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http://www.whatsonne.co.uk/gb/music/reviews-and-previews/review-mika-o2-academy-newcastle Review: Mika, O2 Academy, Newcastle By Nicola Fish, Evening Chronicle On February 25, 2010 SOLD Out! So the sign screamed, and of course the line that circled around the Academy was proof enough. With fans lined up aged seven to 70, Mika has a broad appeal and I was about to find out why. The show began with a curtain falling, revealing the huge screen covered with Mika’s animated cartoons. As an eerie French song screeches to a climax and the cartoons scribble wildly out of control, out bursts Mika starting the show with Rain, which includes the lyrics of ‘I hate days like this’ and which doesn’t seem like an obvious choice. It’s not, but that’s why it works because one thing Mika is not is predictable. With crowd pleasers like Big Girls Any Other World, Mika showcased his wide range of depth and emotion and you could tell he believed in every single word he sang. His conversation with the audience was minimal but it didn’t matter as the songs spoke for themselves. With limited props (a giant inflatable leg and an umbrella) and no real costume changes, the spotlight was on Mika. Barely pausing to take a breath, time sped by as he belted out hit after future hit. In the music industry where style is often chosen over substance, it was refreshing to see someone perform in such a free, unrestrained style. There was no choreography; everything just seemed to happen organically. Mika is very much an in the moment performer and does what he wants without alienating the audience. Part of his appeal is the fact he doesn’t take himself too seriously. He openly admits to the audience that he always screws up his part on the piano and that he’s trying to hide that he needs to wipe his nose! All this meant the audience was like putty in his hands. Even the dreaded ‘I’m going to sing some new songs’ was met with cheers and the audience sang along with every tune. Mika’s care-free attitude was infectious, from the butch man with his wife who knew all the words to ‘Everybody’s going to love today’ to the woman swaying in the completely wrong direction. Ending with a confetti strewn performance of Golden and an amazing encore of Grace Kelly and Lollipop, the crowd were left wishing this was one party that would never end.

it's snowing now in the North East, but it's wet snow and not too bad. They say it should be rain by later tonight. I was planning on getting there at about 5..but I have been ill all weekend and now have a chesty cough, so might make it nearer 6. See you there though..the bouncy floor awaits:naughty:

an article from a local paper in newcastle.... Mika ringing the changes By Gordon Barr, Evening Chronicle On February 5, 2010 GOLDEN boy Mika brings his colourful show to Newcastle this month. Entertainment Editor GORDON BARR catches up with him. ONE thing is for sure about a Mika gig – no two shows are the same. That has never rung truer than with his latest tour, which arrives in Newcastle later this month. He’s playing a host of different-sized venues, so each concert will be different from any of the others. “We go from 1,000 capacity places to 1,800 capacity, so we have this crazy show to put together as it has to adapt to all these different types of venues,” he tells me. “For the massive arena places, the set is so huge it has to be rehearsed in a film studio – actually at Elstree, where they rehearsed Star Wars. “It is the way that my career has progressed. Unconventional. It has gone all over the world and it is in different stages all over the world. “Around Europe we are doing arenas. In Japan I will do four nights at a theatre but in Korea I will do one night at the Olympic Hall. “I do what I do in the way that I do it. I never change the way that I perform. That has been a philosophy since the first day. ” Mika’s second album, The Boy Who Knew Too Much, shipped an incredible one million copies worldwide in its first week of release. Featuring tracks from The Boy Who Knew Too Much, the tour will also include favourites from his multi-million-selling debut Life in Cartoon Motion, such as Grace Kelly, Relax and Big Girls and, as we have come to expect, a few exciting surprises thrown in. Recognised as one of the most inventive and thrilling live showmen around, Mika, who has laid down vocals for the Haiti charity single to be released next week, has been working with show producer Es Devlin (Kanye West, Pet Shop Boys) to ensure the tour will be nothing short of spectacular. “I found out about Es when she was working on Salome at the Royal Opera House. I badgered my way into meeting her. She had done a rap show for Kanye, and I then convinced her to get into a pop show. It was the first one she had ever done and we did this stadium show together in Paris with this enormous clown fascia, all based on the circus,” he explains. “From there she became the biggest pop set designer in the world. But she always promises me she will come back to me, no matter how tiny the show. “We did an acoustic show at Sadler’s Wells, and we treated that with the same attitude as an arena and stadium show. “We build on something that tells a story and looks visually beautiful, something that you would associate with opera or theatre, not a pop show. It has always been how we work. “So now we have got this new show that we have been working on for a while with this concept of surreal scale and depth. It is a giant book and we have this enormous book that comes to life, where all the pages drop down to reveal other bits of the story.” Mika is looking forward to playing the O2 Academy in Newcastle on February 24. It was one of the first cities to take him to its heart. “Newcastle was explosive,” he recalls. “It was like a fun club show from 80s New York, that is how it felt. I want this new show to feel like you have taken some crazy substance and you have jumped into the pages of my artwork.” Regarding the Haiti charity single, he says: “I came back from France to do it. It is an honour to be asked and I hope it raises tons and tons of money.” Mika won’t be writing any new material while on the road though. “I don’t write when I travel, I write in the studio in a very disciplined manner, from 10am to 7pm, with a very strict routine,” he says. “If you work every day in the same place, it is like a drawing, an idea you started four days earlier, you have, through flow, it turning into something else four days later. “It is a bit old school, a tin pan alley way of writing songs. But that is the way I have always done it - sitting at the piano on my own, recording everything I do and then crafting songs out of it. You get addicted.”

I dreamt about this gig last night....it was taking place in a small working mens club near ST. James's Park (the football ground).. and some of the MFC were there:blink: It was all very bizzare:naughty: and that was before I got the email about tickets being on the way!!! my tickets came today but I was at work:sneaky2: now getting them on Saturday:thumb_yello:

:roftl: don't think I've ever been called a refugee before!!! hahaha...

I thought it was half term?? I shall have to check now.... You leading people astray again???

:roftl: I think it may be self service in Fred's B and B the next day.... have you seen the state of him after a gig????

OK.. I'm in!!! can't bloody wait..The November 2007 gig was awsome...Newcastle is a party town... so put your party pants on:naughty: btw...(I'm so sentimantal:blush-anim-cl:)The first Mika gig I did was 24-02-07!!!! To be going again to see him exactly 3 years to the day later...Amazing!!!!!

You had to buy 2 copies of the album because you liked it so much and you still don't think you're mikafied:roftl: Mika is addictive....... I don't know what it is that makes him that way... but he has it..!! Please go to a show... you won't regret it. In another post you mentioned how Mika doesn't lip sync..!! It's one of the things I admire most. he sounds the same live as he does on his albums....actually.. imo.. I think he's better live if he has a good crowd going. You will enjoy... and your wife will be ecstatic!!! I hope you keep posting.. I look forward to your gig review!!!! p.s. there's nothing wrong with cardies...mika wears them all of the time.. you'll fit right in:naughty:

I like your review...hope your wife was OK that you had her Mika cd in the car:naughty: if she stopped breathing when it first went on.. how was she when you left her without it? Anyway.. you should go to the Mika gigs in Australia.....Once you have been.. you will know why!!