An Intimate Evening with Mika

I’ve been to quite a few concerts in my life and so far they’ve all been great, but not extraordinary. Not until I went to see Mika at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in downtown Washington DC on Wednesday. It was my first time seeing Mika and after reading and hearing about other peoples’ experiences at his shows, I was expecting something magical; and that’s exactly what it was: pure magic.

This tour is extremely stripped down in comparison to other tours Mika has done. There are no huge extravagant sets, no colorful costumes, characters, or story lines, just Mika and his band doing what they do best. I don’t feel left out or disappointed because I didn’t get the full-on Mika experience either; yes his past shows were undoubtedly exciting and allowed you to escape into a fantastical world, but to me this show was the best possible Mika experience you could have because it showcased what a truly talented musician he is.

Now onto my experience…

I’ve been following Mika’s career since a fateful day in 2011 when I saw the music video for his song “Rain”. It hasn’t been a particularly long time of being a fan, but when you fall for him and his music you fall hard and fast, so naturally I waited (im)patiently for what felt like forever for the opportunity to see him live. That opportunity came to me in the form of a dream one morning about 2 months ago. Sounds weird, but allow me to explain…I had a (seemingly) random dream right before I woke up one morning about going to see Mika play an intimate show, where or why I’m not certain, but nothing is ever clear in dreams…usually. I woke up and got on my computer, went onto Facebook, and low and behold that was the day this North American tour was announced and one of the dates was in DC; not around the corner, but certainly do-able. What made it even freakier was the fact that it’s called “An Intimate Evening with Mika”. So to anyone out there that thinks dreams mean nothing, well, I’m here to tell you that you’re wrong.

After that it was a crazy whirlwind of planning, not that I’m complaining at all, planning is one of the things I do best and I love it. Seeing as how the universe seemed to want me to go to this show I figured all the planning should probably go smoothly, and guess what? It did. I managed to get 3 pre-sale tickets for myself, my sister, and my sister’s friend, even after thinking it had sold out. I found a reasonably priced hotel that was a 3 minute walk from the Synagogue (it turned out to be more like 1 minute). Our transportation issues to and from DC also managed to solve themselves which provided much relief after a lot of stressing out. The only thing left for us to do was to anxiously anticipate the day of the show, which arrived a lot faster than anticipated.

When we walked up to the Synagogue, I got this feeling of surrealism. I couldn’t believe we were finally here after all those weeks of waiting and anticipating (although for me it felt more like years); here it was, right in front of us, we were going to see Mika for the first time. When we got there the line of people was a bit surprising, it was wrapped around the side of the building which is something I wasn’t quite expecting, but  it’s good to know that Mika has fans here. I  heard someone behind me say they found out there was about 70 people ahead of us. As soon as I heard that my spirit sank a bit because if there was one element of this whole experience I wanted to work out more than anything, it was getting a good seat. (Side note: I’m glad this was a seated venue, I much prefer having the option to sit down at shows as it helps prevent a possible blackout and embarrassing fall to the floor due to dehydration and/or exhaustion). Confronted with this seating dilemma, I decided the best thing to do was to send out a powerful prayer to the universe to make a miracle happen. After all, it had had my back up to this point, why not ask for a little extra assistance? Turns out the universe is a pretty cool dude, or gal if you prefer, because when we walked into the Synagogue my sister immediately spotted seats up towards the front that were free. I proceeded to whisper “go! go! go!” and made a beeline right for them. I liken the moment to a crazy bride and her bridesmaids in a wedding dress shop where everything is half off and they spot the perfect dress and  therefor need to get to it before any of the other bridezillas catch the scent.

We ended up sitting about 3 feet from the stage and had a pretty perfect view of everything. The only issue I had during the show was the fact that the “stage” (which wasn’t really a stage, I believe it’s called a “bima”) was so tall. So when we were seated and Mika was behind the piano, you could just barely see his face over the top. Occasionally it would pop up over the edge but for the most part we were getting legs, feet, and a disembodied voice. They were nice feet and legs though, and the voice, well we all know how amazing that is, but i digress…

The build up to the show starting was intense. I couldn’t stop thinking about what it was going to be like seeing Mika for the first time in person. After what felt like an hour of waiting, Max and Curtis came out to start the pre-show DJ set. I’m surprised people have been saying it’s not very good and they were wishing it would end because my sister and I were having the time of our lives seat dancing. I’d go so far as to say we could have been a great addition to the whole setup by being on stage leading the crowd in their own seat dancing. At one point Max and my sister were voguing together to Madonna, it doesn’t get much better than that. So Max and Curtis get two enthusiastic thumbs up from me for the DJ set, it was a rousing good time and a great warm-up to the actual show. And might I add, not everyone can find the beat in a laundry detergent commercial so well done Max and Curtis for locating it and rocking out, my sister in particular found it quite entertaining.

After the DJ set was over they started setting up for Mika to come out. A favorite moment of the night happened during this time when one of the guys setting up measured where to put the microphone for Mika by seeing if it hit his forehead. Eventually the man himself came walking out from the back of the Synagogue through the audience and went up on stage. He dove right into “Grace Kelly” *cue the ear piercing screams* and the show was off like a rocket. I can’t recall  the exact order of the songs but he played “Blue Eyes”, “Stardust”, “Lola”, “Lollipop”, “Big Girl”, “Love Today”, “Billy Brown”, “Stuck In The Middle”, “Relax”, “Happy Ending”, “Origin Of Love”, “Underwater”, “Love You When I’m Drunk”, “Popular”, “Celebrate”, and “Elle Me Dit” which started out as “Emily” but he messed it up and asked if we’d rather hear the French version instead which got nothing but applause. He ended with “Over My Shoulder” which nearly put me to sleep, and to looks of it Max too, because I noticed him closing his eyes a few times. I don’t mean “put me to sleep” in a bad way, it was just that between me being drained of all the energy that ever existed in my body and the slow calming effect of the song, drifting off was an urge I had to fight. The only disappointment with the set list for me personally was not hearing “Rain”, the song that started it all for me. I’m choosing to view it as a sign that this will not be my last Mika show, because the odds are he’ll have to play it at at least one of the many future shows I will be attending.

The best part of the show had to be when he sang “Lola” and “Stardust” without a microphone. It was very special and we all felt lucky to have gotten to experience that. It really worked with the acoustics of the Synagogue as well, he sounded wonderful. In fact, those two performances were the best of the night in my opinion; watching the way he moved with his eyes closed, you got the feeling the song was just flowing through him, like he was telling a story, the most important, beautiful story you’ve ever heard told through song.

Every one of Mika’s performances through the whole show were simply amazing. His voice was in top form, he hit every note effortlessly and sang with the kind of emotion that only a God-gifted singer can muster. Every song was flawless, apart from “Emily”,  but it turned into something better because it was at that point everyone stood up and started dancing. That’s the thing isn’t it, because it’s nice to have the option to sit, but with someone like Mika sitting becomes extremely restrictive after a while. I don’t think I’ve danced or sang that hard or that passionately in a long time, maybe ever. I felt myself completely letting go and just surrendering to the joy of the experience. That was my personal favorite part of the show –  singing along with him. There were points where he’d get the audience to sing, like during “Lola” and dammit if I didn’t sing with every fiber of my being, and I sounded GOOD too. I think because I was singing so loud other people could hear me and I was told I sounded good, so don’t fret I’m not tone deaf, I know what I sound like. Former first soprano choir girl right here ladies and gents…and not to brag, but screw it I’m gonna brag anyway, Mika and I sounded fantastic together. There were points where it was clearly only him and I singing and maybe a few other people, but I could only hear the two of us and I’m definitely seeing a duet in the future…

We did stay after the show because I knew there would inevitably be a quick chatting & signing session outside and I didn’t come this far not to actually meet him. We didn’t have to wait long thankfully because by that point I was dying from dehydration and low blood sugar. The first thing I have to say about being face to face with Mika is he’s not as tall as people always say, in fact that was the very first thing that I thought when he appeared at the beginning of the show. Either I’m taller than I think or he’s shorter than he thinks but he wasn’t towering over me by any means. I feel like I’m shattering the illusion but personally I was glad he wasn’t this giant lanky wall of a person that everyone says he is. I also feel like I’m the first person ever to think he’s shorter than he appears which I find amusing. But back to meeting him…it was a very quick interaction and I would have loved to talk to him more because I felt like I could, but he was in a rush. You know how you get the feeling like you can just talk to someone for hours even though you just met them? That was how I felt around him, I felt a great sense of calm and confidence and was totally comfortable. He signed my sister’s friend’s ticket and took my sister’s bag and signed and drew a face on the inside of it, which has been named “Akim (Mika spelled backwards) Geoff McCoy, Private Eye” (don’t ask, my sister named it and decided to give it a career as well).

I, on the other hand, thought I would be bold and ask if I could give him a hug. That’s all I wanted, just a hug. He made a weird face at first and I thought maybe it was me and I thought “oh wow you must really not want to hug me…” but as it turned out he was only concerned that he smelled bad. He gave me what I have now established to be the “half hug” – quick, forceful, and mostly to the side avoiding as much body to body contact as possible. I have decided that he owes me the other half. Also, my nose was right up next to his neck and I smelled absolutely nothing so I’m not getting where he thinks he’s so offensive he can’t hug people after shows. We all smell to some extent after concerts Mika, I believe I told you that, so don’t worry so much and just spread the love.

And that was it, I got my awkward half hug and we headed back to the hotel completely exhausted and about to collapse from thirst, which I nearly did a few times during the show. But I pushed myself through and I’m so glad I did because it was a night I’ll never forget. Like that random guy shouted at you during “Over My Shoulder”, well done Mika, well done. You are quite literally a dream come true.