For some reason gigs at the historical arena in Nimes, France, always turn out to be extremely special in a particularly emotional way. I find the arena gorgeous as a music venue. I often walk around the place during the gig afternoon before the arena is closed for the preparations just to see the full view because during the gig we are obviously only allowed to either to go to the pit or our own seats depending on our tickets. 

The day is always incredibly hot and sunny and the gates are always chaotic but when we are finally inside in the evening we have a moment to admire how amazing both the structure - amphitheatre - and the size - surprisingly compact - of the arena are. The audience covers the whole theatre and is visible for the artist the same way people even far away from the stage have a good visibility over the stage. The interaction is always quite remarkable compared to any big size venues and this time I paid even more attention to that than I usually do. 

The first date of the summer tour at Pinkpop in Holland was a one hour daylight festival performance with new colourful visuals and the biggest hits. The performance in Nimes a few days later was a long and fulfilling almost two hour show. The night was truly satisfying in every possible way. The setlist was basically similar as during the previous season but in my ears sounded totally different and included numerous new details and tones. 

One of the reasons why the gig turned out to be as emotional as it was, was definitely the French audience reacting to the French songs and generally the interaction between Mika and the crowd and him making the audience participate in several songs and the energy moving back and forth between these two elements. Some of the biggest highlights during the night were definitely C’es la vie and Jane Birkin, partly because it was wonderful to hear these songs and I had looked forward to that but also because the audience sang their part so heartwarmingly. We saw the choir ladies on stage which I always love and which seemed to fit together with the venue as well. Everything was a bit more classy and glamorous than at regular festival gigs! 

The audience singing along was not limited to these two French songs, of course. The crowd was made to participate also in Grace Kelly and Relax and the audience sang along spontaneously during many songs, like the lovely Good Guys, also waving their hands in the air during the cheerful Billy Brown. The show started with We Are Golden like at Pinkpop and this was the moment I personally had waited for, I wanted to have another look at the beautiful blue wings and this time Mika added some elegant twirls moving the wings and it was possible to see them “at work” a bit better and they looked strong and healthy and abundant indeed and I loved this moment, the most beautiful “big bird element” we have seen, combined with the sophisticated blue tone. 

Again, the wings were taken off right after the first song to continue with Origin and Lollipop without the jacket and wearing the elegant, slim pants and a white tank top. Origin continued smoothly after We Are Golden without the jumping intro but the end of the song was made particularly strong: the band was drumming, the choir was repeating “love, love, love” and Mika was jumping so hard we could hear his steps loudly and he made the audience sing (or scream) and repeat “love, love, love” as well. 

For Lollipop there was the speech in French and bird animations in the background and during Ice Cream after that the background canvas was full of flying dentures and suns. The end of Relax was done together with the crowd but for Yo-Yo after that the mood calmed down. Mika sat down on stage to do the beginning part before jumping during the dance part and as always this calm part was a huge, huge highlight and one of those parts I always look forward to at each gig, no matter how many times I’ve seen it.

For the next set of songs the outfit was changed to the fresh green “herb” suit and the set started with Big Girl and continued with Jane Birkin, Underwater and Good Guys. I had waited for Jane Birkin impatiently and enjoyed both the song and the audience reactions. Underwater is my usual favourite and the audience at the arena became a sea of beautiful lights and the atmosphere continued equally beautifully with the exciting new mood in Good Guys. 

The song had lovely new tones and I  enjoyed it as much as I had thought I would while listening to rehearsing before the gig. It felt like everything in the song suddenly happened nighttime. The atmosphere was beautifully dusky, Mika did gestures like hugging himself, at the same time swinging a bit from one side to another while the choir kept repeating the rhythm.  Everything was beautiful. The last song of this part of the gig was Billy Brown and was cheerfully done at the piano and it made the audience both sing and wave hands spontaneously and for sure was a pleasing addition on the setlist.

Then changing the outfit and this time to an elegant, glittery suit. First energetic Elle Me Dit, then beautiful Happy Ending giving some attention to the choir and then finally C’est la vie which clearly became the biggest highlight of the gig and was both emotionally performed and received. Listening to the song and watching everyone’s reactions made me in tears, an exceptionally moving moment. Then Grace Kelly and the rainbow and again the crowd took part loudly and just like at Pinkpop, I really enjoyed this moment and thought it made Grace Kelly fresh once again even though the rainbow was familiar. 

For final Love Today the outfit included new white, wide leg sporty pants and a special “collar” mixed with the colourful necklace we had seen also in Holland. I have no idea if the collar was a designer piece or received as a gift or from the atelier or if there’s a special story behind it, I had never seen an accessory like that before. For Love Today the box with text “DANGER” appeared and the huge heart came out and the energy coming from the stage was incredible, really. Fantastic, massive energy. An unexpected gig I thought afterwards, unexpectedly emotional and so full of energy.