MIKA GIGS

Revelation Tour 2019-20

Mika Revelation Tour started on 10th November 2019 in the UK. The first shows we saw in London and after that in Spain were small and intimate tiny style shows without any stage setting and continued the heartwarming vibe from the Tiny Love Tiny Tour we saw two months earlier in North America and Mexico. The first gig of the official Revelation Tour at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London was as lovely as the first gig of the tour possibly can be. The photos I took during the show remind me of the cozy atmosphere we had that night. The venue was pretty and the vibe particularly loving with many familiar people from all over the world in the audience. As a special detail we saw Ronke's  (the star of the official Tiny Love music video) appearance on stage during Tiny Love which was a total and absolutely amazing surprise.

After London we saw two lovely intimate shows in Spain. In Barcelona my biggest favourites were the intense songs Blue, Underwater and Happy Ending each of them feeling if possible even more intense than they usually do. In Madrid Mika was wearing his pale blue suit and dotted shirt and I couldn't stop admiring how beautiful he looked on stage. My favourite tiny style gig was the show we saw in Zurich a couple of weeks after the tour had started. Maybe the reason was his mood, maybe the suitable timing but I felt Mika made a lot of effort to make this gig extra special and it really was that. One of the loveliest gigs I've ever seen.

Tiny Tour concept is my very favourite tour concept. I absolutely love watching Mika in theatre and club style environments. I love that type of venues, I love watching Mika close to his audience and I love the relaxed, music focused vibe and for that reason immensely enjoyed having a possibility to see a few more tiny style gigs before the big tour properly started. At the same time I couldn't wait to finally see the new, colourful stage setting with big show elements. Knowing Mika and his style it was going to be something unusual and extraordinary like his settings always are. 

Arena shows are demanding but also hugely rewarding, offering a possibility to use big creativity, a possibility to tell big, colourful stories. It's easier to connect with people in small circumstances. Doing the same at arenas is much more difficult and when it finally happens, it's outstanding. We can see magic happening on stage.The new, massive set was introduced in Pau, France. The show in Pau was the fourth show of the tour and the first of the arena shows.

Before seeing the new stage I was both nervous and excited. Mika has mentioned one of his fears as an artist is the fear of not being able to renew himself, repeating something he has already done. As paradoxical as it sounds my fear in the audience is the opposite. I worry I can't recognise him anymore, that the illusion created on stage is too far away from what I  have learnt to know before. I want to be surprised by the show yet still feel I can recognise the artist. Seeing the Revelation show for the first time offered the both elements. I was immediately filled with excitement and adrenaline. So powerful, so intense, so emotional. At the same time the familiar elements gave me a warm feeling. His family. Colours, planets and balloons. His signature moves. Mika has always known how to balance between these two sides and the Revelation show wasn't an exception.

Mika's family and particularly his mother has always been a huge part of his career and that is also the theme for his fifth album My Name Is Michael Holbrook. Earlier Mika's mother handmade his stage outfits, his sisters have always participated styling and creating his stage. Seeing the huge images of his parents on the background of the Revelation stage had an important symbolic meaning to me and to everyone who has closely followed Mika's career. Next to the image of his mother was a feminine hand and a giant sized gorilla called Tiny referring maybe to even scary and uncontrolled size of love. On the other side of the stage was an image of his father, planets and a crying moon that are familiar from the previous albums and the statue of David, referring to male body, maybe to lust.

The stage floor was a colourful rainbow. When Ice Cream was released I couldn't wait to see the song performed live. I knew it would work at gigs. My mind could already picture the performance, I could imagine a full rainbow opening in front of us. That was figurative thinking. My mind pictured a rainbow style experience. When I saw the first big show in France and the stage and the rainbow floor I couldn't believe my eyes. There was literally a rainbow. Images that I had had  in my mind came true in a literal way. It didn't stop there. The outfits Mika was wearing during the tour reminded me of different fairytale fantasies. Not sure if the influences for his ruffled shirts came from the artists called Prince or from fairytale princes but watching Mika in his stage outfits and seeing him flying on his pink piano felt like the craziest dreams coming true.

I saw the big new stage setting from close distance in Pau and seated day after that in Toulouse and was absolutely impressed both times. The tour continued in Switzerland, Italy, Belgium and again in France. It's hard to choose my favourite shows but at least Geneva in Switzerland day before the magical gig in Zurich, Montichiari in Italy and Lille in France are definitely among of them. In Nantes I was focused to observe the pink piano and Bercy after that in Paris was a big celebration just before Christmas. After Christmas the tour continued and the show we saw in Tours was one of the most beautiful experiences I've ever had. Done in a concert hall it was stunningly, stunningly beautiful. Of other gigs for example Luxembourg was pure fun and the three gigs in Utrecht, Holland at the same small venue called TivoliVredenburg extremely interesting and also a concept I had hoped to see for years. 

When the European Revelation Tour was over it was time for my big trip. The gigs in New Caledonia, New Zealand and Australia were surely some of the most memorable I've seen during the past years. During the crazy gig in Auckland we heard one of the most beautiful versions of Over My Shoulder, in Brisbane there was a drag queen on stage during Platform Ballerinas. I still almost can't believe all that happened. The vibe was so heartwarming and special it's hard to put in words, there was so much love and positive energy at each of those gigs it's difficult to even start to describe, and that was all I could think about during the last gig of the Australian tour in Melbourne. 

Just before my trip continued to Japan the worldwide situation changed. Asia was cancelled, South America was cancelled, the massive tour in North America was all cancelled. I was heartbroken for Mika and for myself. At the same time I felt and feel enormously grateful for what we saw during the Revelation Tour that far, those memories are precious. Through his music Mika could tell his story in an extraordinary way. Each song had their own, strong emotion and also colour created by different, impressive lights. The Revelation show was a magnificent, colourful one man circus, not only a traditional concert but in every way a true experience.

When I go through my photos from the tour I can vividly remember how it was. I can remember Mika's confidence when he performed Ice Cream, his determination when he kicked the Jealousy. The sweet, irresistible atmosphere during Tomorrow, tears during Paloma and adrenaline during the final Stay High. Daily Platform Ballerinas. The intense songs like Underwater and Happy Ending. Not breathing during Blue or Over My Shoulder. All the emotions. His beautiful dotted shirts and elegant slim suits in different colours. The wonderful, changing lights. The pink piano going high, the giant heart coming out of it, the balloons dancing above the audience. I could be brown, I could blue, I could be violet sky...