The gigs at the Accor Arena - the venue better known as Bercy - in Paris are always totally different compared to any other gigs I see anywhere else in the world. Bercy must have a unique meaning for Mika as an artist and at least I can for sure say that my own experience there is totally different compared to my usual gig experience. I get several mixed feelings. To be honest, my usual gig excitement or enjoyment are not among the first ones of them. Instead I feel the pressure and the very special nature of the moment and the importance of the place. I feel always huge admiration and I’m definitely proud and impressed when I watch Mika’s performance there. He does it every time. I felt the Bercy effect already in 2010 but the feeling was even multiplied in 2016 and it was the same in 2019 and this year as well. 

 This year it seemed so effortless for him even though it couldn’t be that. Bercy is like a test he needs to pass every few year. Like Paris as a city was looking at him and demanding him to prove he really is as amazing as some people are telling. His family and friends and colleagues and fans all over the world gather in the audience. There are important people, VIPs. There are cameras everywhere. Press. Television. He needs to be totally focused, the show needs to work even better than it usually does. All this has nothing to do with me yet a half of me is trying to cope with the heaviness of that pressure. This year that half of me was almost hoping the show was done already and that we could just go back to usual gigs which I can fully and purely enjoy. 

 The other half of me is astonished by how amazing he really is. This year even more amazing than ever. The Apocalypse show is beautiful and it’s creative and something totally new and the way every single part of it was so flawlessly done was simply incredible and absolutely impressive. It never cease to amaze me how strong Mika can be the moment he needs to. How professional he is. The bigger the stress the better he becomes, he is extraordinary that way, and this year during the Bercy show I kept thinking oh wow how good you are! How you even can be that good! It was such a world class event. As good as a show can possibly be. 

 As a venue Bercy is big and formal. Mika says it’s still intimate and he is not wrong, the way he communicated with the audience and made the full venue participate and dance and party looked intimate indeed. It was just me who couldn’t totally relax or purely enjoy the show but I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else than there to witness that night. Such a great and important night. Not sure how it happened but even the fireworks did exactly what they were supposed to do. We saw naturally the full show with every possible stage element and outfit, even the blue bird one. We saw confetti and something that looked like snow and as a fan action colourful lights around the arena during Moi, Andy et Paris. Everything was absolutely beautiful.