MIKA GIGS

Apocalypse Calypso Tour & Club Apocalypso Summer Nights 2024

The transition between the Bloom tour (2023) and the Apocalypse Calypso tour (2024) was as smooth as a transition between two separate and totally different tours can be. The previous tour title May Your Head Always Bloom translated to be the title of the new French album Que ta tête fleurisse toujours that the new tour was based on. The new French album was released in December 2023 and the title song for the new tour was the third song on it. The new Apocalypse Calypso show was in advance described as a frantic, the end of the world style dance party where emotions go from one extreme to another but the final arena result wasn’t just a chaotic party. It was a carefully planned, exceptionally satisfying two hour concert with numerous new songs and impressive show elements. 

As typical for any tour era the Apocalypso era didn’t consist of only one tour but three different tours with one common theme which eventually evolved into one big tour era. The spectacular arena tour part started in the end of February in Clermont-Ferrand, France and continued in 16 more French cities and 5 cities outside France. The new French songs were performed only in French speaking areas and after the arena tour we saw an absolutely heartwarming small UK tour with a totally different setlist and less show elements in 5 cities in the UK and Ireland. After that there was a couple of months break and the Orange philharmonic concert and then the summer continued as an elegant and joyful summer tour with 20 fantastic festival gigs in 8 European countries. The summer setlist varied depending on the location and again, the new French songs were performed only in French speaking areas. The language at summer gigs varied between French, English, Italian, Spain and partly even German. The three concepts completed each other becoming an amazing, huge and very full tour experience. 

Analytically thinking every tour has always three main elements. The first and the most important is the setlist part including the variety of songs, different performances and arrangements and transitions between songs, the last ones being small but surprisingly important details in creating moods. The second element is visuality meaning show elements, outfits and costumes. This time the backgrounds were digital instead of old-school stage backgrounds and included small animated clips and changing images or patterns. The third and extremely crucial element of each tour is immaterial and includes the general tour atmosphere and emotions expressed during each gig, the energy on stage and in the audience and the interaction between the artist and the crowd. A part of that is unpredictable and depends on the style of the venue, the size of the audience and the geographical location/cultural differences but is still mostly something that can be guided by the artist. The third element is something that can define a gig or whole tour. 

The big arena tour, the smaller UK tour and the summer festival tour created all a totally different mix of tour elements showing us a different side of Mika and for that reason I felt and still feel extremely grateful I could see them all. At the same time I of course had and have my own favourite parts and gigs as always. 

The big arena tour had an absolutely amazing setlist especially meaning the collection of the songs and the literal setlist. I have rarely enjoyed a new big setlist as much as I did this time and I immensely enjoyed the new French songs that were a big part of it in every French speaking location. Songs like C'est la vie and Jane Birkin became instant classics like they had always been a regular part of the setlist. 30 secondes created a classy, beautiful piano moment and during the title song Apocalypse Calypso the audience formed a sea of waving hands since the beginning.  In addition to 7 new songs the arena tour setlist included my huge personal favourites Feels Like Fire and Any Other World, many strong classics and audience favourites and for example Yo-Yo which I particularly liked for its energy. What made the arena shows even sweeter was the familiar little pre-show playlist and the after-show loveliness: the symphonic tunes during the good byes and hearing I See You while collecting our belongings and slowly walking out of the venue, everyone still mentally in the show atmosphere. 

The show elements for the arena show were enormously ambitious. For Bougez  Mika appeared on stage in a giant bird cage wearing a red suit and big red wings giving the show an extremely grand and theatrical start. The opening performance with the cage was stunning but the song worked later during the summer equally well even without any show elements simply highlighting the energy and at the Brighton Pride the wings added Relax an iconic vibe. These kind of small changes and "mixing" show elements between songs in a new way are what make the show evolve during each era. During the Apocalypse Calypso show my absolute favourite moments with big show elements were freeing the red bird from the cage in the beginning of the show and the "big transformation" with the gorgeous blue bird outfit in the end of it. 

As other show elements we saw an elegant white wing shaped piano during 30 secondes, a huge rainbow coming out of it during Grace Kelly and a giant sign saying Club Apocalypso Mika standing on it coming down from the ceiling during C'est la vie. During Happy Ending the stage was filled with fog and with gorgeous lights the view was breathtakingly beautiful. In the beginning of C'est la vie the eyes in the stage curtain were lighted before opening the curtain and laser style lights in different colours filled the arena. My favourite background details were the tiny elephant walking across the scene in the beginning of Feels Like Fire and the extremely simple yet stunning flowers opening during Any Other World. 

For arena shows venues are always big and impersonal and that way the atmosphere is slightly industrial by its very nature. As a part of the concept the show is more fixed than it is at smaller venues. With big light shows and carefully planned backgrounds it's not easy or even possible to make those little changes that give smaller gigs their different unique tones. We saw still numerous special details like guests on stage also at arenas and seeing the long, more than two hour show night after night again and again was one of the most satisfying concert experiences I've ever had. The setlist was incredibly generous and the show rich with show elements from the beginning to the very end.

The biggest separating factors between the shows are still always in the atmosphere and energy and my arena favourites were the ones where the mood on stage was the most relaxed like Montpellier or Geneva and the ones where the energy in the audience was particularly good like Bordeaux or Brussels. As always the French part of the arena tour culminated at Paris Bercy and the flawless Accor Arena show on March 25th was also recorded for television. After numerous French shows we saw the English version of the Apocalypse Calypso show in Amsterdam and Berlin before the arena tour became the UK tour and the concept changed drastically. In Berlin the setlist included Jane Birkin even though it was otherwise English and the small gesture felt warm and trustful.

In the UK the venues were clearly smaller theatres and music venues which meant less big-size show elements. Also, the shows were purely in English (Elle Me Dit excluded) and didn't include any new French songs. Less show elements and no new gorgeous songs at all could have meant a considerable downgrade after the arena tour but surprisingly the tour got a totally new and extremely special warm atmosphere and became one of the most heartwarming little tours I had seen so far. For example in Wolverhampton the big white piano couldn't fit on stage so Billy Brown was simply played with an "air piano". The whole UK tour experience was surreal and like travelling in time. Like the past two or three albums had never even happened, like the audience had simply waited for Mika to come back after a break. The crowd welcomed him so warmly, we saw such emotional moments that everyone - both in the audience and on stage - had tears in their eyes. As much as I like to see all the details from close distance I wanted to also see different perspectives and seeing the London show seated and being able to watch the enormous energy in the astonishingly loud crowd below me was a touching moment.

Even though we didn't hear any of the wonderful new songs I still immensely enjoyed the UK part of the tour and for a moment everything was lovely and simple and I wondered why life can't be that simple all the time. We saw gigs in Brighton, Wolverhampton, Manchester, London and Dublin and this little tour of five warm shows completed the big arena tour in way I hadn't expected in advance at all. In the very end there was one more postponed arena gig in Brest and we had a possibility to hear the full French setlist once again. The gig in Brest gave the arena tour an important closure and was generally fantastic in every way. Then the full Apocalypse Calypso tour and the UK tour were all done. I was travelling for almost 8 weeks before returning home which was the longest trip I had ever done during years. It was a beautiful experience and I genuinely had to thank my family for being so patient with me and my travelling.

The summer started with the Orange philharmonic concert around Midsummer before starting the festival season in Pérouges in the end of June. The summer festival show was a festival version of the Apocalypse Calypso show and officially the summer tour was called Club Apocalypso Summer Nights. After seeing the massive two hour Apocalypso show numerous times during the spring I wasn't sure if the limited festival show could possibly offer anything new or anything particularly special but as always, I was ready to enjoy the summer season. Little did I know, the summer tour turned out to be the happiest part of the year. After the controlled and even stressed arena concept the festival concept was full of joy and relaxed vibes which I absolutely loved. Every venue, location or event was so different compared to each other that the show had to be somehow different each time as well. The season was called "summer nights" and my photos from those weeks seem quite dark indeed but the time period was still full of lightness, colours, pure joy and even literal sun light.

During the summer we saw several castles, botanical gardens and parks. We saw smallish village festivals and huge, internationally known events. We saw gigs in France, the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, even in Greece the second time ever. Every occasion was so different that it feels impossible to pick favourites. I loved the amazing, energetic performance at Solidays in Paris with the giant red heart, the casual and relaxed local vibes in Rodez or Luxey in France and Vilacarsía in Spain, hearing many personal stories in Athens and London, generally being back in the UK and particularly being lucky to see the iconic Pride performance in Brighton and for example to experience one of the loveliest ever outdoor gigs in Bonn in Germany. I travelled almost as long as I did in spring and this time I combined seeing gigs with family holidays in France and spent a few days with my son in Barcelona around the local gig. 

Some summer gigs like the Carcassonne in France, Barcelona in Spain or Lucca in Italy were seated but sometimes we waited long festival days standing in the crowd to see Mika only at midnight. The festival show was shorter than the arena show and even in France we saw only three new French songs which were C'est la vie, Jane Birkin and Bougez. All that didn't matter at all and I loved each and every performance. I loved the summery joy and lightness and I loved the elegance we got back in form of beautiful elegant suits that I had missed during the spring tour. I loved the colours in the pretty flowers that flowed over the piano and sometimes rained to the audience and the adrenaline in the end of Love Today which felt almost intoxicating. I couldn't get enough of it or the other details. My favourite songs along C'est la vie and Jane Birkin were definitely Origin and the classics like Underwater, Happy Ending and lovely occasional Good Guys or Billy Brown that created a cheerful energy especially in Brighton. 

After the generous amount of songs and show elements during the Apocalypse Calypso tour and the super emotional and warm atmosphere during the UK tour the summer gave us joy, elegance and pretty colours to complete the era. A beautiful, beautiful mix of different elements. 

During the months we saw the full scale of colours in different elements and outfits. We saw rainbow coloured lights crossing huge arenas, the sparkling pastel colour sign that invited us to spend summer nights, even the glossy rainbow suit glowing in pink, yellow and green. My absolute favourite outfits were the gorgeous feathery jacket in the richest blue colours from spring and the shiny light blue flower patterned suit from summer shows, the most elegant outfits I had ever seen, but for this summary I wanted to keep the look simple and chose only red and white images. The big photo is from the Brighton Pride and I like the body language in it, it's expressive, like embracing the love coming from the audience. In the smaller pictures the confident cowboy and the goofy, adorable Mika are side by side, next to each other. The big heart is from Solidays and tells us that doing everything with love is what is the most important in making music, creating shows and life in general.