The concept for Les Nits de Barcelona was familiar to me in advance, I had seen the festival before and I had seen similar type of summer festivals in Spain several times before. The atmosphere is always very particular, they often use the term “boutique festival” and that describes the vibe well. The venue is always nicer and more comfortable than regular festival areas. The gigs are seated and the tickets are expensive, considering in Spain actually significantly more expensive than concert tickets in general. Everything is meant to be a bit fancy. You can come as you are but many people in the audience dress up a bit and even the food is fancier than usually and there are drinks and wine instead the usual beer and some food available “artisan ice cream” included. I’m not a fancy person and dressing up is not a thing for me so these gigs are never my biggest favourites but they are for sure pleasant experiences in the middle of busy festival tours and offer a moment of break and maybe also time to see the city and eat well.

This time the atmosphere was actually really enjoyable. The audience wasn’t as enthusiastic as it has been at the previous gigs but at least in the middle area people did stand up and dance and then sat again for quieter songs. What I particularly appreciated was that no one run to the front area and it was easy to keep the seat. People moved a bit during songs but always returned back to their seats and there was no chaos at all. Mika started with Ice Cream and at that point the audience wasn’t totally focused on the performance yet. It was clear since the beginning that he would talk a lot in Spanish and that way take a lot of contact with the audience. During Origin he asked a familiar looking lady who had been on stage the previous time in Spain as well to translate in Catalan again. He did Stuck In The Middle as a part of the setlist and during Big Girl walked around the crowd as usual getting the audience more and more involved. 

During Underwater the audience waved colourful, funny looking fish figures that one of the fans had brought to the gig which reminded me of the gig in Luxembourg many years ago when the audience became a sea with different colourful fabrics and papers and similar kind of fish figures. Again in the end of the song a fan was asked on stage. After that it was turn for Live Your Life which we all were already expecting because Spain is the only country to hear the song after it was used in an advertisement many years ago. At this point of the gig it was obvious we were in Spain indeed and I can’t remember this much talk in Spanish from any previous years and clearly the upcoming television show in Spain has made Mika to considerably improve his Spanish skills. He made some funny mistakes but unfortunately I don’t speak Spanish and wasn’t able to notice them. 

My favourite part of the gig was definitely the pretty version of Good Guys performed with a flag handed by someone in the crowd and after that there was still the high part of the gig including Happy Ending still left and the final Love Today was performed in the peacock suit which created a beautiful ending. No Any Other World or We Are Golden even though those songs seemed to be on the setlist - maybe the gig had already gone beyond the time limit - but during and after the final thank you there was Yo-Yo on the background which I love because it’s a good way to complete the gig and it gives it the perfect final touch.