Late 2018 up until the pandemic in 2020 were hands down the best 18 months of my life, and I rounded that time off by seeing Mika in Luxembourg and Utrecht in February 2020. Before then it hadn’t really occurred to me to travel abroad for a concert (which I know is a perfectly regular thing to do, it’s just not something I would do!) but I had missed Mika at his UK shows as I'd been at Disneyland Paris, and I was still riding the high of having gone to New York that summer to see Aaron Tveit in Moulin Rouge on Broadway - I realised that if I'd travelled across the globe for Broadway, then what’s a hop across the Channel for Mika? And I was determined to do as much as I could at that time as I was moving to Japan soon so wanted to make the most of things while they were available to me. And I'm glad I did have that mindset as looking back, I think that's why it was such an incredible time for me and Covid sure emphasised the importance of making the most of time while you have it.
Those Mika shows in 2020 were so joyful and still an experience I think back to often, so when I realised that he was playing two shows in the UK either side of my birthday this year it felt like serendipity. On my birthday in 2018 I had travelled between London and Birmingham to see Roger Waters (I was in my Pink Floyd era) and that was pretty much the start of my incredible 18 months, and as I’ve been in such a low place the past couple of years the way all of this seemed to be lining up into a similar chain of events made me feel a bit superstitious about the whole thing and like maybe it was a sign of things to come? Or it might at least help me to feel like my old self again.
I had never been to Warwick Castle before, and to be honest I didn't get to see much of it at the concert but it sure was an impressive venue! It rained most of the evening, stopping just before Mika came on stage and we were treated to a rainbow over the castle.
Mika was as wonderful as expected. His music hasn't been in rotation on my iPod for a long while, I think because I associate it with happier times so I couldn't bear to listen to it, but really that's the reason I should be listening to him! It was nostalgic, and it felt so great to be seeing Mika again.
I stayed the night near Warwick, and travelled down to London the following day to spend my actual birthday in the city with the plan of seeing Mika's second show at Kew Gardens the day after, but unfortunately it didn't happen like that and I ended up deciding to bin off the second concert. It's not Mika, he's one of my favourite musicians, I'm just realising that I'm not a concert girlie. In 2020 I had such an incredible time and I keep trying to recreate those memories, but I've realised that they reason they were so incredible was because they weren't in the UK - I hate UK concert culture and always have, and going to the theatre the day after a concert just really highlighted it all to me and made me realise that I don't want to put myself through it anymore. I'm not saying I'll never go to a concert again, but I'd rather go in Europe. I struggle with UK culture in general which is why I moved to Asia, and there's something about concerts that really highlights how alienated I feel by it all and I'd rather just not put myself through it.
Hopefully it's still a sign of better things ahead though, even if I didn't make it to both shows!
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