The gig at Le Liberte in Rennes and the fifth show of the Apocalypse Calypso Tour started in a hugely dramatic way with Bougez and freeing the red firebird from the cage. It became obvious since the first seconds that the audience would scream a lot and during certain songs the screaming totally covered even the music.The audience was also singing and that turned out to be an important element for the night because Mika announced he has a bad flu and that he would need all the supportive singing available. 

It was clear he wasn’t feeling well and singing must have been very uncomfortable for him but he did all the songs as far as he could and then, if needed, asked Max or the audience to join and sing with him. I always feel bad for Mika if he needs to perform not feeling well and it’s simply wrong his health has no role role nor priority when planning the tour schedules but the gig itself went to be honest very well especially the circumstances considering and the atmosphere was even particularly beautiful and warm because the crowd was clearly on his side and took part of the show in a very supportive way. I did the same and just took a few photos of the show elements like the wing piano because had a great view on it.

I quickly took a couple of photos of the suits when Mika and Max were heading to the crowd during Big Girl and thought the bright yellow and pink looked fantastic together against the blue background. The most elegant stage element must however be the white piano with the wing. The whole scene is extremely stylish with only splashes of colours on the background not taking too much attention from the piano itself. The suit is white as well with only the face detail and some colour in the shoes. As an element the piano is not as dramatic as the birdcage in Bougez or as colourful as the giant sign coming from the ceiling for C’est la vie but it definitely looks elegant with big curvy lines and with this performance 30 secondes has become one of my favourite parts of the show. 

After 30 secondes the piano revealed the huge rainbow for Grace Kelly and the whole stage became rainbow coloured the backgrounds included and always cheers me up to see Grace Kelly updated to this day. It’s such an important song that has to be there but it doesn’t have to ever be boring, it can be updated again and again and it deserves the rainbows.

After Grace Kelly I didn’t take any photos and only focused on the show and could clearly see how tired Mika already was and as typical for him he wouldn’t even shorten the show in any way but wanted to offer the audience the full show as planned and only asked for some help for singing. C’est la vie was done this time without the big sign, probably because the ceiling wasn’t high enough but in this situation that felt a safety issue as well. In the end and just before the final We Are Golden he did Any Other World exactly according to the setlist and it was somehow incredibly touching and I was listening and watching the water lilies and opening blooms in animations tears in my eyes. One of the most powerful moments. It’s moment like Any Other World and Underwater we remember long after the show, the memories created are the strongest.