I really enjoyed the show at the Lovely Brive Festival in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France. The festival experience offered an enjoyable night with many details. The day must have been one of the sunniest and hottest festival days of the summer. Maybe not 39 degrees but 35 for sure and not a tiniest cloud in the sky. The circumstances were hard but not too hard, the day went well and the gig in the evening felt like a wonderful reward. 

The festival area was compact and offered foods and cute merchandise and the line-up was interesting compared to many festivals. I particularly liked Santa who I had already seen once before at festivals and who I knew would be a good stage performer. Julien Granel started with his cheerful, almost overwhelming energy making people immediately jump and Santa continued and again, the crowd joined the energy. It came to my mind that after such a hot day and two energetic performances people might be tired when it’s finally time for Mika who was the headliner and supposed to start at 11 pm. 

There was no worry about that in the evening at all. The Mika show was absolutely fantastic and the audience kept partying, jumping and dancing without a sign of tiredness. I did all that as well. Despite the heat and the long day I felt good and energetic and purely happy and I loved the performance and different elements in it. I had a great spot and knowing that my view at the upcoming seated venues would not be equally amazing I already enjoyed the thought of the gig before it even started and during it every single second. I simply fully enjoyed every moment. The stage was moderately low which I loved and which at the same time was a challenge as well because people in the front area inevitably blocked the view especially during Santa’s performance who allowed photography during the full performance. 

For Mika the camera group stayed 4 songs instead of 3 because the starting songs continued so smoothly one after another. The beginning was indeed one big highlight and gave a powerful start for the gig. Seeing the light blue, “rare bird” outfit felt such an aesthetic experience, I couldn’t stop admiring how beautiful it looked and loved seeing the poses, the background colours changing and small stars sparkling here and there. After that revealing the gorgeous blue shirt and pants combination which, again, looked stunning. One of the most beautiful outfits I’ve ever seen on stage. So sophisticated and with the shirt totally casual at the same time, an incredible amount of visual beauty in one outfit. 

The show felt like a huge discovery even though most details were already familiar after seeing the summer season show several times. Everything stays fresh because the atmosphere and the mood of the performance are always unique and tied to that moment. The show being so full of energy it’s not even possible to catch everything after just one or two gigs, there are always more details to discover and this time I immensely enjoyed watching and discovering things happening inside the songs. 

In Brive-la-Gaillarde my biggest favourites were the classics Underwater, Happy Ending and Grace Kelly, the French songs Jane Birkin and C’est la vie and of course my summer favourite Yo-Yo. I loved the audience moments in Relax, Jane Birkin and of course in Grace Kelly and generally strong, powerful moments like the ending in Origin which stood out with strong elements being one of the most thrilling moments of the setlist. During the show different powerful moments came one after another which gave the night a strong, energetic vibe. To balance the setlist we saw beautiful, calm and funny moments as well. Personally I loved Underwater most simply because it’s such a valuable song that it can give value for the whole concert and it certainly did. 

Another huge highlight I loved was Happy Ending. I loved the circumstances already, the silver glittery outfit was sparkling against the pink background giving an immediate impression of magic, the flower piano was ready with lights and the letter M and when the song started, the piano was filled with colourful little flowers like a soft, high flower bed and indeed, Mika used the opportunity. He climbed on the flower bed rolling over in flowers trying to find the most comfortable position like Sleeping Beauty. After that he took little baths and showers in flowers spreading them all over his hair. The song is stunning and beautiful and sad but the moment was funny and cute and he took a big handful of flowers and threw them over the audience and it felt like a surprise flower confetti rain and to my joy I found flowers in my pockets when I was back at my hotel after the gig. 

The flowers were also included in C’est la vie which once again was a true highlight, at the same time a classic and something that represents the latest era. The audience moment was the strongest during Grace Kelly but there were moments like that in many other songs as well and the atmosphere was really good and after “la la la lalalalaala” in Jane Birkin the crowd started to chant and Mika immediately smiled looking very shy and he thanked the audience like he did many, many times during the night. As a separate, big highlight the festival audience heard the new song Spinning Out and it got a fantastic response from the crowd. Young fans knew the lyrics already, jumping and making spinning gestures with papers they had brought. The sound was clear and good and even though we were in festival circumstances I felt it was possible to hear the song properly. Lovely experience in every way.