The gig at La Défence Arena in Paris on February 5th was a private corporate event targeted at technology and business professionals. The crowd of the night was lucky in many ways. Despite the huge arena circumstances the space was actually surprisingly cozy and the concert audience was gathered inside the smallish empty area in front of the stage and seated areas around the venue. The performance time was one hour and 15 minutes meaning a compact but still proper length gig. The gig seemed to proceed at a rapid speed as always when the time is limited, but still included introducing chats and even some funny scenes. The energy was unexpectedly cheerful, reminding me of a small party and not a formal corporate gig at all. 

The show started with Lollipop continuing with Ice Cream, Big Girl, Underwater, Relax, Bougez, Elle Me Dit, Happy Ending, Grace Kelly, We Are Golden and Love Today with the Yo-Yo dance in the end. Even though the setlist was this limited and the audience there for work purposes the gig offered extremely good value and ended up being a truly memorable experience. There were new tones and small details added here and there and in general the performance left me inspired and in a good mood.

What gives any gig their basic value is the atmosphere and high quality big songs. As an element the first one is unpredictable so experiencing a party-like mood at a half-empty arena was a total surprise to me. The second element is more straightforward and investing in important songs always pays off. The gig day was coincidentally the 18th anniversary of Mika’s first album Life In Cartoon Motion and celebrating the day with dashing versions of his biggest Life In Cartoon Motion classics felt wonderful. Everything around the basic songs makes each gig stand out and unique and memorable in our minds. With a longer set there can be added songs. This time, like in Cannes as well, we saw numerous beautiful, funny and special details and also small changes compared to what we are used to which all together gave the gig unique character. 

I particularly love calm moments and hearing Mika’s voice in a clear way and for that reason I love it when any song starts only with the piano giving a possibility to hear his singing so purely. The piano version of Lollipop at La Défense was lovely and extremely elegant and a tiny bit yet not overly theatrical and generally special. I enjoyed the voice in the calm beginning and I enjoyed the explosive energetic part that woke the audience up and gave the gig a good start. Like Lollipop, also Big Girl was opened with a calm piano moment and a clear, elegant speech like in Cannes. To make it different the lines were this time a little bit different but after the speech the song continued in the familiar, exciting and bouncing way rushing backstage to change. 

In Grace Kelly the piano intro was simple and pretty before adding power like we are used to and I loved the concept in these three songs: starting them in a calm, super elegant way and then adding the energy with a small explosion, bouncing or even with full force. In the end of Grace Kelly he added some funny sentences continuing after “Humphrey” with “Humphrey, it’s a great name isn’t it, every boy in the world should be called Humphrey, I’m gonna call myself Humphrey” looking very cute and pleased with himself teasing the audience this way before ending with the final “Ka-ching!”.

Because of new tones I listened to Happy Ending in a particularly careful way. As much as I have loved the gentle ending in it, it now felt refreshing to hear the brisk, totally different guitar and Mika’s fierce singing. Before Elle Me Dit we saw a new, beautiful and theatrical little play where Mika told a love story with his jacket. He hung up the jacket of his multicolour suit to the microphone stand pretending it to be a person and then a warm, intimate moment was shared. The dance was first careful, then passionate and eventually it ended, the jacket was on the floor and he was shivering with cold alone and I think we all felt for him. After this little scene he asked someone from the audience to dance with him and the more typical and eventually very cheerful Elle Me Dit dance was done together, the audience dancing as well. 

Small details can be done singing, speaking or theatrically dancing. They can be interaction with the audience or little chats before songs like Bougez. They can be new moves or for example highlighting musicians or the choir. At La Défense Love Today was one of my favourite moments for several reasons. I loved it that the choir was powerful and particularly that the crowd was brought in so successfully. After all, this wasn’t a festival performance, it was a corporate gig. The final dance started in a sophisticated way first marching and then changed to a proper dance full of excitement. The lyrics were first just repeated making the audience join and eventually the lines were shouted wildly. It was a true party, really.

One of the easiest ways to make each gig a little bit different is naturally the outfits and other visual elements. The year has started in a hugely elegant way and the black suit seen in Cannes and Paris must be one of the most stylish ever outfits. In Paris the colour scheme was kept compact and after starting the gig in black with a hint of red in the necklace he changed to the strong combination of yellow and black and in the end to the multicolour suit that combines all these colours. It’s rare to see Mika in black, so again, I was admiring as much as I could and thought he looked stunning appearing on stage in his outfit: the suit made of soft looking material, the pretty black top underneath and with a tiny bit of royalty in his necklace. 

I wished I could have a closer look at the necklace and during Big Girl, totally out of blue, he suddenly handed the necklace to me and didn’t come back for it at the end of the song so I put the necklace on and immediately felt myself fabulously royal the way I had never felt before. I was wearing the necklace the whole gig but assumed he wanted it back - it was an important small detail in his black outfit - and when he didn’t ask for it I quickly pointed to the necklace before he left the stage to remind him of it and he reached his hand to take it. The whole gesture with the necklace was like from a fairytale with a royal accessory. Very sweet, considerate and kind of magical.