~Wicky~

Not sure if I'll go, but is there by chance someone that goes to the festival and travels from the Northeast of Belgium (province 'Luik' or 'Limburg') or the Southeastern of the Netherlands?

Just bumped into the post of Eriko in the 'before the concert thread'... it's about the audio from the 'Les Ardentes festival' broadcasted on Pure fm (Belgian radio). Guess it's nice to post it in this thread too! Thanks Eriko, I'm reliving the whole concert!

That's right! I wasn't sure either, but I remembered your name...

Sorry to hear that Ilseh! I'm not sure, but I guess you are the girl I talked to very shortly, while waiting at the backstage entrance (about Belgian girls being to gentle when it comes to 'defending' a spot). You're right that the place wasn't ideal for waiting; you can't stay on your spot when a truck is going to override you. I really hope that you will have your moment with Mika another time!

Ow, I just loved Mika’s performance at the Les Ardentes festival! So many thanks to the MFC moderators... due to the competition you organized, I could go with my best friend (I bought one ticket for myself already, but after I won the tickets I could surprise my friend too)! I always love to read the reports from others, so this time I'll do my best to share my festival experiences with you all. The festival day started with packing all my stuff (oh my, my bag was heavy), picking up Patricia4you from the train station and dropping the sleeping gear at my house. Cause I live close to Liege, we decided to go quite early and try to get a place front row. After picking up my friend, we arrived at the festival just before the gates opened. When we arrived, there was already a bunch of people in front of the festival site (I guess Mika fans, cause they were wearing numbers on their hands?). Because I had to collect my tickets at a desk at the entrance, I couldn’t get in when they actually opened the gates (they couldn’t find my name on the guest list *aaah*). So when the gates opened, Patricia went in and my friend and I waited till they contacted someone about the guest list. When we arrived at the Open air stage, Patricia managed a front row place at the left side of the stage. Then the waiting began.... Thanks to Patricia (she made the letters M-I-K-A out of foam) we had some nice pillows to sit on during the day! The fact that we “sat on MIKA”, provided a nice subject for a few hilarious conversations . As the day wore, a lot of Mika fans arrived. It was lovely to speak with some of them, even though I didn't talk too long.... (unfortunately I didn’t catch Jolanda; so no stories for me about her baking experiences, broadcasted on the Dutch television). My friend and I, spent some time wandering around the festival (it’s such a nice and relaxed festival) and Patricia tried to learn me juggle in front of half of the festival crowd (I really suck at it). I enjoyed the music of the other artists, even though their music was not really my cup of tea. I just enjoyed the festivaI day as a whole! One hour before Mika was on, there was a change of security guys. The two security men in front of us were really nice; they were fooling around a lot with us and the Mika accessories. At eleven O’clock Mika’s performance started *Wow, Boom, Tingling*! I must admit that I missed the first few minutes of the performance, cause a lot of photographers wanted to photograph us while we were holding the MIKA letters up in the air. I was a bit afraid that Mika would be really tired in this busy festival period... but when the performance started, the opposite was the case. He was so energetic and put down an amazing show. We held up the MIKA letters a couple of times (sorry for those people standing behind us, we really tried to limit it) and as far as I can judge, Mika noticed them during the concert (he smiled at once, when he looked to our side of the stage). At one point the security man asked Patricia to hand over the Mika letters and he placed them at the stage (where they were taken off after two songs... after the concert nobody knew where the letters were gone to, so Mika has a nice set of pillows now ). I really loved the way Mika re-arranged the old songs (he adds so many styles of music to it now)! I’m not sure about the order of the songs, but I do remember that he sang the following songs: Un soleil mal luné, Relax, Blue eyes, Billy Brown, Love you when I’m drunk, Big girl, Rain, Happy ending, Grace Kelly, Underwater, Elle me dit, Origin of love, Celebrate, Popular song, Stuck in the middle, Love today, We are golden and Lollipop (don’t know if I did forget one...). In my experience, he didn't chat that much, but I'm okay with that: I just love the music! I danced my ass off and sung along a lot (my throat still hurts). After the concert we decided to stay at the backstage entrance till two O’clock (my friend had to work in the early morning). The band left quite fast, but Mika didn’t came out till (from what I’ve heard) half past three. I’m really glad that a lot of fans got the chance to meet him and that Jolanda had such a nice meeting with Mika’s mom (that story made me glow inside ). Hope to see all of you again at one of Mika's concerts! Edit: I just noticed, that the setlist is already posted, so just forget my whole song-enumeration.

Unfortunately I can't make it this evening, so much to do... aaah! Wish you all a lovely evening, hope to see a lot of you tomorrow!

Guessed that already... but what was the cause of the near death of Rose? Did she run over Rose with a loading trolley, did she tell Rose that Mika decided to have a mustache, did she suggest that the Liege show is on Saturday instead of Friday or was it just the fact that she showed up at the airport (no intention to offend of course)?

Young lady... since when do you dress up like a strange old dude in London to scare the hell out of Rose? No really, what happened?

We did the same back then... we just enjoyed the festival and headed over to the stage at around 5pm. It's quite a laidback festival in my opinion!

And to divert the attention from Mika's 'lobster redness' to the dog, I would recommend the following:

Thanks for posting! Mika's face at 00:23 really made me smile; enough shininess to get me working on my thesis again!

You could try indeed, there is a JBC store in the shopping mall in Liège (Luik)! And a little bit off topic: there is a Primark in the same shopping mall (in The Netherlands I don't have a Primark in the neighborhood)

Wanted to buy the white blazer too... it was sold out at the store, so I tried the website; but no Mika clothes online anymore. Edit: I just read on Facebook, that all the online items are transferred to the stores.

I just would like to point out, that the Mika clothing is reduced in price at the JBC stores (well at least in the city Maasmechelen). Yesterday the clothing was also for sale at the website, but I can't find it anymore today.

Woow, what a wonderful experience! I am so grateful, sfsmg1 you are my number one hero for this evening!

Aaaah thank you for posting!

Thanks for the translation and link Deb! "For those reasons I have thrown myself into this crazy challenge and this is why my 24 year old teacher is traveling with me as I continue to tour around the world". What have I done wrong? Wait... I can't speak and read Italian at all!

Aaah

Whoohoo, that's a half hour less time waiting! *Although I'm not one hundred percent sure, that Mika performed at 23.30 hour two years ago... I just guessed in my earlier post*

Just saw on the Les Ardentes website that Mika will perform from 23.00 till 00.30 hour.

I was under the assumption that his shoes were to slippery for the catwalk...

It was such a lovely evening, I had such a great time with you guys! Don't have a lot to add to the report of Annemaaike. The 'queueing' was very relaxed, at 6.30 pm there were only 50 people waiting, I guess. The entering into the event went quite calm, even though I didn't take the time to grab champagne and pretzels. I enjoyed the fashionshow, though the women designs were very short in my opinion. However, I found the ice cream colours of the womens and girls clothing line really attractive and I loved the little details in the clothing (lace, little pins etc.). The Mika performance was the highlight of the evening of course! I just loved how Mika put a 'gospel' twist into the intro of some of his songs! Never heard that before live... There was enough space to dance and there was no pushing at all! The waiting backstage went quite too, but the security wasn't convinced; they behaved quite stressed. In the ten minutes befor Mika came out, I almost left (thanks to my parents, who didn't mind waiting for me, I stayed to see Mika). In my opinion he took a lot of time to talk to his fans! He chatted a lot and suggested that women can wear the mens shirts too (we discussed that earlier, so we had to laugh when he mentioned it). All in all it was a special evening! Annemaaike are you sure it is you singing on your vids (haven't listened yet)? I discovered after a while that you were filming, so from then on I kept my mouth shut, cause I really can't sing in tune That name fits him perfectly, Ingrid! What an annoying man, he thought that the whole performance was organized for himself. Me too! And the Belgian girls (sorry forgot their names) who were interviewed afterwards, are in it too. Edit: Does someone know what company was filming Mika's performance (the cameraman was standing in the VIP section)?

It can't be that difficult, just to wait your turn! Let's see how it works out tomorrow...

So happy for you Ilseh, congratulations!