After seeing many festivals previous years and also this year I can tell Paléo is an amazing event the way only Swiss festivals can be. When you arrive to the festival area and the venue organisation approaches you asking “are you here for the festival, is everything okay, would you like to have a coffee or water, still or sparkling?” you know you’re in Switzerland. In my experience Switzerland has the most advanced festival organisations in the world. They can be different styles but generally I enjoy them all and this year Paleo showed all the best sides. I arrived feeling already good and rested after a good night’s sleep and as soon as I sat down a guy from the organisation approached and offered coffee or water and when we happily accepted he took us to get some coffee and also - as it wasn’t a busy hour yet -  gave us a small tour inside the festival area so we could see the festival stage where Mika’s crew was already building the setting. 

When the gates were officially opened for the festival goers the young/youngish workers did a small drumming performance with their cups and water bottles to make the moment more fun and it makes a difference to see a mood like that when you enter a festival area. Everything was extremely relaxed but when the performances started I noticed the security kept carefully on eye the crowd taking away possible alcohol bottles that could have been dangerous. The line-up was good and just on the main stage we could see first classic music and then Gims (singer/rap artist) before Mika whereas Christophe Maé performed on the other stage. 

I knew in advance Paléo is a hugely important opportunity for Mika in a bit similar way Solidays in Paris was and this time he would do 1,5 hour full show and be the main artist on the festival closing day, a role that is an honour to any artist. I was there when Mika performed at Paléo last time and during years it has grown and become one of the biggest festivals in Europe. I was able to guess in advance that the show will be quite hectic because of photographers and cameras moving in front of stage but also because any performance in a situation like that has to be tight to keep the crowd’s attention and to keep the big audience following the performance which he managed to achieve extremely well indeed. There are not many gigs in Switzerland so I didn’t know many faces in the crowd other than a few in front but I could recognise Mika T-shirts and saw also numerous posters specially made for him.

I also knew that during the show he would keep his focus on the big picture to make as good impression as possible that was achieved as well. It was an amazing performance. It was exactly the kind of performance that was needed in the situation. I can only admire Mika’s capacity to handle pressure and I’m reminded of it every time he does a performance in demanding or particularly important circumstances. The bigger the moment, whether it’s live television or a big live performance in front of a new audience, the better he does his work. Mika can be both extremely sensitive and extremely strong which is an asset for an artist. I believe he’s sensitive in a way many creative people are, I don’t think it’s possible for him to ignore bad things happening in the world or people being hurtful and I often wish he would take better care of his health and be more understanding and gentle for himself but I know for sure he can also be strong when needed. He grew up to handle challenging situations and pressure and whenever he needs to be as good as possible on stage or in front of cameras he can be even better than that. I’ve seen it so many times and it’s always impressive to see and it was once again impressive to see the Paléo crowd dancing Love Today watching the big heart the way it did. Always beautiful. 

Nyon is fully French speaking area and we heard the new French songs C’est la vie, Jane Birkin and Bougez one more time which was naturally absolutely lovely. Before Jane Birkin there was a small speech about magic created when people sing together and he made the crowd sing not only Jane Birkin but also Underwater as always and for example Relax which was now ended with a little air instrument performance and the crowd singing. The scene for Happy Ending looked breathtakingly beautiful with the lights and the new piano and little flowers first piled on the piano and then flying in the air. The show was started in a customised Paléo suit (the white appliquéd suit with the text “Paléo” in the back) and after a few songs he changed it first to the pink rainbow suit, then to his usually silver glitter suit and then to the face suit and finally ended the show in his herb suit which fitted nicely together with the red heart that appeared on the background. 

In some of the photos you can see the choir on stage. From our point of view we couldn’t see it well or the band either but the choir is an elegant element and always an understandable choice in bigger situations. The stage was not the highest lately but still considerably high and quite far away. The official photographers took photos standing on a platform that had been build for cameras between the stage and the audience, and the official cameras filmed for screens on the same platform during the whole gig. Mika constantly moving and the cameras between us it wasn’t totally easy to follow the performance in the beginning of the show but after the big group of photographers had gone and my mind started to get used to the hectic energy it suddenly became easier. This man is a danger for small-minded people and I love it that the giant red heart is delivered in a wooden box telling “DANGER”. Along with Mika’s performance the whole festival programme officially ended (with some tears from the host) and we moved with the crowd towards the gates to leave to Germany and to the next gig that was supposed to start in less than 24 hours.