Mika Live In Montreal At The Club Soda

I got tickets for Mika's Club Soda performance last night and what a fluke. I called around noon but was told there would probably be none available. I tried the internet around 1:30 and was shocked when it worked I was able to get 2 tickets. When I went to pick them up I found out that the guy working the booth made a mistake. He was supposed to give the left over tickets back to the promoter but accidentally put them back in the system. If I hadn't logged on at that specific time I would have never gotten them I thanked the guy very much, I hope he didn't get into much trouble. For once a fan got tickets and not friends of the promoters which is the usual case.

My Review

Many years from now I'm going to be able to say that I saw Mika on his first concert tour in a small venue. What an amazing concert. He blasted on stage with his dance hit "Relax (Take It Easy)", I don't think he ever relaxed till the end of the show. The crowd was going crazy you would have thought that he was doing his greatest hits and not just his first album. He does some of the show singing and dancing around the stage like Mick Jagger with songs like "Big Girls (You Are Beautiful)", on others he is playing the piano for "My Interpretation" and "Stuck in the Middle" but he is just as energetic. Classically trained Mika is the real deal. The crowd went wild when he did "Love Today", it's supposed to be his next single but you would have though that it was already his biggest hit. There was only 2 songs the crowd didn't seem to know, he did the hidden track on his album (which isn't my favourite) and a song I didn't know. I wish he would have done "Happy Endings" or the amazing track "Any Other World" instead. The only complaint was that it was too short he played about an hour coming on at 9:30 and finishing at 10:30. He did eleven songs the encore was "Lollipop", they threw big balloons in the audience and of course lollipops, it looked like New Years Eve. I don't think he expected this tour to be so big he probably just wanted to do a small promotion tour for the album.

During the show he mentioned that he arrived in Montreal on Saturday and enjoyed the St-Patrick's Day parade on Sunday. He told the story of his trip to the HMV record store. He went up to the cash to buy his album and the clerk said $12.99 thank you, NEXT! (meaning no one recognised him) He then said that they needed to do some more work here. LOL


Setlist

1. Relax (Take It Easy)
2. Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)
3. My Interpretation
4. Billy Brown
5. Over My Shoulder (hidden track on CD)
6. Unknown song (not on album)
7 Stuck In The Middle
8. Ring Ring
9. Love Today
10. Grace Kelly
11. Lollipop

Scissor Sisters Live At The Metropolis

When I got to the Metropolis last night I noticed that scalpers were not selling tickets but asking to buy. The show was obviously sold out. I was shocked when I got in to see how many people were there. When I saw the "sisters" in 2005 there were about 10 people waiting early outside to get in. I was able to watch that show right up at the stage only a few inches from their guitarist Del. This time I couldn't even get to the stage. I must be getting old, after waiting over ½ hour squished and becoming claustrophobic in the middle of the crowd I moved to the back of the dance floor just before they came on. I was too far to get any pictures.

Unfortunately the sound was not good. It was very bassy and the music seemed to drown out Jakes vocals. This is probably the venue's fault. It's not the first time that sound at the Metropolis has been off. When I saw their show at the Spectrum in 2005 they sounded great. Unfortunately that venue is being closed down and the group is not big enough to play the Bell Center. I though maybe it was just me, but I could hear the guy in front of me telling his friend that the Spectrum show sounded so much better. It's a real shame because they put on an amazing show, the "sisters" don't just stand around and sing a song, they entertain like no one else. The sound didn't seem to bother the rest of the crowd because they went crazy and seemed to love the show. The crowd went absolutely wild when they did "Filthy/Gorgeous", interesting because I don't think that song was a hit or got much airplay here. The only really lull in the show was the song "Transistor" not sure why they included it in their set since it's a bonus disc song and not on the album. Even slow songs like "Land Of A Thousand Words" was well received but it didn't match the excitement of "Comfortably Numb" my favourite track "Lights", or the finally "I Don't Fell Like Dancing". Jake said "I love Canada and Montreal we sold more fucken' records here the in the entire USA our own homeland."

Like I though Jake and Ana complained of Montreal's cold weather. Ana wanted to know how we cope with it. I wanted so much to tell them that that it was a fluke, that every time they come to Montreal it's been the coldest day of that year. Jake said he was going to show us his dick but it was so cold that it went back up inside his body LOL On that subject Ana talked about a complaint they got from an Australian mother who took her kids to see their show. Ana replied" What does she expect from a group called the Scissor Sisters whose name and logo is a term for a lesbian sexual position." The group is not shy on any subject. My favourite quote of the night was when Ana asked what does FAG stand for. Answer: Filthy and Gorgeous to which they segued into the song. LOL

I hope the cold doesn't stop them from coming back maybe next time they will be big enough to play the Bell Center.

Don't get me started on how long the wait for the coat check was... more then 45 minutes. I almost missed my bus.

The setlist

They came on at 9:30 and played till 11:00

1. ??
2. Laura
3. I Can't Decide
4. She's My Man
5. Tits On The Radio
6. Lights
7. Skins
8. Kiss You Off
9. Filthy/Gorgeous
10. Everybody Wants the Same Thing
11. Land of a Thousand Words
13. Transistor
13. Comfortably Numb
14. Take Your Mama
15. I Don't Feel Like Dancin'