I was impatiently looking forward to the smallish event in Basel yet the performance and the atmosphere during it definitely exceeded my expectations. The Baloise Session is a series of concerts happening in October and November and each night offers one or two artists on stage. The concept is special and quite fancy and the audience is seated around small tables. It wasn’t possible to choose seats and the gig was sold out in minutes but people managed to buy and sell tickets to find better seats. The organisers told since the beginning that during the gig it will be allowed to move to the area close to the stage despite of the original seat and the thought made me anxious in advance. 

I love small intimate venues but prefer either standing or the kind of seating where people stay at their seats either sitting, standing or dancing depending on the song because people running and pushing their way after the first few songs inevitably makes the gig chaotic not in a good way. In that situation I try to follow the crowd and hope everything goes well and luckily in Basel it all ended well. I had a front row table seat on the side and when people started to push I moved closer still keeping my place and could see the gig very well and enjoyed the lovely circumstances.

I spent the weekend in Basel with my husband celebrating our wedding anniversary day. We had originally other travel plans but when the gig was announced I immediately wanted to see it and luckily my husband, who during years has seen numerous Mika gigs and always enjoyed them, agreed. As the first artist we saw Natalie Imbruglia and her performance was very pleasant even though I didn’t know her music in advance. Before Mika started the security told it will be allowed to move close to the stage after three songs but during the second song the crowd moved and was impossible to hold anymore. Luckily it all happened very quickly and after that there was no need to feel anxious anymore. The stage was moderately low compared to what we are used to this year and in addition to the piano, the band and the choir there was nothing else and no show elements at all, just some space for Mika to dance and that alone created an intimate atmosphere. Lovely, lovely setting.

Mika started the gig with the simple version of Lollipop sitting on the piano which is my favourite version of the song. He told the long version of the Lollipop girl story and “grey becoming pink” in English. The situation with several different languages in the audience offered a possibility to fluently move from one language to another and eventually the main part of the talks were in English with some French sentences added here and there and Jane Birkin and C’est la vie being on the setlist. Italian and German people were acknowledged as well with some comments in their languages. From my point of view this was an ideal combination of languages and for once I felt I can understand everything and the parts in other languages than English only added more charm and made sense from the context. I love following how Mika moves from one language to another because it happens totally smoothly and naturally. For him it must be something everyday but for the audience it’s genuinely impressive. 

 Starting the show with a slow and elegant version created a special atmosphere since the beginning even though of course we all knew there was a small chaos coming when the crowd would rush to the front area. After Lollipop Mika expectedly started Origin which I particularly fell in love this summer and always look forward to. The beginning of the song was happy, joyful and excited and as usual my favourite part of the song. This was the exact moment when the crowd decided to move and in seconds the standing area was full. My husband was a little bit shocked that people didn’t follow instructions but I was prepared and just quickly jumped with the crowd and we could keep our spots and it all took only a short moment. After that we could enjoy Origin from close distance which was lovely and Origin was definitely a highlight once again. 

 Then Talk About You and I find the song enjoyable on the setlist and immediately thought it deserved to be there. During the song I simply enjoyed the moment and the positive mood, seeing Mika doing his cheerful little dance steps and stretching his arms with the music and generally just watching him on stage. The tours are over and I’m trying my best to get used to the thought we can see him on stage only very occasionally but it’s hard and I had already missed him and now just loved being able to watch him and seeing the whole elegance, his face and familiar moves. Everything looked beautiful, the stage lights and the striped suit that looked stylish and somehow comfortable at the same time. The beautiful simple outfit was perfect for the elegant yet cozy mood, there was nothing to add. There was a lovely, warm feeling during Talk About You and I really enjoyed the song. 

 Big Girl started in a sharp, bouncing way which gave the feeling of new excitement. Mika explained the rules for the Butterfly Lounge but didn’t walk in the crowd which I liked a lot because I liked it that he didn’t follow the usual pattern, this time was different. Then the transition to Jane Birkin. I absolutely love this moment and the atmosphere in it and I enjoyed it even more than I usually do because everything happened in a much smaller and more intimate way and the mood of the song and the mood of the event were a good match. Jane Birkin was a huge, huge highlight and a small surprise as well because I wasn’t sure if the Basel area is seen “French speaking” enough and if the song would be on the setlist or not. I couldn’t stop smiling when he made the audience sing (la la la la la la laa la), it made me happy. I understand there’s something not totally happy like insecurity behind the song but when it starts the perspective changes. This is how Mika’s music works. Not everything can or even needs to be perfect but the music will shift the perspective. 

I felt there were tiny details in every song that we can’t hear or notice in bigger circumstances and because of that and because of the warm atmosphere the gig felt very special. Good Guys is not a fixed part of the setlist either so it was another, very pleasant surprise and another huge, huge highlight. Good Guys has become an essential song in my mind because of the important theme. The mood in the song feels intimate, a story about personal heroes is shared and again, the mood of the song matched with the mood of the event perfectly. My husband named Good Guys his favourite on the setlist after the gig and I loved hearing his opinion because despite of seeing numerous Mika shows he still partly represents the “regular listener” in the audience. 

 C’est la vie was on the setlist as the other song from the latest French album and we heard a long introduction speech about the family Toyota and having it as “a safe place when things were hard” and I found the moment extremely moving. Introduction to C’est la vie is generally moving. There can be light, even funny tones but the topic is always serious. Mika has done music in a serious way from an early age and I often think people can’t fully understand how much he has invested in his career as a child already. It’s hard to comprehend. I loved the song and it became one of my favourite parts of the show. Jane Birkin and C’est la vie are both strong songs very much related to Mika’s personality. When the French album was out I automatically assumed it would be a pleasing challenge for Mika to conquer every country - despite of the language - with these two French songs but so far the songs have been on the setlist only in French speaking locations. I’m happy every time we have a possibility to hear them and luckily it happened in Basel as well. 

 Underwater was absolutely stunning again. Again, the song was done a bit differently than it usually is and Mika didn’t make the crowd sing the exact way he usually does and again, I loved it that he didn’t follow the pattern here. After Underwater he moved behind his piano and someone in the audience offered him a beer. After hearing the person was from Germany the offer was accepted because “anything else would have been rude”. Another addition in the series of accepting German beers from the audience!

 Then a small introduction to Relax and the acoustic beginning part and the whole moment came totally out of blue to me because among many, many gigs this year we haven’t had circumstances for acoustic moments. Mika does them but usually with a special setting and only for chosen audiences and I had almost given up hoping a moment like that and had almost forgotten how absolutely breathtaking it can be. The whole song with the intro speech and the piano part and then the energetic part was beautiful beyond words. I cried when I listened to him starting the song, those few notes with the piano go somewhere really deep and the voice starting the song is stunning. The audience at the Baloise Session had a possibility to experience something truly special and generally, in every way and Relax wise this year has been so good to us. Orange, Relax with the wings in Brighton and now this. Absolutely incredible. 

 Then Elle Me Dit and surprisingly one of my favourites these days, I’m finally warming up to the way the audience is involved. Obviously, the moment is different every single time because the crowd is different every time but in Basel I was generally in a good mood and loved the dancing part. At this point Mika was wearing his pink rainbow suit already and then it was time for Happy ending and We Are Golden. Then Grace Kelly and he wanted to talk to Basel “because last time we talked you reduced me to tears” and I can still remember the exact voice how this was said and this really is the secret at small gigs like this. The possibility to hear tones that are not necessarily always there, the possibility to pay attention to them. Then the gig was over without Love Today. It was strange to end without the Love Today energy but we all knew he had already exceeded the time limit and the gig from the beginning to the end had been absolutely lovely and the crowd had been extremely lucky to get all the numerous beautiful details. The night was definitely more than generous. 

Thank you words to the crowd were said already after We Are Golden and as a treat there was the Yo-Yo dance in the very end even though the time was running out. I’m really fond of this little detail, it’s always an extra highlight in the end and Mika collected the band and the choir around him to dance and everyone had fun. Lovely, lovely gig, definitely one of my favourite experiences this year. I couldn’t bring my camera so no photos of the gig but there are small clips on my Instagram.