The last Mika concert for the summer was at Rock Oz’Arènes Festival in Avenches, Switzerland. The gig was the night before Mika’s 30th birthday so I bought my ticket in good time and wouldn’t have missed it in the world and was happy to be able to do this festival which turned out to be one of my favorite ever shows with so much fun during the show and after it. The venue was quite small and probably had a great view from the seated area. However, this was a special night and even though the stage was high I wanted to be as near it as possible and to enjoy watching everything from a close distance. 

The people working for the festival seemed excited about Mika’s birthday surprise and were nice updating us several times before it was Mika’s turn to be on stage. We had bought little lighted balloons to wave at exactly midnight and the festival staff promised to show time on the screens and to ask the whole audience to show their mobiles with lights so everything would look nice and lighted to wish Mika happy birthday. They also promised to bring us a Happy Birthday banner and told us that they have a little cake to give him at midnight. 

Mika came on stage and started with the French ballad and I loved it in Avenches as much I did in Albi, it was a beautiful contrast to the noisy rap band before him. I was quickly on my Mika cloud and surely I wasn’t the only one. The concert was fantastic and my favorite for the summer. He did an intensive show and was focused all the time, taking a lot of contact with the audience and adding funny little details to his performance. He had fun with hats, balloons, confetti and the cake he got at midnight and teased the band and made them do funny things like lie on the piano or wear the cake on their head and the band naturally let him have his fun. 

The evening was emotional and during Underwater I felt tears in my eyes, I couldn’t help it, because it was so beautiful and because I realised I won’t hear it again for a very long time. Mika saw how many people had come to celebrate his birthday and gave people a lot of attention and smiles. Even though it was the last show of the tour and his birthday and he must have looked forward to some private partying he didn’t show any hurry on stage but concentrated on the audience and generously let us be a part of his birthday celebrations and have fun with him and it felt really good and was important to everyone who came to see the show. 

I don’t think we could have had any better way to end the tour. The situation after the show was very crowded but his team knew there was a collective present from his fan club and was very helpful in organising a possibility to go backstage and Mika was incredibly sweet and kind and seemed to genuinely appreciate his gift.