Project Description
MIKA
‘Revelation Tour’
@ The Enmore Theatre, NSW
26/02/2020
(Live Review)
Reviewer: Amelia Torresan
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What do you get when you mix Freddie Mercury with Jim Carrey’s character in “The Mask?” You get Mika, an incredibly talented performer with a love for bright, colourful suits! The Beirut-born singer returned to perform in Sydney after a decade-long wait from his last show. Mika is an artist that I grew up listening to, thanks to a ‘So Fresh’ CD, so I knew that his show was going to be just like a party, but with a hell of a lot of nostalgia.
The supporting act, Australian-born Chela, took to the stage first to warm up the crowd with her funky beats and groovy dance moves. The electro-pop singer spun and sang onstage with her enthusiastic back up dancer in their matching outfits. Chela performed a handful of her songs including ‘Losing Belief,’ ‘Heart O’ Hearts’ and ‘Delivery’ before closing her set with ‘Zero.’ I always have a lot of respect for singers who multitask on stage, in this case dance and sing at the same time, and last night Chela showed what she was capable of as an artist. She was the perfect support for Mika as they both share a love for performing, being enthusiastic onstage and creating music that is easy to listen to and dance along to. Her voice was fresh yet familiar, reminding me of Paramore’s musical style in their 2017 album ‘After Laughter.’
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Theatrics and drama captivated the audience as Mika took to the stage, performing a serious monologue before literally jumping into his 2019 hit ‘Ice Cream.’ Mika set out to make up for his 10 year absence by demanding the attention of the crowd, having them essentially hypnotised as they watched the eccentric figure on the stage nor stop dancing on the dancefloor. “Dear Jealousy (2019)” and “Relax (Take it Easy) (2007)” were the next two songs, with the latter causing so much hype and elation within the crowd, the floor shook up and down as the crowd danced and jumped to the beat.
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“If blue is the colour of jealousy and yellow is the colour of happiness, pink is the colour of desire.”
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Mika then turned his attention to the topic of love. Performing some of his more romantic songs including “Origin of Love” (2012), “Platform Ballerinas” and “Tiny Love” (2019) and “Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)” (2007). It was a cute time for all in the room as they bopped from side to side basking in the ambiance of self love and acceptance. The opening riff for Mika’s ‘Underwater’ (2012) began, one of my personal favourites. The song is passionate with a haunting chorus melody that stimulates thoughts of Greek myths and legends. The lyrics and music are almost a complete contrast which keeps Mika’s love songs so interesting and allow them to stand out in the music world.
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Paying tribute to his most recent album ‘My Name Is Michael Holbrook’ (2019), ‘Paloma’ and ‘Tomorrow’ were next on the setlist. When I first heard the song ‘Tomorrow’ I listened to the Italian version: ‘Domani’ and fell in love with it. Mika’s vocal range could be compared to that of Freddie Mercury, with his ability to clearly jump octaves in a single phrase. Upon doing more research, I discovered Mika was multilingual, being able to sing in not only in English and Italian, but also French. Talk about talent!
After a short story time about biting his tongue so hard it bled and gave him a lisp, Mika smoothly transitioned into a much loved classic from ‘Life in Cartoon Motion’ (2007), “Lollipop”. It had the entire crowd chanting ‘Say Love!” because love was not going to get them down tonight! There was no surprise appearance from Ariana Grande for the next song, which just so happens to be “Popular Song” (2012). As he sang to a crowd of misfits and weirdos, in that moment we all related to not being part of the “popular crowd” but we were all content with who we are today, because being popular in high school means nothing.
Speaking of high school, the next song on the setlist brought me back to simpler times where I performed it for my HSC and to this day have vivid memories of trying to hit the high notes while singing in the shower. “Happy Ending” was the first Mika song I had ever heard, thanks to the aforementioned ‘So Fresh’ CD. And as soon as the first few words were sung, I was already in tears.
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“This is the way you left me, I’m not pretending. No hope, no love, no glory, no happy ending.”
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Sometimes when you associate a song with certain memories and then you see the song live, you feel complete, like a full 360 has been done and your feelings and memories are valid. Mika allowed me to experience that through his performance of ‘Happy Ending’ with added impromptu a cappella ending. The raw emotion that was portrayed in the a cappella ending was just so overwhelming and had the power to silence the entire crowd (minus a couple of people ‘whooing’).
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Now of course every show has a fake encore, so after a very lively and flamboyant performance of ‘Love Today’ (2007), a cheeky costume change into a pink suit signalled the beginning of the end (of the show). Of course, as I have mentioned so far, Mika loves his colours, so it was only fitting for the next song to be the one that mentions brown, blue, violet, purple and green: ‘Grace Kelly!’ Again, the entire floor of the Enmore Theatre shook beneath our feet with everyone jumping and dancing to a classic Mika song that brought out the theatrics inside each audience member.It was honestly such a high note to end the night on.
To sum up, I didn’t actually realise how many songs of Mika’s I subconsciously knew before I arrived at the concert, but all I know is that he really knows how to put on a show and entertain a crowd. His endless source of energy fueled by the crowd in turn fueled us right back. After one last song, Mika left the stage for the last time that night. Leaving the crowd with hope, love and glory and a very Happy Ending to their night.
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Check out RO LLAURO’s gallery of this event HERE
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Check out MIKA below
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