Let's see what I can write about yesterday's gig... It was the first time I was going to see 2 Mika gigs so close in time (I was in Roubaix on Wednesday), it was the first time I wasn't sad after a gig because this one in Brussels was coming so close. So I was already on my little cloud.
I arrived at the venue at around 10.30, about 30 people were waiting. The queuing was not the easiest I've done : cold and rain in the morning and then in the afternoon they made us queue in number order quite early so we didn't move much anymore and we could really feel the wait was long. I had a chat with different people though and it's always nice and made this special.
At 7 they let us in and I ended up second row a little bit on the left. There was a DJ playing a set; not particularly my cup of tea but I was singing along with the rest of the crowd and we could feel excitement growing up. We were ready to explode and then Mika arrived! ... And started with Un Soleil Mal Luné He looked lovely, it was a special moment, first song I was already emotional, and this mood stayed with me for the rest of the gig.
In my Roubaix report I was talking about the accurate description of his gig being small and getting bigger and explosive, but this time it was even more obvious. As I think Droopsy said, in Roubaix the audience was a little bit more into it right from the beginning, but I think because it didn't start with such a slow song. So I guess yesterday it was his intention and it worked well.
The things that were planned, that is to say balloons on OOL, shiny 'pompoms' on Celebrate, bubbles on Underwater and lights on Stardust worked well. The most impressive was the balloons. Origin of Love was one of these songs where I was quite moved. I may be crazy but I thought he was almost crying at the beginning? I don't know why he couldn't sing properly the first few lines I also really liked Happy Ending. Usually I need some time after the gig, watching videos to realise what I've lived, but this time on OOL and HE I knew I was there listening at that moment and it was beautiful.
Apart from that, the rest of the time we were just crazy, I really liked LYWID, with the little dance moves we all did, and the fan filming on stage, fun!! I'm glad he did WAG, which he didn't do in Roubaix, I think that's when the boy went on stage and danced, funny to watch The Polka Dot Choir was great, really energetic and made a lot of gesture that the audience would then pick up.
Mika didn't talk that much, not as much as in Roubaix anyway; he mostly spoke French but then sometimes switched to English. He talked about being back in Belgium and this time not performing under the rain, he made fun of someone who was still wearing the bracelet from this Summer's festival, saying it was probably all infected; he complained about receiving cuddly toys on stage and said he'd rather get a bottle of wine or chocolate He struggled trying to take off his bow tie during half of the show, we could feel his pain and then his relief when he finally put it away He was also trying to talk about Bonfire Night in the UK (because exploding balloons really sounded like fireworks) and he started with 'on the 5th of November' and a whole part of the crowd shouted at him that it was the 3rd of November. He wasn't really happy about that 'You think I'm saying we're the 5th of November in the UK while we're the 3rd in Brussels?'
After the gig we went to wait outside, nothing was organised, we could feel chaos coming up. I think nobody really understood that Mika would arrive so 'quickly', I mean after they made us all move backwards and then forward again. But then he was there with a great smile on his face and madness started. No barriers, just security guys trying to hold up people, I don't like that. By total luck I was right where Mika started going and I had him look at me for the first time Because I wanted him to sign the glowing lollipop from Seoul that Yuna gave me, and I think he was intrigued, he said 'That's from South Korea!' Then he was gone I could still take some pics from afar so I know I was quite lucky.
Today I stayed in Brussels mostly with Ilse, had a look around the city and went to eat with French girls Stéphanie, Audrey and Sylvie. We were all still in our little dream... Next time for me, Paris! Can't wait