music mean so much to me, its helped me pull through the absolute hell I've had to go through through the years to even get to where I am today and be the person I am today. It's just something you cannot thank someone enough for. The fact that I was crying caught some people around me's attention (I think they were Italian, if you see this thank you! I was too much of a mess to remember that) and they successful grabbed Mika's attention and pointed at me. Mika walks up to me and asks "now, why are you crying?" And I start rambling like the crazy lady I am, I think he was a little taken aback by it but whatever, and tell him pretty much I've been a fan for a long time and I want to thank him for his music because it got me through so much and I'm sorry because you probably hear this a lot. At this point I'm sobbing, he's looking at me like he doesn't know what to say or do and thinking wow I really need new antidepressants because these don't stabilize mood at all anymore. He says something along the lines of that's very sweet and I go in for a hug and then I hear an audible "awww" from the immediate crowd around us. It was so incredible. I'm just to blessed to have had that opportunity to speak with him and tell him that because... How many people get to thank their favorite musician or someone inspiring for them? Thank you, Mika. I'm sorry if I scared you. Here is my Google album from the gig, please enjoy. I filmed quite a few songs that are in here too. https://photos.app.goo.gl/kBjF2G64cpo4UrNx6
19 pointsSiamo pronti a questo nuovo anno insieme? Sìììììì? Come ogni intro che si rispetti, ricordiamo a tutti, anche a chi lo sa già, che questo thread è dedicato a tutti i membri italiani di MFC e comunque a tutti coloro i quali parlano la nostra lingua, per scambiare informazioni o semplicemente dirci quanto ci manca. Sì, perché a qualcuno mancherà un po' di più ora che è passato in terra dei cugini. Ma sarà l'occasione per far sentire ancora più forte il nostro ammmmòòòòòre qui in terra tricolore. L'anno scorso aveva festeggiato il nuovo anno con noi, quest'anno abbiamo potuto vederlo solo su YT, e ci è mancato, così come siamo certi siamo mancati noi a lui. Quest'anno lo seguiremo e lo vedremo buzzare per i nuovi talenti di The Voice, e faremo il tifo con lui per la sua squadra. Poi il progetto delle Pilot, che, chissà che non ci scappi qualche visita di nuovo qui da noi, ma come sempre lo scopriremo solo seguendo i canali ufficiali. Buon Anno a tutti!!!! ------------------------------------------------------------- Link utili: Italian Press 2017 Stasera Casa Mika Progetto Pilot --------------------------------------------------------- Italian Thread 2017 QUI
19 pointsMika will receive the keys of the city of Florence the 10th of January 2018 in Palazzo Vecchio. http://m.quinewsfirenze.it/firenze-a-mika-le-chiavi-della-citta.htm
19 pointsThis news kind of hit me like a steam train, I knew he was ill, and that he was pretty bad, but always hoped that he would rally and pull out of it. Sadly, that was not to be. I first met this force of nature in Birmingham, 17th May 2007, at my first Mika gig. He was so bouncy all day in the queue, we got separated in the venue, but met afterwards outside, and he invited the very first MFC pic with Mika in (who told us the best way to pose for a photo was to say 'potato', cue 20 people shouting potato while the pic was taken ?) We met many times down the years, he led us astray at his 'local' gig in Newcastle, in Blackpool we had KFC at 1am after Mika played at the Radio 2 show (this was known that night as chicken on a bench, which reduced him to tears of laughter after a few pints?) We flew to Portugal together a few years back, which was just one long laugh the whole flight, walk through the airport and to the hotel. The last gig we saw together was in Madrid, which was an amazing weekend with many amazing people (you know who you are), we got front row and Mikas face had the biggest smile when he spotted him, I think that made David's trip. So many gigs hanging out, the boombox blasting out Mika songs at Brixton before the show, various costumes as pics here have shown (SO many costumes), Doncaster Christmas show, Eden Project sing along, which Mika heard from the stage while sound checking. All good times. We always missed each other when I had jobs that took me to Sunderland, always promising each other to make it next time, but never did. Chats on Twitter about the football, teasing each other when Sunderland met Liverpool, but never mad if either lost, always good natured banter about it. Good long chats about work and family on Wassup, he was always chatty. Always made me laugh and smile. He was very fond of his mum, a lovely lady, looked after her well, loved talking about her. It felt like I knew her, but first chatting to her a couple of months back, when we lost contact with David, I was nervous, worried she might find me a bit intrusive. But she was as lovely as David described her, and we have had quite a few chats recently, keeping up with his condition. This week the conversations more heartbreaking, as you can imagine. I now find myself on Twitter seeing things that I would retweet to David, and having to stop myself, and it's hard. And with Wimbledon on next week, knowing he would have been getting excited for it, makes it harder. I have lost my friend, one of my good friends, one of my best friends. It doesn't feel real. I keep thinking he will jump out and tweet 'Surprise, anyone want a coffee ☕ ' But I know it won't happen. And that hurts. So I want to raise a cup or glass, whichever you prefer, to my friend, and to quote Mika 'it was the best time I ever had' R.I.P. FREDDIESDOUBLE
18 pointsSo I fixed google translation : My mother's obsession: that I am the best. She's always afraid of others pulling me down " An interview with Marc-Olivier Fogiel MIKA Marc-Olivier Fogiel. In your new album, "My Name is Michael Holbrook", your name in the civil registry, your mother sings. She appears on the cover, appears in the clip "Tiny Love" and in photo on stage ... Why is she so present? Mika. My mother built me. She had in mind a "destination" and she told herself that I had to reach it at all costs. Today, I am grateful to her. This need to recognize her sacrifice and the intensity of our bond, I had not felt before. Your mother wanted to save you? She saved me. For her, I had a lot of qualities but that put me a little at risk. She always told me, "Either you'll be successful and you'll be happy, or you'll have a lot of problems." It's strange to hear your mother say that when you're a child. There was no alternative. Hence a huge pressure. How did she say that to you? In a sweet or in a tough way? Tough. But at the same time with a kind of duality. Because, on the other hand, she was extremely tender, maternal, protective. I was fired from school, I truly had problems. Instead of becoming a victim, I had to work and grow up much faster. Did you understand then that it was for your good? It seemed unfair to me. Why did I have to do three hours of music a day while my sisters were not? How many times have I been unable to sing for half an hour straight because I was just crying! She forced me, "I'm staying here until you stop, you're going to sing me that song right now without crying." Today, you speak of a need to thank her ... I would have been terribly wrong not to pay a tribute to her while she is still alive, by my side. One of the first songs I wrote for this album is "Tiny Love": it talks about surpassing oneself, about going as high as we can with the means we have to give ourselves the feeling of having value. And that's what my mother taught me. By the time I finished "Tiny Love", she learned she had a serious heart problem. She had to be operated on within 24 hours. The same evening, I was on a plane to join her in Dubai. As I sat down beside her, I felt invaded by a form of chaos linked to this coincidence; the day I finished this song, the disaster happened. I thought, "What if the operation went wrong?" Well, it went well, but there were complications. My mother was bedridden with gaping wounds on her legs. Yet she wanted to fight, because her heart had not stopped. She decided to walk again and do everything to get there. She was supposed to draw the costumes for a TV show I was showing in Milan. I formally forbid her to come. Now, the day of the first rehearsal, in Italy, she shows up! In a wheelchair, accompanied by a nurse and one of my sisters. And she said to me, "Here, I came to work." Even sick, she could not help but accompany you? Even if it was less present, she took risks ... I thought: my mother goes through hardships, life is difficult, so I'm going to dedicate myself to writing. I want to make a beautiful album, a kind of medicine, not only for me but for my family. Something that warms the heart. because you were touched in the heart? Because I was touched by the fragility of life. Have you thought of the worst? If anything happened to my mother, if I lost her, I was afraid of not being able to work. I would have said to myself: "It was me who hurt her by exhausting her, I killed her." She is begged to stop and she takes a plane to cross the world. For who? For me. How would you define your links? Very, very intense. It can ignite quickly. When people hear us, they are often shocked by our harshness: it is honesty because there is nothing to hide. But it's always guided by love. Your mother finally recovered from her heart problems ... Yes, and she said to me, "Now I'm changing my hips, so I will not be in a wheelchair anymore and I can follow you on the next tour." She does it for you or for her? She wanted to continue working. Being mobile was very important. And everything is going well. Life goes on. Until this summer 2018. I wrote half of the album and we find a house in Italy, we set up a studio. She comes to see how it goes. I notice that she is a little hard with me, not too much, just a little. But hey, I keep going Following my birthday, we are meeting in a hotel in Sardinia. And I realize that she is very worried, very tired. My sisters are wondering too. I'm leaving for a concert. T hey make her have examinations. After the scan, I get a message: there is a big mass in her brain and I must immediately go back to Milan. There begins this new phase, this new fight. She has a brain tumor ... A very important tumor. That's why she had this strange behavior. We decided to have her operated at La Pitié-Salpêtrière. We are told that she is suffering from an extremely aggressive brain cancer. From that moment, the life, the album, everything is paused. My sisters, my brother, my father and I, we put ourselves in a bubble, we hide. After the operation, we go back to this little house in Italy. We close the door and stay together. Then the chemotherapy begins in France. And there, life must resume. My life must resume. Does this mean that you continued to create as the earth collapsed? Yes, I realized how much she was a big part of my foundation ... I did not know that much before. I then I stop working a little, I take a step back. But one morning I get an e-mail from my mother, who says [silence]: "You do not answer me. You judge all my interventions around your work displaced. You're wrong. Who more than me cares about your success? I'm old now, about to die from a brain tumor, but all I can tell you is that none of this I do for myself. All I wish is that you always stay the best. I never taught you to be trivial. Now, today, I fear that you are under too much pressure that pulls you to banality. It leads to anonymity and self-satisfaction. Talk to me before it's too late. Why do not you take the time to come see me"? How did you react? It was crazy, was not it? I got into a black rage. Through my restraint, I showed her my affection, my respect. A few days later, I realized that this fury that I felt was not directed against her but against me, because I was wrong. I realized that it was the same process as when she provoked me so that I could make it through when I was 10. Rather than compose, you did not need to spend more time with her, enjoying her presence? Me, I thought about today, and my mother was terrified by tomorrow. Not for her, for me, and for us, for the family. She thought that the effect of her illness on the people she loves, this pause, this time that was devoted to her rather than the construction of the future, was terrifying. And you started working again? It compelled me to throw myself into the emotion rather than confining myself to this kind of misplaced modesty. It compelled me to be as authentic as possible. She came to "The Voice", we saw you at a Christian Louboutin party. she was there, solid, beautiful. Normally, with this disease, it's impossible ... She is in her sixth chemotherapy session and is working on the tour, on styling. She goes out, goes to the opera, to the theater ... My mother absolutely wants to live life to the fullest. And it's dangerous. This disease causes a lot of discomfort. It's very risky for the brain and the heart. We are trying to calm her, but she absolutely wants to go out. She is impossible to stop. Did you get this energy from her? She inspires me. The starting point of the album is the illness of my mother and the whirlwind of anxieties and emotions that resulted. It put us in a sort of urgency: we have to create. In fact, she asked you to become an adult . Have you become in two years? We become adults when we are faced with the fear of losing someone. At that moment, one is obliged to open one's eyes, to open one's heart. This can happen at age 15, it can happen at age 60. This transformation means that we inevitably stop relying on others. On the contrary, it is the others who can rely on us. And that's the point where you at now? Yes, we are here now. Your album exudes gaiety, yet your sister Paloma, who was born with a disability and then miraculously survived a fall in 2010, sings too. And we guess other dramas ... [Silence.] Yes, indeed, dramas that threatened to further destabilize my family and cause even more sadness for my mother. In the face of these catastrophes, we have always refused to allow ourselves to be defeated. On the contrary, we have become even stronger. It's all your story ... Our family was built on this spirit of resistance, reinvention against loss, destruction. My mother calls this " blooming, flowering ". This summer, I was about to deliver the final recording of the album, it was my birthday and I decided to take a three-day vacation. I'm in the car, on the road to my hotel, when she calls me furiously: "You did not want to be with me because it's hard to be with me! Did not you think it would be nice to come back for your birthday"? "I say angrily, " I just wanted a break. Why are you doing this to me"? We fight, I get to the hotel, I go up to my room. She had it filled with nine bunches of flowers! I find a drawing of my flowered head and a little letter in which she wrote: "Remember, may your head always bloom." So what… I am filled with joy. I call her back... she does not answer. I insist. My sister responds, yells, gives the phone to my father who puts the speaker on and says, "Talk to your mother, talk to your mother". She was having a stroke. And I, rather than being there, by her side, I'm in my room, trying to thank her, to calm her. We reassured her, we hospitalized her. When I hung up, I looked at all these flowers ... All day she had only thought of these flowers. That day, I made the decision never to react impulsively again. Because now, in our relationship, the slightest gesture counts. The next morning, I made the final recording and told myself it was a good thing to have her sing it. Why ? Because I gave her all her power . I put in the light this woman from the shadows. When we know that she recorded this passage just three weeks after her brain surgery and the day before the start of her chemotherapy sessions, we realize that she has the power. She has the last word, her and my sister Paloma. They are similar. How important is it for you to speak about it the way you're doing it? The only things that matters in life are the people we love and the stories we tell about them. In the old days, I was discreet when I talked about intimate questions. Now, I understand that these difficult things must be tackled and made into beautiful things. In the song "Paloma", there are these two lines: "I found you fighting in the darkness" "And there was beauty in that too". It seems incredible: where is the beauty in someone dying? And yet, I promise you there is beauty. A horrible beauty, wild, murderous, but beauty anyway. There is also beauty in your mother's illness ... And there is also beauty in the way our family, and my mother in particular, manages such a frightening situation. When you project yourself, are you still afraid? [Silence.] Yes, it's inevitable. But this fear, I compensate with a feeling of liberating gratitude for the love of life that the disease has injected into our family. Is it complicated for your companion to find a place in the middle of all this? Andy has a very strong relationship with my mother. It was with him that I revealed my homosexuality to my family. We were sitting in the kitchen. My mother said to me: "In the end, what difference does it make? I always knew it. If you did not know it, that's your problem". [Laughs] There was a moment when Andy and I separated briefly. And she fought for two months to bring him back. The album is called "my Name Is Michael Holbrook". We could add "Son of Joannie and Michael", right? Yes, I am Mika, son of Joannie and Michael. And I'm proud to be part of this lineage. Interview Marc-Olivier Fogiel https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z_nSrn7owWV4HO_FqJFqdJpXcOMd5Yvc3zLjLX7WMeo/edit?usp=drivesdk
18 pointsMy report with photos two adorable fans took and shared with me and a little video I made (quick translation for the video: Mika was worried because the gift he's holding in his hand was dammaged and he didn't see how to fix it, but the fan said that he could take it anyway) My report seems like it belongs to the dreams about Mika thread...but it is for real So this is going to be a long and emotional report. Writing it right now so I don't forget anything. My daughter got to my house at 9 AM on Saturday morning. We had lunch on the way in a Burger King and the second Starbucks co my daughter was happy at the idea of watching Taylor Swift perform and I was happy at the idea of seing Mika and she said I was one of a kind because I was not interested in Taylor Swift) and got to Paris around 4:30 and checked in our hotel then went to the studio at 5:30.We found one parking spot not far. Once inside we got small water bottles and sandwiches (I chose the chicken one of course) Then we got to queue inside, then outside, we left our coats and phones as they are not allowed inside the studio. Then we got to wait again. Finally we could get in and we went up the stairs to the seated area. I had a nice view on Mika's armchair so I was very happy. They recorded Taylor Swift's song first as she had a special stage only for herself that was already there. After the recording the stage was taken away and back to normal. The live show opened with all the talents singing with Taylor Swift. Then there was a break and Taylor Swift and Mika talked together for a while and they were smiling and the fans I was waiting outside of the studio after the show said to me that Taylor Swift told Mika she is a huge fan of him. After that Jenifer talents sang, then Mika's, then Julien Clerc's, then Soprano's. Every single song was simply wonderful. The audience was really on fire and all the singers too. It's a lot more emotional to be in the studio than watching it on TV. There was an epic moment when Poupie sang the spice girls song Wanna be and I was thinking about the willy willy willy in XFactor and I knew Mika too. When he was asked about Poupie's performance he said she sang it wonderfully and that it was a song that could get really bad if not sang well and it was obvious he was thinking about XFactor and I had to resist a huge fit of laughter. During the commercials breaks Mika did several things that made every fans happy. He brought his nephew Beauregard on the stage with him for a moment and he looked like a mini Mika , he was also wearing black and white and waving at the audience as he had to all fans who were waiting for Mika after the Hotel arena Bercy Mika loves Paris concert. They both had huge smiles on their faces and this made me so happy. I was totally thrilled to see them having fun together. During another commercial break Mika did the moonwalk and he totally rocks at it. Also he was very chatty with the other coaches while the recorded coaching sessions were shown. He was in a very happy and mischevious mood I could tell. While Taylor Swift recording was played during the second or third part of the show he got up to dance acrobatic rock with Soprano but Soprano didn't want to dance with him and kept dancing on his own so he tried to dance with Jenifer but she did like Soprano so Mika had no choice left but to invite Julien Clerc to dance. Julien Clerc got up from his seat and danced a bit of acrobatic rock with Mika which was totally hilarious. Another total highlight for me was when Delanoe was singing among the public of kids on the stairs. I didn't look nor listened to him. I only had eyes for Mika who was seated on the scene stairs with all the other coaches on the side next to Jenifer. He was laughing with her, telling her jokes, tickling her and grabbing her by her shoulders until they were both laying on the floor. It was so cute and they were as playful as kids. Witnessing this I decided if I got a chance to talk to Mika after the live show, I wouldn't be shy like last year ( I think I felt he was really tired and it was already so sweet of him to stop and talk to us and say yes to take a group pic ) and speak to him as I had at la nuit de l'Erdre festival. Most of the things in my suitcase were for Mika. I had found two unicorn mugs with "Rien n'est impossible" saying on them (which means "nothing is impossible" )and a unicorn theme gift bag. As Mika had shared his photo with Andy on instagram I had felt it would be a good timing to offer them both a gift. I had also packed my two chicken as I always do because I have been wanting to make him laugh again as in La nuit de l'Erdre festival on July 2013 for a long time. For those who don't know the story there's a long report in the la nuit de l'Erdre festival thread. I had bought those fur chicken that dance, sing and chuckle in 2011 in order to make him laugh and carried one from gig to festivals (some fans are familiar with my chicken) but I only met him after a show on July 2013. He had seen me wave it during the gig as I was second row almost first depending on how people moved in the public. And I made him laugh a lot with my chicken and we talked for almost a minute together but he told me to keep it as a mascote and I promised him to bring it to his concerts with me. But as I had a second one so I carried both to many places like Hotel Accord Arena, Bobital and Rennes in order to make him laugh again by showing him the two of them and telling him they were in love in case I could talk to him after the show. I had also brought my No Place in Heaven corean magazine edition in case he would have time to sign it and four Mika pilot pens so he could hopefully sign it with I really felt like handing him a gift and that he would take it because it never happened before actually. And I also had a very crazy dream in my head since I had met him in April 2018 to ask him for a hug. I had also planned a little fan action with inflatable balloons letters that you could use to say "MIKA ICE CREAM" as I thought it would make him happy. So we left the studio and got back into my daughter's car to park it very close to studio 217. My daughter walked around looking for pokemons to catch while I was waiting for Mika then she came back to check on me and waited for me in the car as she was tired. She is not a night bird like me but she is a sweetheart and she knew I'd be so happy if I could meet Mika again. It was the first time the fans were no told to move further from studio 217. On the opposite we had a place behind bareers where we were told to go and wait for Mika. It was awesome. There were about twenty fans waiting for Mika and his van was there. There were between 30 and 40 at the beginning but several fans were leaving when I arrived as they believed Mika had already left. Meanwhile waiting behind the bareer, I took my inflatable balloons out and asked other fans if they wanted to do the fan action which was to wave MIKA ICE CREAM balloons at Mika to let him know how much we're happy with his new song. Little by little the balloons got inflated by Chloé who was very good at it and very motivated. We had exchanged phone numbers in the afternoon and talked about the fan action already. It was too complicated to hold the balloons and also hand things to Mika so we decided to stick the balloons in the right order on the bareer which went ok but it wasn't as easy to see MIKA ICE CREAM as if people had been holding the balloons so I'm not sure Mika saw them. Anyway that kept us busy while waiting Then Mika came out around 2 A.M. and he came to us to talk. I had all my stuff out on the pavement. As soon as I got a chance I showed him my two chicken asked if he remembered my chicken and he did and told him they were in love which made him laugh. I gave him my gift and explained it was for him and Andy. And I asked him for a hug. I still had my chicken in one arm and he laughed and he said: "the chicken will be jalous" and we hugged (with both chicken still in left arm so it was a collective hug ) I still can't believe we hugged but other fans who were with us took pics so it was not a dream. I also told him I loved him, the words came out and I heard myself, it was totally spontaneous and uncontrolable After I recovered from the hug which sent me on a bright pink cloud for the rest of my life, I filmed a bit Mika talking with other fans and I realised I hadn't asked him to sign No Place in Heaven magazine edition so I handed it to him along with a Mika Pilot pen and asked him to sign it. He tried but the pen didn't work but thankfully another fan handed him another pen which he signed it with so I have two Mika siggies on my No Place in Heaven edition, one with just the mark of his siggie and a pen one but someone moved and the book moved while he was signing but I'm happy as I now have his siggy on both my fav albums by him now I want to thank MFC for the tickets from the bottom of my heart I had the best night ever and so many dreams came true last night I think I will forever stay on my bright pink Mika cloud Thanks also to the other lovely fans who were there and took pics they shared with me after. When we got back to the hotel , I started writing my report because I was so excited. And when I finally went to bed my heart was beating so fast I thought I would never go to sleep. I eventually did and the next morning everything was just perfect because I'm still flying so high on my Mika cloud and it's the best feeling in the world I have an endless smile on my face I swear and I'm smiling now as I'm finishing my report in the car while my daughter is driving on the way back. My heart is filled with the best memories that I will cherish forever Mika is definitively the sweetest man on earth and I love how spontaneous and playful he is with his fans. It was a wonderful unforgettable moment of sheer happiness 20190526_022113.mp4
18 pointsA "little" report about yesterday... I arrived in Paris around noon and met with Saskia and Nina at our hotel. After checking in and organizing our stuff, we left for the studio. We didn't stand in the queue at first, but hoped we could see Mika arrive, so we could hand him the MFC yearbook, which I had brought - as we weren't sure to get a chance after the show. There were 3 possible entrances for him to arrive, and after going back and forth for a while and looking for a restaurant/cafe in between, we finally decided for one of the gates and sat down on a concrete barrier next to it. Just minutes later, a black van stopped at the gate and Mika got out! He waved and was about to go in, when I told him we have the yearbook - so he came to us for a moment to get it, but he looked so tired and said if we minded he looked at it inside, so we just asked if we would see him later (the answer wasn't clear... ), and I managed to tell him that I love the new song, which brought a smile to his face. Then we joined the others in the queue, and it was lovely to meet Dominika, Anna, miknikel and other MFCers. (Hi girls! ). The queue then was separated according to the kinds of tickets (ITV, TF1, VIP,...) and after some more waiting, we got stamps on our hands in different colours. Fast forward 5 more queueing/waiting stops and lots of chaos (it was back to just one queue again in the meantime, with many from the back pushing forward), we finally entered the studio and got our places, according to the colour of the stamps. Saskia and me ended up quite far up, and were moved by the staff a few more times, for reasons that are unknown to us. In the end, we could at least see well when standing up, and we saw Mika from the side. After the intro with the performance of all talents, the show started with Mika's team - the best and most interesting, imo - maybe apart from Leona Winter. Whitney and Gjon's Tears were my faves, their Voices are just unbelievable! I hope one of them, or Leona Winter, wins. Tho the guy who sang Somebody to love was very good too, I don't remember his name... And the rap duo & trio, it's not my style and I didn't like how their personalities came across, but they're talented entertainers and they did a good show. I assume they wanted the bands out, as imo they were better as others in their team who stayed. In the end, it all got a bit long and everyone was tired, and as soon as the cameras went off, Mika left the studio straight away. We thought he might have gone, but later outside were happy to see his van was still there. We spoke a bit to Gjon's Tear's when he came out, he was very happy to receive compliments, excited like a kid, really sweet guy. 😃 And as the last, Mika finally came out! He was tired, but talked a few words with those he knew, also thanked us again for the yearbook and said something like it means a lot to him to have these chronicles of all the years, and he knows how much work goes into all of it. I don't remember his exact words - maybe someone filmed what he was saying...? Anyway it was great to exchange a few words with him, so good to see him again. I don't know if I'll go to a voice live show again, as it was so chaotic, the auditions were much more relaxed... but very glad we were lucky to meet him even twice that day - from what I heard, it's not often he meets fans after the lives. The live show of the talents was much more entertaining though than the auditions.
18 pointsI'm in love with this song ❤ I love the lyrics and think it works more than perfectly as a soundtrack for a story that tells about young musicians but also as an independent song. I love the way he's using his voice, really love it, and I'm surprised people describe this song simple, for me it sounds very complicated to sing. There are also many details in it and that's something I don't connect with simplicity (which I wouldn't mind because I find simple and simplicity very positive words). I assume this song tells nothing about the album yet but they definitely should add it to at least some versions of it. It seems like a separate project written for his friend but as everything around the song is in Italian I might have missed something he says. Anyway, so happy he has released new music and been listening to this non-stop almost two days now.
18 pointsI think Siri explained a lot of things that I have seen too. But, and I'm going to put my marketer hat for a few minutes, there is not much that needs to be done within MFC as a site. Maybe better explain some sections, and there might be a few threads that are totally useless (such as the clubs for instance). what I think MFC needs is a complete awareness campaign: what it is, why it's there, how it is run (and ultimately, who is behind it). It would even be better (and more effective/legitimate) if Team Mika (or even Mika himself) would participate in a way. Obviously, we can never control all the bad (and false) stuff you can sometimes see. We are humans, we are greedy and jealous by nature. But MFC had a very fond place in my heart, I might (in real and online) fabulous people through it, and it makes me sad to see it bashed. Let me know if you need help with anything
18 pointsOh well, every year I'm getting better at getting late... so I'll just put the three sessions I went to in one single review, as I don't really have that much to say anyway. So. My intro looks the same every year but it's more true every year: When I went out for the last time last year I really didn't expect to ever come back on this set. Also this year no warm up for me, I jumped right through the Saturday Of Death with his infamous 2 sessions in a row... which to be honest was far less terrible than the years before: the four of them stayed relatively on form and coherent when previously it was almost impossible after 11pm to have them do a correct shot without having to start again 5 times (we won't forget the now cult Mika quotes à la "yeah no but I don't remember what I wanted to say" (even if my fave one will stay "don't make me laugh I want to pee" but it's a very personnal choice ) But obviously for Mika the rythm was far less exhausting than last year when he was going back and forth between Paris and Milan 3 times a week and was also lucky enough to record half the sessions while being sick. This year he was in much better form, and thus less grumpy, let's face it. But then the big issue I had this year was... oh God how boring is that. I was used to being entertained by at least a couple a contestants and also and more importantly for me... I was used to laughing a lot - I know that's not why we are supposed to be here but to be honest that's why Blinds were my fave part: because it's usually funny. But this year, pfff. It seems like we've been seing the same singer over and over again, same look same voice same kind of song... over... and over... And then our four coaches.. .they are doing their job. No more, no less. Mika and Florent can still be very interesting in their comments, but after all those years it's becoming harder to find fresh stuff to say. But yeah I was craving for those moments when they all lose their mind and go jumping in every direction, but nothing really came. I also discovered Pascal as a coach, and wasn't especially blazed away by his interventions. He was often trying too hard to be funny and ended up being gross, but it seems that I escaped the worst as I heard he was being extremely heavy on the 3 days I missed. But still there is that one interesting thing in the coache's dynamic this year: 3 of them know each other so, so well, they've been knowing each other for more than 20 years, they recorded duets, they went on stage all together endless times, they write and compose for each other, and they are pretty close friends in personnal life (I mean one of them was even living in a house bought by another one, seriously). Mika is quite close to Florent and has learned to know Zazie but it can't compare to the massive artistic bonding that has linked the three others for so long. So, on top of being by far the younger, he also is the outsider, and often ended up watching them bonding as a spectator... but I don't think he feels excluded , more .. captivated, I'd say. Now to the "random things I remember" Mika did somthing that got quite unnoticed but that I liked really much: on stage we had the Korean contestant (that happens to be an amazing pianist and obviously he couldn't keep himself from going and playing with her but that's not the point). So firstly it gave him the chance to say a few words in Korean which is always cool for me as one of my biggest pleasures in life is to go on twitter when the show is on just to see people commenting about the amount of languages he is talking - and secondly it allowed him to do something really cute that could have come only from someone who has gone through the same kind of things: as the three others were "mocking" the girl's accent and mistakes (not in a mean way, really not, and she was taking it kindly, but still) he told her, extremely seriously "and I think your french is perfects and that you express yourself very clearly". I think saying those kind of things from time to time is actually more important than it seems and I liked him for that. And at the opposite I remember that contestant I wanted to kick because the guy being a student in a very cool classic singing school thought he was the 8th Wonder of the world and wasn't listening to Mika who was actually giving him a free lesson about classic singing and teaching him some of the Haendel-Based excercises he used for his final exams and it was very interesting and this guy especially could have really learned from it... but he was so full of himself And...That's all. Not that much to remember then, and truth is I didn't try that hard to keep anything in mind. Except this little sweet thing that I'll remember forever, obviously, this lovely attention Mika had when he brought us a bag of food before the recording because, well, he knows how hungry we get in the studio (also the vision of him trying to get through the audience to reach us and climbing over people's legs with a profusion of "oh sorry, sorry, excuse me, sorry!!!" was hilarious ). So I don't know if I'm am just getting tired of the Voice or if it really is especially boring this year but as long as Mika keeps on being so kind I'll survive .
18 pointsGig report! (and the rest of my Paris trip) Tuesday Morning 6:30 we got picked up, not by the mercedes we were told would be coming but in an Audi A8 (which incidentally is one of Dad's favourite cars) which set the tone a bit for the rest of the trip. There were a few unexpected surprises, which I will be emailing Peugeot about tomorrow. We arrived at Heathrow over 3 hours before our flight was due and got through security pretty quickly so we went and watched the planes for a few hours. Plane journey was uneventful thank god, I haven't flown much but Dad is big into planes so every little noise Dad would go 'Landing gear up' or whatever which was helpful! That noise is normal, good to know! Arrived at Charles de Gaulle where another driver was supposed to be picking us up, there was no one with a sign saying 'Briggs' or 'Peugeot' so we didn't know what to do. After the wrong car turned up in the morning I wasn't sure I could trust any of the transfer details but I texted the number I was given and the driver called me back. He had a sign saying 'Crown Agency' which is apparently the agency Peugeot used to book the trip. We didn't know that! None of the details I had mentioned the name of the agency. We arrived at the hotel about an hour earlier than the itinerary said which was good but then they asked us for a credit card 'for damage deposit'. Neither of us had brought a card with us. We thought we were only going for 24 hours, we both have apple pay on our phones if we did desperately need more money for something. So they asked for €100 instead. We only brought €200 total and we thought that was excessive just for 2 days. So we had to give up half of our money as soon as we arrived. So first we went to check out the Peugeot Showroom on the Champs-Elysee where the showcase would be later then we headed for the Eiffel Tower. Got a few pics then it started raining Went back to the Champs-Elysee to get dinner and caught a little bit of the set-up for the evening with a 'stage' about a foot high with the piano and a few other bits. Got back to the showroom just before 7:30 to find a bit of a crowd gathered around the barriers, maybe 30-40 people? They didn't start checking tickets and IDs until a little before 8 but we did finally get let in and it was a proper corporate event with complementary champagne and random canapes. People started hovering around the stage so I decided to grab an open spot behind the piano. Most people were crowding around the front of the piano because that would appear to be the front but it was a circular stage so I thought I don't care, he never sits still in front of the piano for more than 30 seconds at a time so anywhere would be fine! Was wrong unfortunately he did stay sat the whole time but he did a little Q&A thing (I think? It was entirely in french so I don't have a clue what was actually being said) where he was stood right in front of me ahem, facing away from me a little They had a big screen over to one side that was playing Mika's advert on repeat. They had us all watch it then introduced Mika to properly start the showcase I'm not sure where the livestream kicks in but I have a video of the Q&A if you didn't get to see it. It's all in french and I didn't understand a word so if someone could translate or at least give me a summary that would be lovely! Luckily it wasn't all french, Mika started with a french introduction then said 'Don't worry I won't only be speaking french, I know we have some people from the UK here' *looked around* 'somewhere?' So obviously I said 'Here! Behind you!' and waved. Then, and I can still barely believe this happened, he started talking to livestream 'Hello from the Champs-Elysee, with my friends here, my french friends, and one english person, representing the UK, what's your name?' I just about died, my heart was racing (literally I've just checked my fitbit and my HR jumps about 20 points!) and managed to squeak out my name. 'So from me, Heather *points to me* and all of us, *some french that I didn't understand until bonjour bonsoir*' little clipped video I also put on facebook this afternoon. It's very jumpy because I was throwing my hands up to wave. First song up he covered She's Always A Women To Me which was beautiful, I was looking round the crowd a bit and everyone was just kind of standing there, no one else seemed to be singing along. There were quite a few more people than had been queueing, 100-150 maybe? Could've been more I'm not sure but they kept coming in for what seemed like ages after the original queuers had got through. Next up Grace Kelly where Mika discovered no one had actually switched on the piano! He got it going and this time people started singing along and looking like they were enjoying themselves. I was also right next to where Max was on the stage and it was really nice to hear him singing. I've listened to my video for this and you can hear me singing rather badly so I'm not going to put it or any of the others up unless you can't hear me. It's all on the stream anyway! He did Good guys with a new(?) ending complaining to his mumma about the lack of good guys which led straight into Lollipop with 2 of his extra 'now I'm xx years old' sections, when he did the 1st one I thought he'd made a mistake saying he was 32 years old! The person next to me's phone rang right after lollipop ended and Mika took it and tried to talk to the person's daughter in french but got hung up on! Next was Pick up off the floor which I'm not actually sure I've seen live before, it was gorgeous. Honestly it was so nice seeing Mika in such an intimate setting, hearing every little nuance of his voice and from where I was actually hearing it not 100% through amplification. Boum Boum Boum - an organiser came up to me at the start of this one and told me to meet her by the car in the corner in 10 minutes, and to make sure I went, I figured this was about a meet and greet so kept a close eye on the time after that (luckily I bought a fitbit on my birthday so it was only a flick of my wrist to check the time, didn't have to keep checking my phone) Relax - 3 new albums later this is still Dad's favourite Mika song so that made his day and I could hear him singing behind me, normally he stays quiet. Then was Underwater and Elle Me Dit, I pretty much completely missed these because I LEFT MY PERFECT FRONT ROW SPOT 3 FEET FROM MIKA to go to the back corner and stand behind about 6 rows of people. Anyone on here who's met me will know, I'm 5'6". I literally couldn't see a thing. The stage was only raised a foot and Mika was sitting the whole time. The woman was nowhere to be found and I was pretty pissed off. If I'm honest I was almost crying it seemed so unfair. I had an amazing spot, he only played 9 songs so I literally missed almost a quarter of the entire show. I'm still annoyed, there was no reason I couldn't have gone straight over there when EMD finished. Dad went and found her during EMD and she came and told me to stay put and I'd get to meet Mika afterwards. After the show she told us he played a couple of extra songs and it was meant to end at the point she told me to go over but I don't think that was true. I think he played exactly as many as he was supposed to but it took longer because the start was so delayed (and he was quite chatty). I was only waiting a few minutes before he came out to start doing pictures but was told to stay put and I would be called forward when it was my turn. This was a bit of a mistake, it was just the corner of the showroom so everyone could see Mika was there and started crowding over, I think it should have been somewhere more closed off. I brought an iPad case specially for him to sign so I got that and my sharpie out ready. When they called me through he recognised me (or it could have been because they called me over by shouting 'English! English!') And called me by name I sort of shoved the iPad case at him and said 'Could I be very cheeky and get you to sign this?' This particular iPad case was also signed by Daniel Radcliffe a few months ago, Mika drew an arrow to Daniel's signature and started writing, I said what are you writing and he just laughed then I could see and laughed too. (Front pic of iPad too to show why it's my favourite, was so rushed both times neither Mika nor Daniel got to actually see what they were signing!) Then the organiser people tried to push me on so the next person could come in while I was fumbling with the case and pen trying to close both before I ruined the signature and Mika stopped them saying we hadn't done the photo yet and pointed out my Dad 'This your photo person?' 'Yep that's Dad' *He waved* 'Hi Dad!' put his arm around me while Dad took the photo (turned out he actually took about 4 seconds of video instead which I have grabbed some stills from). I reluctantly walked away and Mika said 'Nice to meet you' which confirmed to me that he definitely didn't recognise me from the choir in London, was 2012 to be fair. That's twice now that I've been 'The only english…' when meeting Mika! I was the only person in the Choir who spoke up when he asked if there was anyone actually from England in the London choir and now the only english fan in the crowd in Paris! He kept taking pictures for a few more minutes then disappeared. Saw Max and Curtis come up to the stage to get things a couple of times but the only time I saw Max I was on the other side of the room so couldn't get across quick enough to ask him for a picture (I love Max, he was really nice to me in London). The party in the showroom kept going for quite a while with more wine and food. We talked to the woman again who asked me to send her my picture with Mika for 'promotional material' then we left. We got given gift bags on the way out and I got my picture taken again, more promo pics I think of them giving me the bag. What was my loot? A Peugeot Music CD and a Peugeot brand combination salt and pepper mill. We went back to our hotel to drop stuff off and change shoes to find someone had been in our room and left a little present, bit surprised but got to try some Parisian macarons without have to pay €1.50 each! Then we walked back to the Eiffel tower to see it all lit up. I don't think the photo does it justice, it was amazing! Obligatory forced perspective picture. Then back to the hotel where we basically collapsed. It was about 11:30pm by the time we got back and we'd both been up since 5am. Day 2 Breakfast was included in our trip (thankfully, sign on the room door said €25 each!) so we had a lovely french breakfast and tried to decide what to do before we left. The weather forecast had said rain so we were planning to maybe go to an aquarium I spotted just off the Seine but it didn't open until 10. We checked out and got Dad's €100 back then left our bags with the concierge. Luckily the rain held off so we went on a walking tour of Paris. First to the Moulin Rouge which wasn't as impressive as we expected. Saw a picture of it lit up with the windmill spinning in a shop a bit down the road which looked more like it! Then up a lot of steps to the Sacre-Coeur, pretty amazing view looking right across Paris Decided to make it a bit more of a circular walk and head back to the hotel via the Louvre. About half-way there the rain started and unfortunately didn't stop for the rest of the day. Diverted slightly from the route to pass by a certain museum, we had decided beforehand though that it wasn't worth paying to see a waxwork of Mika when were actually seeing the real thing the day before! Stopped at a few souvenir shops, got a keyring, some matching bracelets for me and my best friend, a pretty new bag and of course a small model of the Eiffel Tower. Are you actually allowed to visit Paris without buying an Eiffel Tower replica? Final stop was the Louvre which would've been better had it not been raining I think. I was a bit miserable at this point. We did a lot of walking over the 2 days and I had a blister, add in the rain and it felt like a bit of a slog. Started walking back to the hotel, stopped to get some lunch, a lovely hot dog baked in a baguette and covered in cheese. A few minutes after that I wasn't paying attention and Dad suddenly stopped and said 'Mika!' Obviously that caught my attention as I was ducking out of the way of some guy in a blue suit's umbrella. Yeah, Mika was the guy in the suit!! I'm so annoyed with myself for not spotting him quicker but he was on the phone so wasn't paying attention either and it would've been rude to interrupt anyway. I had my hair up in a bun because I dyed the ends bright pink on sunday and didn't want the dye to leak all over my graduation hoody so I was also missing my most identifiable feature. I turned around and watched him walk away debating whether or not to run after him, he was wearing his Louboutins, I could see the red sole as he walked. So that was a bit of a perk up in our last hour in Paris You'd think that would be the end of it but we still had some drama left. Got back to collect our bags from the hotel to be told the city tax hadn't been paid and we owed them €4.96 Our driver came and we had the Crown Agency issue again, they were looking for Crown and some random name, the receptionist asked if they meant Brown and eventually came and asked Dad if it was for us since we were the only people waiting. Our flight wasn't until 6 but Peugeot had arranged our car for 2 so we got the airport with over 3 hours to kill again. Spent almost €10 on a coffee and a hot chocolate from starbucks and bought an Eiffel Tower picture from a shop to clear out our euro coins. Then our flight was delayed 30 minutes and they changed the gate without announcing it! We'd been in the same seats at our supposed gate for 3 hours, Dad went to the bathroom and checked the board we were sat behind when he came back to find we were supposedly boarding 3 gates further down! This one obviously isn't Peugeot's fault but the main contact details for our flights were set to someone at either the agency or peugeot, not me or Dad. So even though I added myself to the details online on Monday night (along with filling in all of our passport information which was blank - that one is their fault) I didn't get any notification of the delay to our flight because they were the primary contact not me! We finally get to boarding the plane and the cabin's full. At least a dozen people still waiting to board, including us, and they're saying all luggage now has to go in the hold. Thankfully we both had fabric bags rather than the mini suitcases so we were told ours could go under the seats. Someone in front of us was arguing because they had a connecting flight to Brazil at 9pm and couldn't afford to wait for baggage reclaim. They stored her bag on the flight deck in the end. I think just so they could get the line moving again. All the stuff with the bags having to be moved delayed us another 15 minutes. But the flight back was uneventful, still raining in Paris so couldn't see much of anything past the airport. Got through Heathrow and found our driver from the previous day waiting. Felt a bit bad for him really because he lived 45 minutes the opposite direction from Heathrow so we got home just before 9pm and he had to drive another 2 hours plus still to get himself home. Not to mention the fact that to pick us up at 6:30 the first day he must have left home before 4am! 24 hours in Paris plus walking through 2 airports we walked just over 16 miles in total over the 2 days. No wonder I was exhausted! But it was a good trip overall. Would've preferred to not miss the last 2 songs and to get a bit longer to talk to Mika, didn't even have time to tell him it was my birthday. I was going to wear a badge saying Birthday girl but I managed to leave it in the hotel room. Also didn't have time to ask him my big question, I got a dragon tattoo to celebrate the end of uni and I wanted to ask him for name ideas since Melachi and Amira are such cool names. But it was a free trip to Paris so I can't complain too much can I?! It's mostly going to be a 'for future reference' email to Peugeot reminding them not to assume everyone is a frequent traveller. Most importantly I finally got a solo picture with Mika and there's a possibility he might remember my name in future??? Might have to keep my hair pink forever to make it easier! Well done to anyone who's actually read all of this, I've just pasted it into word and it's almost a third the length of my dissertation! I started writing this at about 10pm I think? It's 2:30am now! I'm going to bed!
18 pointsI'm planning to send some flowers on behalf of the MFC -- no one needs to contribute anything unless they'd like to, as there is some money in the MFC Paypal account that we can use for this purpose. If you'd like to add to the fund, however, you can Paypal to email@example.com Thanks. I'm sure that David would be pleased to see all his old friends returning to MFC!
17 pointsSooo long night 😂 Missed the last tube up north so ended in a random Uber with a rather crazy driver 😂 Me and my boyfriend got there about 11:30am and join the normal queue as we didn't know if we'd have a priority line. No one offered to "hand in a number" or what so ever to us. About an hour later security came in to organize people around and separate standing/ balcony/ priority. As I knew I am with O2 I joined the priority. Most of the ladies there did not have the right of being in priority as they didn't meet criteria, but at no point you saw me complaining or reporting people. Even the girl who was nr1 understood. We froze, we drink way too much tea and we waited... and what a wait. Door open, we ran like cray cray and got to the front row, was about the third person getting there. This girl on my side was taking the space of 2 to save space for her friends. When the whole group got there they all sat on the floor taking space for everyone else. They asked if I could move from my rather good space for her friends and of course I said no 🙄 at this point everyone starts getting pissy as they are requested to get up to make space for everyone, they started insulting me and more people around me that were alone because we used the priority queue, they started pushing me to kick me out of the front row. I was just questioning myself why would you do such thing when you don't know who's around you, I do understand several languages and I can assure you the things those ladies where saying is not appropriated what so ever. Also it's not very polite to go on Twitter bitchy about other people with lies and understatements. Please everyone grow a bit and act your age, we are all there to see the man we love and adore, not to ruin others good time. I am pretty sure in your country you also know ways of getting early into a venue and I am not moaning/ being rude to you. Sorry (not sorry) about my rant but I can't stand people like this and I could not allow them to ruin my night, I have to vent it out) Show started and OMG I missed him so badly! Been 6 years since the show in Lisbon! His voice was amazing and the set list was amazing, I did want to listen to Paloma live and who knows about a Tiny love with Paloma and Mika singing. The strange was a blank canvas (or black in this situation) which I am not used to. Kinda missed the 2010 tour with that amazing stage and that theatre type. But Mika grew, Mika is a full grown man and I have to understand that and legit suck it up 😂 that happy ending brought me to tears, besides being my fav song that acapela bit broke me completely. His reaction to the hearts and "We've missed you" was amazing. Mika I love you but I want my heart that you stole from me back 😘. Also was amazing him coming into the crowd during Big girls ❤ Bringing back the gold but gold songs was a good move. Baring in mind I never been in this venue before idk if it's normal or not, but the fact that the security was handing in water was amazing and greatly appreciated. Also I hope the girl next to me that wasn't feeling great is better now! It felt a bit too little for me, but again, it's been 6 years so even if he was singing the whole night it would still feel the same 😂 overall an amazing show beside the bumps along the way with the humans. Now back to my cage and I will be back to MFC in a couple of years 😂 if you want to see some of my videos and pictures check my highlights on my Instagram @pipinhas Was a pleasure to meet some of you and I hope my statement helps some people learning how to behave. Lots of love, Ana xx
17 pointsIs seeing Mika in the city where you live always transformative? Or is that just the city where I live? I moved to San Francisco four years ago, so I obviously haven't seen him since then. But I've also never seen him across the street from a favorite dinner spot, biking distance from my place, a bus ride home after... Somehow that made it even more special. My first Mika gig was also in the bay area, in Oakland in 2009. @sarac, @BangBangLou, Kira (@superstar) and I had a mini reunion in this queue which was amazing! I'll see y'all next time, and hopefully it won't be another 10 years before we're all together again!! Kira and I got a good spot on the left side of the stage. Entering the venue went much more smoothly than in Brooklyn, thank goodness! They even served drinks to people in the front before the show! From the fan experience this venue was nice, not crap like Mika said, haha. The lights also weren't so strong from behind so it was much easier to see him during the show. Kiesza was good, she's gotten more and more comfortable each night I've seen her (NYC x2 + here). She recognized the French fans for being at every show, and was tickled by Kira and I singing along to Giant in my Heart. Lots of eye contact from Chris as always. It's been fun to be a part of her return to the stage! When Mika came on (a couple minutes late...) it was amazinggggggg!!!!!!! He wasn't interacting with the audience much at the beginning, but you could see on his face that he was having a great time. One moment that I really enjoyed was when Max came up to join Mika for Relax, and then they both jumped at the same time, with Max copying Mika's signature jump. Very cute, I hope someone recorded that! I think this was the best version of Dear Jealousy I've heard so far as well. They really nailed the harmonies! Before Big Girl he started talking and told us about his journey to the venue. Apparently he walked 1 hour and 20 minutes to get here, because his phone had no more data so he couldn't call a lyft. While he was explaining this the keyboardist was playing the notes that would lead into Big Girl, and Mika told him to stop because the story wasn't interesting enough to warrant the background track, LOL. Anyway, first he asked someone how to get to The Fillmore, and they told him "that's an area" (which it is!) and then left. Then he was frustrated by a lady who looked like she was going to give him directions but just went back to her friend and had another conversation. Anyway, he finally made it, on foot, before the band (which explains why we didn't see him come in), and described having a sublime moment of dancing in the middle of the floor. All this to set up his entrance into the crowd for Big Girl!! He didn't go in the crowd in NYC, so I was so happy to experience this! The audience was SO into it!! That was when I knew the show was going to be really special. At the piano before Tiny Love he complained about the lady who didn't give him directions again, I think he was really shook by that :P. But the song was awesome of course. Tonight he didn't introduce Tomorrow as a new song at all, he just went right into it, and Kira and I absolutely lost it while everyone else was a bit confused. But over the course of the song, you could feel the crowd go from "what is this song?" to "I love this song!!" which was really amazing. But Kira and I were singing along and jumping the entire time, SO happy to hear it again!! Mika smiled when he caught a glimpse of us singing to the chorus and jumping around. My heart... He sang the end of Happy Ending without the mic, which it took a bit for the crowd to catch on to, but then we were absolutely transfixed. It was so genuine and so beautiful. Absolutely amazing. At the piano for Lollipop, he admitted "I played this gig partially for the poster," because at The Fillmore they make a poster for an artist that sells out and give it out at the exit. He said he imagined putting the posters up in his house and showing his grandchildren someday. But he complained that the first poster he got for his first gig here over a decade ago was a giant lollipop, and this one is a huge banana split with ice cream on it. He was miffed, but also a little tickled, that his career would be summed up with penis symbols. He wore the button-down shirt the entire gig tonight, and only changed into the t-shirt + scarf for the encore. He came back with a glass of water, and had a very genuine moment of disgust after he stuck his finger in and it was dirty. "Cheers," he raised the glass, "even though it's water," and promised that it would be less than four years next time. YES!!! Afterwards, they set up a barricade outside behind which we could wait for Mika. People were generally pretty nice, a woman even gave Nina her poster because they had run out by the time Nina was exiting. I didn't notice what time it was when he came out, but he stayed for a long time, signing posters and chatting with the very long line of people who had gathered. Kira asked him if it was the best show ever (she thinks so) and he said "I loved it." And he said "You two were phenomenal during Tomorrow" which,........ AHHHHH. I'm no more articulate about moments like that than I was when I was 16! Another thing he told another fan was that he's getting a cold, which I could kind of hear. His voice cracked a little bit during Blue and Happy Ending. I hope he can get some good rest before LA. Anyway, to sum it all up, last night was incredible. One of the best shows I've seen, but only made better by the fact that I made the trip to New York to see him there as well. Thank you, Mika. Can't wait to have you back. I took all my pictures of Mika during the show on Kira's phone since it has a better camera, but here's one of the poster: Thank you Lucy for taking these!! Even though they're blurry I think they really captured the moment ❤
17 pointsI will post a more in depth review and pictures and videos tomorrow, but I wanted to say 2 things on here tonight. 1. This gig was recorded for a live album and DVD. Look forward to it! 2. On a personal note, I got to meet Mika and it was a really incredible experience. I'm very emotional right now and I'm still letting it all sink in. Excellent gig, will do a full report tomorrow.
17 points
17 pointsNow this is a song with double meanings
17 pointsHere is my review. It won't be very long because I don't speak French so I don't know what they were talking about but I can say what in general was going on. We sat in The Voice audience at around 7 pm and we were taught when we suppose to applause the contestants and other organizational things. Then Kendji Girac and Claudio Capeo were singing their song Que Dieu Me Padronne. Coaches appeared around 8 pm and they sang together Fench song, sorry I don't know the title. Then the whole show has began. First performing contestant chose Mika for his coach and Mika was so surprised and happy that he hit himself in the eye area. After the performing 3 girls came to him with tissues and poultice. It was really funny to watch like people are running around him many times. The girls with the tissues, makeup ladies, someone with a fan, new water, someone to fix his hair. Seriously, no other coach had such care around himself like Mika. Don't know whether it's the 'star' thing that everyone were jumping around him like puppies? One time someone from the staff brought Mika a pill, don't know what for, was he ill or something? About the music. Some talents were better some have been worse. It was hard to concentrate while I've been watching at Mika all the time. By the way, me and my friend had really good seats because whether Mika was turned or not we could see him. I remember that there was a boy who came to The Voice 4 years ago but none of the chairs turned around and now every coach pushed the button for him. There was also a blonde girl called Coco who was talking with Mika a lot, there was a lot of laugh and she also chose Mika eventually (still don't know what they were talking about. I will probably find out when the show appears on tv and our team translate it). The new button thing. As you probably already heard there are 3 buttons on each chair assigned to each coach. Every coach can use the buttons only once on the rest coaches for the whole blind auditions or for the whole season (don't remember exactly). Pushing the button block the coach and the contestant cannot choose him. Mika already used his button on Jennifer but he still can use two other buttons on Soprano and Julien. During one of the breaks Mika started to talk to fans on the audience a little bit and this was our chance to be noticed by him. When he was asking where other fans are coming from I shouted Poland. He was really surprised where we are coming from because most of fans were from France or Italy. He looked like... After the recording we quickly got out from the studio to wait for our Mika outside. Fortunately, there weren't that many people yet and we stood in the first row by the railings. While we were waiting other coaches were leaving the studio. Jennifer on motorbike just waved to us. We didn't see Julien tho. Soprano stopped for a moment and took some pics but let's be honest everyone were waiting for Mika. Finally he came and what happened next was pure magic. I was surprised that I didn't forget how to speak standing in front of him. From this place I would like to thank to the other fans that they let us peacefully talk with Mika. There was no shouting, screaming, everyone was waiting calmly for their turn. So THANK YOU for that, it really meant a lot to us. The rest are just beautiful memories. That's all I can say. I hope you like it.
17 pointsHi everyone, This Saturday I was at the first Love show of The Voice thanks to the ticket I won on MFC. Thank you MFC! It's always a great opportunity to meet other fans, to see the show behind the scenes and mostly to see our Mika at a close distance! It helps us while waiting for his next album and his new concerts (Mika told us the new tour should be in 2019). My lucky star helped me win MFC tickets for The Voice... It's such a wonderful show, but do you think I was looking at the candidates or watching the show ?? NO! I didn't want to lose a glimpse of our Mika ! Mika who was happy for the lucky candidates and sad for the candidates who had to leave she show, even for those who were not in his team ... After the show I was among a group of French and Italian fans who were waiting for Mika outside the studio. He came out around 2h30 AM. He was with his mum who seems to have a legs problem as she was walking with a stick. She was waiting for him in the car and Mika when he saw us walked to us, without any security guard nor a safety barrier! Some of you know I left my family and my country in 2006 to come and live in France in order to build a better life, and since 2007 MIKA's songs and his universe make me live and give me again happiness which I had began to lose little by little... So all my family members in Iran became Mika fans ! I'm telling you that because my sister has drawn a beautiful artwork for me with Mika in latin and in persian, in the shape of a star which she he had sent to me as a surprise gift. So on Saturday night Alors samedi soir I dared asking Mika if he would sign this artwork (because he was saying it was getting late and that we should go to bed). He said yes and after that he signed more things and agreed to have some photos taken. I also asked him for a photo of us for the first time and he said yes and once I was close to him he talked to me !!! He asked me if I still lived in Iran, and I answered no. 😍💓 Meanwhile another fan was using my phone to take pics and make this wonderful moment last forever! He was looking at me with so much tenderness and so much respect.... Thank you from the bottom of my heart to MFC for this opportunity made possible by the hand of the person who drew my name! Please, give all my love to Mika team because of this unique opportunity they give us! And a huge thanks to Mika who cares about us and makes our dreams come true. Thank you so much Crazyaboutmika for the traduction. Bonjour tout le monde, Ce samedi j'ai participé au premier Live de The Voice grâce à mon ticket gagné grâce au jeu du MFC. Merci au MFC ! C'est toujours l'occasion de rencontrer d'autres fans, voir l'envers du décor et surtout voir notre Mika de près ! Cela permet aussi de patienter jusqu'au prochain album et des concerts (la tournée est prévue plutôt en 2019 a dit Mika). Ma bonne étoile m'a aidé à gagner au tirage au sort du MFC... Quel show magnifique, mais pensez-vous que je regardais les talents ou le show?? NON ! Je ne voulais pas perdre une miette de notre Mika ! Ce Mika heureux avec les talents heureux, et triste avec les talents qui quittent l'émission, même ceux qui ne sont pas dans son équipe ... A la fin de l'émission nous avons été un groupe de fans français et italiens à avoir attendre Mika à la sortie du studio. Il est sorti vers 2h30 du matin. il était avec sa maman qui a l'air d'avoir des problèmes aux jambes car elle marchait avec une canne. Elle l'a attendu dans la voiture. et Mika qui nous a vu, est venu à pied jusqu'à nous. sans vigile, sans barrière ! Certains d'entre vous savent que j'ai quitté ma famille et mon pays en 2006 pour venir vivre en France et construire une vie meilleure, et depuis 2007 les chansons de Mika et son univers me font vivre et me procurent une joie de vivre que je commençais à perdre petit à petit... Alors toute ma famille en Iran est devenu fan de Mika ! Je vous raconte ça car ma soeur m'avait dessiné un beau tableau qui représente le prénom de Mika en latin et en persan, le tout sous forme d'une étoile. Elle me l'a envoyé pour me faire la surprise. Alors samedi soir c'est moi qui ai osé demander à Mika s'il voulait bien signer son tableau (car il était en train de nous dire qu'il était tard et il fallait aller nous coucher) . Il a accepté de le faire et par la suite il a fait d'autres autographes et a pris quelques photos. J'ai voulu aussi prendre une photo avec lui pour la première fois, il a accepté, et une fois à côté de lui il m'a parlé !!! il m'a demandé si j'habitais encore en Iran, et je lui ai répondu que non. 😍💓 Pendant ce temps là une autre fan à qui j'ai donné mon téléphone pour prendre des photos a immortalisé ce merveilleux moment ! Il m'a regardé avec tellement de tendresse et tellement de respect.... Merci de fond du coeur au MFC pour cette occasion créée par la main de la personne qui a sorti mon nom lors du tirage au sort ! S'il vous plaît, transmettez à l'équipe de Mika tout mon amour car ce sont eux qui nous donnent cette chance unique ! Et un grand MERCI à Mika qui pense à nous et qui nous fait vivre nos rêves.
17 pointsNuovo anno e nuovo Thread! Dopo l'ultima registrazione di The Voice, ci aveva detto che ci aspettano tante novità per il 2018 e che non poteva dirci nulla sul nuovo album, ma che le nuove canzoni sono super! Quindi non vedo l'ora di ascoltarle e di rivederlo sul palco! Nel frattempo buon anno a tutti!
17 pointsOK, David's mum actually called me yesterday. She didn't really want to talk long, and I didn't want to upset her by asking too much. But she wanted to thank us all for making a contribution to the charity she's chosen, which is St. Benedict Hospice. I tried to tell her how much David had meant to the Mika Fan Club and told her I would send a check straight away. And then she had to hang up. The entire call lasted about a minute, so I didn't get the chance to ask her about flowers. So, thanks to you all, I will be sending a check today. I'll tell you what the total is after I do all the figuring. And if you all think it's OK, I'll send a small arrangement of flowers. I saw a small heart-shaped arrangement of red carnations that I thought might be appropriate. On a separate note, I wanted you all to know that Mika has definitely heard the news and was very upset. He will be doing something privately.
16 pointsHi everyone, I'm new here! I'm also really terrible at writing introductions! Sorry for that! You can call me Laurel (which, just to avoid misunderstandings, is (sadly) not my given name; I'm not going to mention my given name if I don't have to, because I hate that name). I'm 24 years old, and I'm from Germany, where I'm currently studying English and German at university; I also write and draw as a hobby, and I play a couple of musical instruments (accordion, guitar, ocarina, some ukulele, some tin whistle, can also kinda play the recorder if I have to) and enjoy singing (but badly, oops). TL;DR because I talk too much: always loved the music, never knew much about the artist, finally got off my butt and fixed that, am now completely and utterly smitten with the man and my friends will probably stage an intervention if I mention his name one more time, which is why I'm now here to grace you unfortunate people with my incessant rambling. - I've been aware of Mika's music since Grace Kelly came out in 2007 - and believe me, it was really hard to not be aware of that song since they played it on the radio so much - and have been stopping by to pick up a new favorite song every few years, more or less. Underwater, Rain, Kick Ass, Happy Ending and Toy Boy have been on my playlists and various MP3 players pretty much since they came out, and Blame It On The Girls joined that list eventually. Now, the thing is: I never had a look at Mika as an artist, really. I dug up a video of him singing either Grace Kelly or Rain on some talk show once back in about 2010 or so, and decided I didn't like him singing live very much and that bothered fourteen-year-old me. Yes, I have seen the error of my ways, but the point is that I only ever listened to his studio recordings and didn't know a thing about the guy behind the music, even though that music was always a part of my life. "Rain" was what I listened to when I did art for years, I had the thing on loop all the time, same with Kick Ass and all the other songs I listed earlier. I listened to Toy Boy a lot while writing, and was quietly amazed by how it's one of those very, very rare songs that's officially and pretty irrefutably gay. Also, that last verse still gets me all emotional. Grace Kelly was the soundtrack of my youth, at first just because it was catchy; then my English got better and the lyrics about having to bend over backwards to fit in and be marketable really resonated with me. I was a weird kid. Now I'm a weird adult, I guess. So, fast forward to the very recent past: I was just trying to dig up the Rain video again because I randomly remembered how absolutely gorgeous it is, and since I was listening to Kick Ass on youtube at that moment I figured I'd click through to the video via the official youtube channel instead of just searching for it. And then something caught my eye - the suit and frilly shirt in the thumbnail for Jealousy, I think, because it reminded me of the 3rd Doctor from Doctor Who. And the song's great, but the song and video in combination are striking. "Why hello there," I thought to myself, "that guy still makes music and it's still good and he still looks mesmerizing! Who'd have thought!" (okay actually it was less "mesmerizing" and more "why does he flail so much and how does his dancing look so good anyway, why can't I look away-" but I digress. I do love his dancing a lot, anyway.) And then, as one does, I threw myself down a youtube rabbit hole, wondering what else I'd missed. From Jealously to some of the other MNIMH stuff, then a swerve into some interviews after Sanremo ("Wait, gay? What happened to 'no labels'?" which should tell you how long it's been since I saw that talk show clip, lol, but that also made me really happy because I'm queer as heck myself), then to Boum Boum Boum (I'm a film nerd AND a huge history nerd; the thumbnail intrigued me, and the video warmed my geeky little heart, just because it was the last place I would ever have expected to find a Lawrence of Arabia reference of all things), and THEN the youtube recommendations threw his taxi driving shenanigans from CasaMika at me. Halfway through the second clip I watched, I realized how much he made me care about the random people he picked up, because somehow the segment was about them and not so much the famous guy behind the wheel, and that focus on other people was, paradoxically, what really cemented my newfound love for the guy behind my favorite music. (and then I realized that he was speaking Italian which I'd hardly even noticed before because I end up watching a fair chunk of Italian media due to my love for old Italian music, despite not actually speaking Italian myself and only understanding a tiny handful of it, and had some fun puzzling out why he was speaking Italian. Cue me complaining to my best friend how it's unfair that he can keep so many languages straight when I struggle with two, before realizing that he does not, in fact, always manage to keep all those languages straight and having a good laugh about how relatable that is) At that point I'd decided that I adored the man no matter what, so I decided to go and look at his live performances - the thing I originally really wasn't fond of as a kid. I think I started out with the Sinfonia Pop version of BBB - and THAT is obviously absolutely amazing and one of my new all-time favorite music things - before digging up a bunch of mixed TV and concert things from the entirely of the last decade and a bit and falling in love with his outfits and his sense of humor and his general live performance skills and the amount of love and energy he puts into all of it - good lord, he really does not do things by halves. Then I kinda stumbled through his TV work, and got another good look at all those fancy, fancy clothes, while also reading through a bunch of interviews and articles about him and started to reconcile all of those many, many different facets of him into one cohesive image and I love all his little contrasts - from that heartbreaking last verse to Toy Boy and the strange, fey beauty of the Rain video and his Imaginarium Tour (I'm incredibly disappointed by the lack of a DVD for that one, by the way) and his collected competence during Sinfonia Pop, to that kind, warm person chatting to random people in Italy and the incredibly lovable dork getting his butt stuck in a trashcan during a concert. A billion shining, sparkling sides all coming together in that magnificent being that influenced my youth so much, and I never even knew. Well, and now I'm here. I was a bit hesitant about showing up here since I don't usually do fan communities, I much prefer inflicting all of my interests upon my poor, poor followers in one place so I can switch topics better, but the fan club is pretty impressive and I do love good old internet forums so I'm here anyway. Hi folks, nice to meet y'all, so sorry for the wall of text. (also, German sadly isn't the most useful language for Mika fans, but if anybody ever needs something translated, I'm always happy to volunteer; I'm a German native speaker and my English should be passable, lol) OH, also, I do digital art (loosely based on this Voice screencap: [click]) Don't have his face down very well yet, but I have endless opportunities to practice I guess - the man is such a never-ending well of amazing facial expressions and general unbelievable prettiness. Funny how it's still his personality that won me over in the end.
16 pointsI did record my television when his family was singing for him 🤣 It's not great, but it gives you an idea of the surprises they had for him Enjoy my tv! 😂 video-1579403617.mp4
16 pointsIt's been over three long years since I last saw Mika (at the London Palladium) and the wait was all compensated for by the man last night. A simple, music show, no gimmics, just Mika and his incredible band. He sang all I thought he would and more, I think for the first time I didn't feel like there were some songs missing from my dream set list🤩 Me and my friend who has travelled all the way from Egypt to see Mika, were around row 4-5 centre stage. By the end of Relax I thought I had no more energy for dancing and singing😅 and then a true miracle happened... Mika came down during Big Girl with no security and completely unexpected and sang less than a metre away from us😍🤩❤ At this point I would like to thank all the fans that were in his proximity, you guys showed as much respect for Mika as he showed us his trust - not a single hand touched him, we just sang and danced with him completely awed. Of all the over 20 gigs I've been to, this moment will always stand out. A perfect crowd, an unbelievable energy and mutual joy! Mika was completely speechless seeing our "We've missed you" cards at the end of Ice-Cream and then the colourful lit up hearts that we rose up in Tiny Love. A beautiful brand new set list, an unforgettable night. It was amazing to see so many familiar faces (some from a distance) as well as new fans. Till the next time, guys. It was epic🤩❤
16 pointsI finally got a video to upload on Vimeo! Here's Tomorrow in full! And here's Dear Jealousy Last one is Blue
16 pointsThis morning when I was half-awake, I suddenly had the idea that Ronke and Mika represent two parts of the same person in the video, MIKA (Ronke) and Michael Holbrook (Mika). With this idea, the video suddenly makes sense to me. Not every bit, but most of it. The way I see it now, it's Mika's life story. The beginning was at the time when Mika was young, vintage clothes, braces - the separation of Mika from Michael. With Mika being the songwriter, the showman, and Michael his sensitive side, his fears. They're writing songs together, at the piano. Then Mika becomes bigger and bigger. At some point he's so big that he blocks Michael's view on the universe - then it's the line 'My name is Michael Holbrook...', and Mika realizes he needs Michael - when Ronke sings "I'd give up a hundred thousand loves for just this one". After that, they're equally sized again, and again they're writing songs together at the piano. The piano part fits to what Mika says about going back to writing songs the way he did for his first album. The eggs might represent his sensitivity. Not sure about the cherries yet, a guess is that they might stand for the good things in life - when Ronke eats the cherries, it somehow suggests decadence - it might be the big Mika becoming too decadent, too self-centered and ignoring his sensitive, vulnerable side. The eaten cherries on the floor might mean that others get all the good things (see "Promiseland"). I still can't make sense of the milk bottles and the knife. The skull, though a wild guess, might refer to Mika's suicidal tendencies at a certain point in his life (see "I'm gonna kill myself" in WAG). I got this idea of the two representing two sides of the same person because of what Ronke wrote under Mika's IG post, about Wiz wanting to create "an inner world, inhabited just by these 2 people".
16 pointsThanks Deb. Maybe it's really just about wanting some ice cream on a hot summer's day... while MFCers hear things like "condom". We should all go to the Naughty Corner. 🙈
16 pointsOnly when I see a new post here, hoping it might be actual news... (Hello to everyone who clicked on here for the same reason! )
16 pointsThe recordings of Stasera Casa Mika will be on the RAI's TV studios in Milan the 15th 18th 22nd 24th 25th and 29th October and the 1st 5th and 8th November 2017. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10155251834498040&id=6006248039 'Stasera #CasaMika' - Annuncio importante! Sappiamo che molti di voi attendono di partecipare alle registrazioni della trasmissione. Finalmente possiamo rivelarvi le date e tutti i dettagli che vi consentiranno di organizzarvi! Registrazioni del mercoledì: 18 e 25 Ottobre, 1 e 8 Novembre (orario 18-01 circa). Registrazioni della domenica: 15,22 e 29 Ottobre, 5 Novembre (orari 18-23.30 circa). *Dettagli - possiamo assicurarvi che la maggior parte dei posti in studio saranno assegnati ai soli fan di Mika, e gestiti attraverso gli annunci che potrete leggere sui nostri canali e quelli di Mika Italia: faremo di tutto pur di riuscire ad accontentare tutti nel corso delle settimane. Perciò vi preghiamo di scriverci solo quando siete davvero sicuri di potervi partecipare, così da non lasciare nessuno a casa scontento! Gli orari di registrazione, come lo scorso anno, saranno orientativi ed è richiesta la vostra partecipazione per tutta la durata delle riprese: ricordatevi che per accedere nello studio bisogna essere maggiorenni e vi sarà richiesto il documento di identità all'ingresso, per cui gestiremo gli accrediti per persone singole e non in coppia. Daremo il via ai primi biglietti, per la primissima registrazione, domani!!! Continuare a seguirci per tutte le info e buon divertimento! https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1625998690795793&id=123621077700236 *STASERA CASA MIKA* Avete voglia di un martedì pomeriggio diverso dal solito? Il 24 Ottobre, ci sarà una registrazione eccezionale! MIKA registrerà due momenti speciali del programma, solo due... non sarà una puntata intera ma una registrazione molto breve e imperdibile! La registrazione avverrà agli studi Rai di Milano Mecenate con orario di convocazione dalle ore 16 alle ore 19,30 circa. Da adesso fino alle ore 24 di domani potrete scriverci per partecipare alla registrazione come pubblico a questa mail: email@example.com Il metodo è sempre lo stesso: 1) indicate il vostro cognome, nome, data e luogo di nascita, indirizzo email e il vostro numero di telefono, insieme ai dati del vostro accompagnatore (massimo 5 incluso te). 2) Accertatevi che i dati inseriti siano corretti, perché vi sarà richiesto il documento d'identità all'ingresso dello studio. 3) L'oggetto della mail sarà 'Casa Mika – 24 Ottobre' - Se selezionati (ciò avverrà in maniera del tutto casuale), riceverete una mail di conferma da parte nostra con tutti i dettagli - Se minori di 18 anni, ma maggiori di 14, dovrete essere accompagnati da un genitore (che in questo caso sarà il vostro accompagnatore) e portare con voi un documento di identità e la liberatoria di immagine sottoscritta e firmata da entrambi i genitori (che vi invieremo all'atto della conferma); PER FAVORE! Inviate la vostra candidatura (UNA email per persona) solo se siete sicuri di poter partecipare al 100%. #StaseraCasaMika #Mika #Rai2 #Live #Milano #AGmedia #TV