Selected notes / Heaven Tour Asia 2016
Korea 2016
Bexco Auditorium in Busan 11/2/2016, Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul 12/2/2016 & Exco Auditorium Theater in Daegu 14/2/2016
The atmosphere in Daegu was fantastic and Mika was in his top form. Mika started with breathtaking Porcelain, My Interpretation and Talk About You and continued with the same set list as in Seoul except adding Last Party and leaving Stardust out. Not in exact order after the start: Grace Kelly, Good Wife, Big Girl with a small girl from the audience on stage. Boum Boum Boum and Good Guys. Underwater with lovely lights, Staring At The Sun walking in the audience. Relax starting sharply without any piano intro, Origin, energetic Promiseland, Lollipop with the band around the piano, Happy Ending, EMD, Last Party, We are Golden and Love Today as an encore with confetti.
The Korean audience is truly amazing, everyone from the first row to the back of the venue lives along singing, dancing and waving their lollipops and lights. The local fan club plans several fan actions for every show contacting the venue and preparing everything in advance. This time they had instructed mobile lights for a couple of songs and prepared blue paper planes to fly during Happy Ending. It was an absolutely beautiful moment. At the exactly right time the whole audience started to fly their planes and the venue was filled with flying blue paper planes. So incredibly pretty and made Happy Ending even more special than it usually is. Mika smiled and obviously loved the sight and equally beautifully rewarded the audience singing the end of the song without his microphone. Breathtaking. I had tears in my eyes.
After that it took only a few notes of Last Party to make me extremely emotional. So sad and beautiful! My seat was very far right so I watched the confetti as an outsider, it didn’t reach my area. When the gig ended I thanked the sweet girl next to me who had prepared planes for me even without asking and the kind young security guy directly in front of me. As soon as he realised he was blocking my tiny view he went down into a very tiring position and stayed in it only stretching his legs from time to time. Can’t believe he really did that, tells something about the Korean mentality.
Japan 2016
Grand Cube in Osaka 16/2/2016 & NHK Hall in Tokyo 18/2/2016
Shortly: Such a great show in Tokyo, my favourite gig of the Asia tour so far! Elegant seated venue. Amazing voice. Wonderful version of No Place In Heaven. Stunning Happy Ending and the ending part that was very much appreciated. Hurts as another surprise addition. Relaxed and lovely atmosphere.
Hong Kong 2016
The Vine in Hong Kong 22/2/2016
I knew in advance the Hong Kong venue was small and lovely but still didn’t expect to love the gig as much as I eventually did. The capacity must have been only a few hundreds, the place was tiny and not only an event venue but also a church. The stage was so small only the Heaven sign and instruments could fit on it and the audience was directly in front of it, there were no barriers between Mika and the crowd. A fancy looking security walked us in and everything was calm and polite.
After only a short waiting the band came to their spots and Mika followed them sitting at his piano and started with Porcelain and it was wonderful to be so close and to see every single detail, this was the first time I saw the band playing Porcelain, and I loved the beginning even though at first the sound was a bit loud and the stage resonated like it does when you are very close to it. He continued with My Interpretation, Talk About You and Grace Kelly and the gig had a proper start.
Mika asked a fan on stage during Boum Boum Boum and came very close to the audience while singing Staring At The Sun. I thought he might want to walk in the middle of the audience like he did in Korea and Japan and was ready to give him space but he decided not to come down but stay on stage leaning very close to the audience. The whole situation reminded me of the Verboten gig in Brooklyn where he was equally close – so close he could just take my eye glasses without a warning – and suddenly he took my glasses again, just for a few seconds as he really can’t see with them, and it was funny and I was wondering if he could remember the earlier situation. Sweet of him to do little things like this and gives a feeling he can notice people. He did his best to answer comments and touched people’s hands and asked another fan on stage to dance with him.
The whole gig was very funny and full of silly little details. Mika took everything the audience gave him - hats, pictures, posters, Christmas decorations, everything - and hung them on Max who looked like a little Christmas tree still playing like nothing had happened. The setlist was the same as earlier without any additional songs but felt somehow more special because everything happened so close to people and we could see and hear every detail so well. He did Happy Ending putting his microphone side in the end and the audience went absolutely crazy shouting his name which was a cool moment and made him look quite pleased.
I felt so grateful being there that I had to turn around and give hugs to my husband who was standing behind me and say thank you for spending his winter holidays in Hong Kong and China with me. I love venues like The Vine and listening to Mika from a close distance. Mika finished Love Today and the show was over and wished I could have just asked him not to go yet and I'm sure I wasn’t the only one feeling that way. I didn’t want the gig to end. These small ones are my favourites and I would love them to continue forever. It took a long time to say goodbye to everyone, I was happy I could see so many new and familiar faces.
China 2016
A8 Live in Shentzhen 23/2/2016 & QSW Culture Center Q Hall in Shanghai 25 & 26/2/2016
The concert in Shenzhen was such a surprise. I never knew Mika has this kind of dedicated following in China. The venue was clearly bigger than the one in Hong Kong but still something I call a small venue. The crowd was loud and knew all the lyrics and were singing loudly every single song. It was amazing to watch Mika with his Asian fans. He made a lot of contact with people and went close to them. During many songs he didn’t even stay on stage but went to the same level with the crowd. He was touching fingers, shaking hands, giving or receiving hugs, pulling people on stage, pointing them and talking to them.
It took only three hours to get from our Hong Kong hotel to the venue in Shenzhen but the trip was actually quite complicated with a taxi, train, immigration point, metros and one more taxi and both my husband and I realised we were lucky we got such detailed advices from our new Hong Kong friends.
A8 Live in Shenzhen was one the most luxurious venues I’ve ever been to. The lobby for the venue was a really nice cafe and the staff let us in so we could have comfortable seats and tables, coffee, food and toilets while waiting for the gig. A young Chinese girl gave everyone a little Mika pic with a queuing number and everyone respected the system and made a nice queue just before it was time to check our tickets. We got a stamp in our hands and five nice ladies made it politely but strictly clear that everyone takes their own place in the queue after having their tickets checked. The crowd was pushy and almost climbing to the stage and the venue was so hot that breathing felt difficult but I forgot all that the moment the gig started.
Some comments and observations. I absolutely loved Porcelain in the beginning of the show. It started slowly but the band made it powerful and it worked really well. Almost immediately after the beginning the first fan was lucky to be on stage and the audience went wild just seeing it and the girl on stage had the time of her life. The band played powerfully in other songs as well. The lights were wonderful and looked exceptionally good. I loved Staring At The Sun done close to the audience and my husband liked it as well and especially mentioned the song after the show. The local audience seemed to be very much into small show elements like soft toys and a lot of playing was included. The crowd made an effort and Mika wanted to show he appreciated it. My absolute favourite song was Last Party once again and I felt transferred to another world.