I knew as soon as Mika’s appearance was announced that I want to see him at Teatro del Silenzio in Lajatico, Italy. I thought he would do only one song together with Andrea Bocelli and nothing more. I also thought it would be a rare appearance and even with only one song reason enough for me to be there and I managed to find a ticket for this sold-out event. My husband heard about the concert and said he would love to come as well and eventually we made it a small family trip and travelled to Italy together with our oldest son who happened to have his holidays during the same week.

I learnt only a few days before our trip that Mika would actually do not only one but three songs, that he would include his new song Tiny Love and that his Swedish friend Ida (opera singer Ida Falk Winland) would join him for Happy Ending. Needless to say I was beyond excited and could hardly wait for the concert. Plenty of reason for me to be in Italy. I love hearing Mika and Ida together but I love seeing Ida on stage also for the vibe. Makes me happy to think Mika feels loved and supported and that’s the energy Ida creates on stage and I’ve always liked her and enjoyed seeing them performing together.

Teatro del Silenzio has a stunning location in Andrea Bocelli’s hometown Lajatico. The large open air outdoor area wasn’t easy to reach but I went to the venue together with my husband and we could use the car we had rented at the airport. Even with a car there was still a long walk up to the hill and both traffic in the small village and walking took us more time than I had thought in advance and I started to feel a little bit nervous. A lot of people came after us though and eventually the concert started almost an hour late. The view from the hill was magnificent. My seat was quite far away but the sound there was strong and clear and as the stage was giant it wasn’t necessary to be really close to enjoy the concert. I regretted not having my camera with me. I thought that because of the nature of the event the restrictions would be tight. Also, I didn’t want to disturb the atmosphere by using a camera.

I understood quickly that taking a few pics would have been only a minor disturbance. The audience was quite awful to be honest. A lot of foreigners and tourists, from America, Asia and all over Europe, so can’t blame Italians alone. Generally many people seemed to be there just to attend the event and not to genuinely enjoy the music, they were chatting, drinking, eating and causing a lot of background noise. I felt ashamed for the audience. Andrea Bocelli is a remarkable artist with a long career and huge success all over the world and it was a privilege to see him with his guests. He’s an impressive singer and very charismatic on stage. 

The show was much more than his singing though, the dancers and acrobats were wonderful and the show elements were enormous including a massive light show, fire elements, fireworks, confetti and dozens of assistants in the middle of the audience, all dressed in white, throwing serpentines. The center piece of the stage was a huge statue with wings referring to the theme Ali di Libertà. I knew in advance the star would arrive by horse. We met Fede briefly during our day trip to Florence and she explained us that Andrea Bocelli is not only posing for posters with horses, he would literally arrive by horse, yet I still couldn’t believe my eyes when it happened. He really arrived on stage riding a horse!

The event had a host who introduced the guests and shared information about the charity cause between the songs. I wasn’t really enthusiastic about the other guests, my thoughts were naturally on Mika already. After a short half time it was his turn and Ali di Libertà together with Andrea Bocelli was absolutely beautiful. Hearing his voice like this is always breath-taking. I loved every moment of their short, stunning performance together.

Mika looked elegant with his already quite long curls and in his stylish shimmering suit. I had to think once again he’s the most elegant person I’ve ever seen. Not talking only about his looks but something deeper, his general behavior and the way to be with people. The whole situation felt heart-warming and gave the impression he genuinely appreciated the possibility to be on stage and wanted to offer something extremely high quality. It was such a beautiful performance, I was transferred to another dimension. Truly a magical moment that made me happy, proud and grateful.

Then it was turn for the main star of the night again. After another song by Andrea Bocelli and then quite an extraordinary dance performance we finally saw Mika and his solo performance. Finally Tiny Love, the song I had most looked forward to. It was almost overwhelming to hear his new song for the first time in circumstances like that: with an orchestra and in the middle of the beautiful Tuscan hills! I tried very hard to focus and to catch the lyrics but the orchestra took my attention and it wasn’t possible. Tiny Love is a song that transforms, it’s beautiful and exciting. After the orchestra part the song changed to something totally different. The ending and ”my name is Michael Holbrook” part was my absolute favorite part. After Tiny Love we saw Happy Ending with Ida and Max and I don’t think any little video clip can tell the whole truth so you just need to take my word: it was one of the most beautiful Happy Endings I’ve ever heard. Absolutely stunning in every way. I felt very emotional, it was extremely moving to see Mika, Ida and Max back on stage that way, the whole performance was out of this world!

I had still tears in my eyes when Andrea Bocelli’s son Matteo performed. He did two songs, one alone and then another one together with his father. He’s still young and that way naturally not as impressive as his father but his voice is strong and beautiful and he’s a handsome young man, we will surely hear a lot about him in the future. At this point many people left already but the show continued and some of the most famous songs were saved in the end with fireworks and a massive amount of confetti.

I went to look for my husband who was behind me in the same sector area. He looked a bit upset and explained how the woman behind him had started to talk during Mika’s performance. I had to laugh out loud because his words were something you could expect from me and not so much from him. We walked and waited and walked and waited some more in the crowd and eventually arrived to our car and drove back to Pisa. I was still in a heavenly state after the performances we saw. So happy for Mika for a possibility like this and so proud to see how he used it, with such a stunning performance.