Just before my trip to France my flight to Barcelona had been cancelled because of the ash cloud in Iceland. I wanted to make sure I would be in France on time and didn’t dare to wait my flight in case it would have been cancelled as well. I took a ferry to Stockholm and a train from Stockholm via Copenhagen, Cologne, Brussels and Paris to Marseille. It was a long trip. I didn’t much sleep during the trip and was afraid I would miss the first gig in France but was luckily in Marseille just on time to see Mrs Penniman, Mika’s mother, choosing Big Girls and Lollipop Girls for the show that night. During the Imaginarium Tour Mika let people from the audience dress in colorful dresses and dance with him on stage during a couple of songs. So extremely kind and generous of him and meant a lot of extra work for his team but gave his fans many unforgettable memories.

I was scared to even think about dancing on stage. However, I’m really interested in everything that happens during shows and this was a great opportunity to see how things work backstage. Many of my friends had told about being on stage and I decided to give it a try and loved every moment of my day. I saw Mika’s mother and sisters working hard, I saw everyone being busy. I loved helping the other girls to get dressed and just watching what happened but I admit I was scared to wear the green corset and be on stage. In the end it wasn’t as scary as I had thought and Big Girls wear masks so it wasn’t possible to recognize us. We took a group picture after the show and I could exchange a few words with Mika about the upcoming Helsinki show. 

After Marseille I travelled to Lyon and Paris. The absolutely fantastic, massive show in Lyon was the first Arena Tour show for me. I was so proud to see Mika performing in front of the huge audience and see the theatrical elements. He had done several changes in his show after the European Tour to make it more suitable for larger venues. Everything went well and the Lyon show left a good feeling and I really started to look forward to Paris and the two important Bercy shows, the highlights of the whole Arena Tour.