Manchester Evening News: Mika @ Apollo

[dcdeb]

Mika @ Apollo

Gary Ryan

20/11/2007

 

19/11/07

 

THIS year's Marmite, no pop star has polarised opinion more than 24-year-old Mika Penniman.

 

When The Guardian published a review attacking his perma-showboating debut album, Life In Cartoon Motion, as akin to 'being held at gunpoint by Bonnie Langford', Queen guitarist Brian May was so incensed that he penned a riposte on his blog.

 

The Anglo-Lebanese fop's latest show - part of the Dodgy Holiday (a euphemism for Man-On-Man action taken from his song, Billy Brown) Tour - is big on spectacle, beginning with an angel-winged dancing girl bursting out from a bubble, and ending with the entire band dressed in furvert animal costumes.

 

Taking in glitter cannons, Bella Emberg dancers in basques and an appearance from Tina Malone and Dystin Johnson, actresses in the Channel 4 series Shameless, along the way.

 

You can't deny that Mika knows how to put on a good performance, breathlessly bouncing around the stage like a 6'4" sugared-up Gummi Bear and holding the ecstatic audience in the palm of his jazz-hands.

 

He opens with his best moment, first single Relax, Take It Easy, which is essentially Cutting Crew's (I Just Died) in Your Arms on poppers.

 

Scissor Sisters

 

Similarly, the music industry kiss-off, Grace Kelly, and the Beatles-esque, Billy Brown, also hit the spot musically, while the by-numbers-funk of Love Today is passable in a serrated Scissor Sisters way.

 

The problem is... well, the rest. Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) takes the wooden spoon, ostensibly a celebration of 'real' women, stuffed full of condescending, facile references to 'curves in all the right places'.

 

It's enough to make any larger lady diet - in order to never, ever end up patronised by Mika and his tokenistic 'thin girls = rubbish, lard-lovers = hot, hot, hot" sentiments.

 

Lollipop, meanwhile, is more irritating than a screaming cat dragging its nails down a blackboard, a hollow, finger-wagging nursery rhyme advising young girls not to have sex.

 

Ring, Ring has been exhumed from the dusty vaults marked 'Rubbish hits of the '80s - Do Not Approach Without a Biohazard Suit', while the ballads smother with schmaltz.

 

It's fine to raid the guilty pleasures charity bin if there's substance behind the shimmer. Scissor Sisters, for example, get away with it due to enviably polished songwriting combined with Jake Shears talent for penning a needling lyric.

 

But at the end of this evening, you get the feeling that Mika needs to write some better material if history is going to remember him as anything more than a Disco Darkness.

 

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/music/live_reviews/s/1025069_mika__apollo

[Sarah_Lollipop]

I can't believe they are still being nasty!

[lcmlcm]

I can't believe they are still being nasty!

 

because they are nasty ppl :rocket:

[Akim]

It started off well and then got lost, I think.... - Marmite review in itself??!

"while the ballads smother with schmaltz"

I suppose in fairness I can relate to what the author is saying here. I too feel that the ballads lack feeling and are played out in a frenzy and have been progressively so with each concert.

BUT

I also remember hearing e.g. MI, SITM, HE in the early days, where you could feel the emotions being expressed with precise clarity. (People have said that MI was sung too quickly, I think firstly at SBE (May 07))

I cannot agree that Mika lacks lyric writing qualities- I think the author got lost in his own interpretation of the "showmanship" and couldn't see past the ticker tape and balloons...

[OhMyMika!!]

 

 

 

 

more

 

 

do they read what they've written before they post/publish?!?!

[vixenbbw]

Grungey, dark, moody, depressing = credible and worthy of praise

 

Happy, uplifting, fun, tongue-in-cheek = lightweight tosh and worthy of scorn

 

That's basically the sad journolist who's written this article's mindset.

 

Mika is as talented in the songwriting department when it comes to deep meanings and messages as any other musicians around at the moment. Just because it's wrapped in bright colours idiots like this one can't see the wood for the trees!!

 

All I know is that I'm an intelligent, 38 yr old "Big Girl" who has never felt so responsive to an artist in my life. I don't feel any urge to diet but I do feel filled with creative desire to do lots of things that I've always wanted to but never thought were possible.

 

It's all down to our sugar coated friend! Long may he reign!

[lcmlcm]

I suppose in fairness I can relate to what the author is saying here. I too feel that the ballads lack feeling and are played out in a frenzy and have been progressively so with each concert.

 

haha....rite, i never see a person singing, with one hand on piano, one hand point to others.......and stage between sitting and standing...

he just cant sit properly, what's wrong with your butt?? :biggrin2:

i quite hope he can perform "everbody's talking" live as same as in the dvd :mf_lustslow:

it's irresistible!!! plz killing me softly with this song.........

[guapo!]

pff, how cares, i didn't even read it. MIka is successful and that's what matters.

[Queenie]

 

The killer cat is back again!!!

[Sarah_Lollipop]

 

The killer cat is back again!!!

 

:roftl:

[guapo!]

 

The killer cat is back again!!!

 

lol:naughty:

[Gatagordinha]

*sigh* not again....

 

I do not understand it! Could he not see how much the audience loved it????

 

Baffling. The MEN just hates Mika, let's be honest.

[ohwowitsnicka]

Gary Ryan, go hide under a rock... Please.

[soon-to-bemrs.penniman]

Mika @ Apollo

Gary Ryan

20/11/2007

 

19/11/07

 

THIS year's Marmite, no pop star has polarised opinion more than 24-year-old Mika Penniman.

 

When The Guardian published a review attacking his perma-showboating debut album, Life In Cartoon Motion, as akin to 'being held at gunpoint by Bonnie Langford', Queen guitarist Brian May was so incensed that he penned a riposte on his blog.

 

The Anglo-Lebanese fop's latest show - part of the Dodgy Holiday (a euphemism for Man-On-Man action taken from his song, Billy Brown) Tour - is big on spectacle, beginning with an angel-winged dancing girl bursting out from a bubble, and ending with the entire band dressed in furvert animal costumes.

 

Taking in glitter cannons, Bella Emberg dancers in basques and an appearance from Tina Malone and Dystin Johnson, actresses in the Channel 4 series Shameless, along the way.

 

You can't deny that Mika knows how to put on a good performance, breathlessly bouncing around the stage like a 6'4" sugared-up Gummi Bear and holding the ecstatic audience in the palm of his jazz-hands.

 

He opens with his best moment, first single Relax, Take It Easy, which is essentially Cutting Crew's (I Just Died) in Your Arms on poppers.

 

Scissor Sisters

 

Similarly, the music industry kiss-off, Grace Kelly, and the Beatles-esque, Billy Brown, also hit the spot musically, while the by-numbers-funk of Love Today is passable in a serrated Scissor Sisters way.

The problem is... well, the rest. Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) takes the wooden spoon, ostensibly a celebration of 'real' women, stuffed full of condescending, facile references to 'curves in all the right places'.

It's enough to make any larger lady diet - in order to never, ever end up patronised by Mika and his tokenistic 'thin girls = rubbish, lard-lovers = hot, hot, hot" sentiments.

Lollipop, meanwhile, is more irritating than a screaming cat dragging its nails down a blackboard, a hollow, finger-wagging nursery rhyme advising young girls not to have sex.

 

Ring, Ring has been exhumed from the dusty vaults marked 'Rubbish hits of the '80s - Do Not Approach Without a Biohazard Suit', while the ballads smother with schmaltz.

 

It's fine to raid the guilty pleasures charity bin if there's substance behind the shimmer. Scissor Sisters, for example, get away with it due to enviably polished songwriting combined with Jake Shears talent for penning a needling lyric.

 

But at the end of this evening, you get the feeling that Mika needs to write some better material if history is going to remember him as anything more than a Disco Darkness.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/music/live_reviews/s/1025069_mika__apollo

 

ptfffffffffff:sneaky2:

 

[RAK1]

Grungey, dark, moody, depressing = credible and worthy of praise

 

Happy, uplifting, fun, tongue-in-cheek = lightweight tosh and worthy of scorn

 

That's basically the sad journolist who's written this article's mindset.

 

Mika is as talented in the songwriting department when it comes to deep meanings and messages as any other musicians around at the moment. Just because it's wrapped in bright colours idiots like this one can't see the wood for the trees!!

 

All I know is that I'm an intelligent, 38 yr old "Big Girl" who has never felt so responsive to an artist in my life. I don't feel any urge to diet but I do feel filled with creative desire to do lots of things that I've always wanted to but never thought were possible.

 

It's all down to our sugar coated friend! Long may he reign!

 

 

I'm totally with you on this Vix, no one has EVER got me to be as open and creative as I am right now.

There is something about Mika,I don't know if it's because he is so nice and charming when you meet him or that when ne's performing he brings out the inner child in you, but it's certainly made me into a different person. I don't think I have ever been as happy as I am right now, when I listen to the songs and see him performing.

I think that some people still don't get him, and how this guy can dis the LT performance, which for me is the highlight of the show, it's amazing and in this show it has evolved even more, with Mikey and Cherisse getting their own solos.

And I'm sick of these journos saying he is patronising large women, with Big Girls. If I see one more person writing it, I'm gonna send a nasty letter to them.

[sariflor]

I'm totally with you on this Vix, no one has EVER got me to be as open and creative as I am right now.

There is something about Mika,I don't know if it's because he is so nice and charming when you meet him or that when ne's performing he brings out the inner child in you, but it's certainly made me into a different person. I don't think I have ever been as happy as I am right now, when I listen to the songs and see him performing.

I think that some people still don't get him, and how this guy can dis the LT performance, which for me is the highlight of the show, it's amazing and in this show it has evolved even more, with Mikey and Cherisse getting their own solos.

And I'm sick of these journos saying he is patronising large women, with Big Girls. If I see one more person writing it, I'm gonna send a nasty letter to them.

 

Hi Rose!!!

 

And before I forget to say this, it was lovely meeting you in Glasgow, and have the pleasure of being squashed together at the front row

 

Anyway, I agree with everything you said in your post.

Mika has a lot of talent and any fool can see that.

 

If they choose not to, or simply can't.....well,that is their loss then, and they will just continue to write short sighted reviews like this one.

Sigh.

What can we do?

Just try to support him and "convert" as many new people as we can, so they join the cult, MWUAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA

 

 

[BonjourMika1990]

This is bad, but you know whoever went to reveiw that gig was jumpin up and down with everybody else...hypocrits:thumbdown:

 

I promise that when I am writing for VOGUE lol I will make sure that Mika always comes out looking like the good man he is:mf_lustslow:

[Blue Sky]

Gary Ryan, go hide under a rock... Please.

Not before Queenie's hilarious cat gets him first!! OMG my breakfast nearly got spat all over my computer. Thanks Queenie for the best start to the day!!

 

 

The killer cat is back again!!!

[Ruth]

Mika @ Apollo

Gary Ryan

20/11/2007

 

19/11/07

 

THIS year's Marmite, no pop star has polarised opinion more than 24-year-old Mika Penniman.

 

When The Guardian published a review attacking his perma-showboating debut album, Life In Cartoon Motion, as akin to 'being held at gunpoint by Bonnie Langford', Queen guitarist Brian May was so incensed that he penned a riposte on his blog.

 

The Anglo-Lebanese fop's latest show - part of the Dodgy Holiday (a euphemism for Man-On-Man action taken from his song, Billy Brown) Tour - is big on spectacle, beginning with an angel-winged dancing girl bursting out from a bubble, and ending with the entire band dressed in furvert animal costumes.

 

Taking in glitter cannons, Bella Emberg dancers in basques and an appearance from Tina Malone and Dystin Johnson, actresses in the Channel 4 series Shameless, along the way.

 

You can't deny that Mika knows how to put on a good performance, breathlessly bouncing around the stage like a 6'4" sugared-up Gummi Bear and holding the ecstatic audience in the palm of his jazz-hands.

 

He opens with his best moment, first single Relax, Take It Easy, which is essentially Cutting Crew's (I Just Died) in Your Arms on poppers.

 

Scissor Sisters

 

Similarly, the music industry kiss-off, Grace Kelly, and the Beatles-esque, Billy Brown, also hit the spot musically, while the by-numbers-funk of Love Today is passable in a serrated Scissor Sisters way.

 

The problem is... well, the rest. Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) takes the wooden spoon, ostensibly a celebration of 'real' women, stuffed full of condescending, facile references to 'curves in all the right places'.

 

It's enough to make any larger lady diet - in order to never, ever end up patronised by Mika and his tokenistic 'thin girls = rubbish, lard-lovers = hot, hot, hot" sentiments.

 

Lollipop, meanwhile, is more irritating than a screaming cat dragging its nails down a blackboard, a hollow, finger-wagging nursery rhyme advising young girls not to have sex.

 

Ring, Ring has been exhumed from the dusty vaults marked 'Rubbish hits of the '80s - Do Not Approach Without a Biohazard Suit', while the ballads smother with schmaltz.

 

It's fine to raid the guilty pleasures charity bin if there's substance behind the shimmer. Scissor Sisters, for example, get away with it due to enviably polished songwriting combined with Jake Shears talent for penning a needling lyric.

 

But at the end of this evening, you get the feeling that Mika needs to write some better material if history is going to remember him as anything more than a Disco Darkness.

 

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/music/live_reviews/s/1025069_mika__apollo

 

I've registered and put in my opinion!

[Ruth]

There is something about Mika,I don't know if it's because he is so nice and charming when you meet him or that when ne's performing he brings out the inner child in you, but it's certainly made me into a different person. I don't think I have ever been as happy as I am right now, when I listen to the songs and see him performing.

I think that some people still don't get him, and how this guy can dis the LT performance, which for me is the highlight of the show, it's amazing and in this show it has evolved even more, with Mikey and Cherisse getting their own solos.

And I'm sick of these journos saying he is patronising large women, with Big Girls. If I see one more person writing it, I'm gonna send a nasty letter to them.

 

Double, double ditto.

 

Rak1 are you Rose?

[sparkly1]

I've registered and put in my opinion!

 

me too and i am so angry I dont think I will be able to do it in an adult and civilized way, I mean this guy has to be a total freak (in a bad way), he sounds like a total jumped up self obsessed twat. sorry I am soo furious with this ape, I sent 2 comments but I think they will BOTH never see the light of day. I swear if I were to meet this guy now I would slap his face sooo hard!!

[vixenbbw]

I will also register and comment when I get the chance.

 

I though I was quite restrained in my post now I read everyone elses!!

[Christine]

"while the ballads smother with schmaltz"

 

I suppose in fairness I can relate to what the author is saying here. I too feel that the ballads lack feeling and are played out in a frenzy and have been progressively so with each concert.

 

BUT

 

I also remember hearing e.g. MI, SITM, HE in the early days, where you could feel the emotions being expressed with precise clarity. (People have said that MI was sung too quickly, I think firstly at SBE (May 07))

 

I agree with you. There is a very fine line with Mika's voice and his songs between Broadway cheese and extraordinarily haunting/beautiful/moving. When he rushes his songs he loses the subtlety required to make the distinction and heads off into schmaltz.

 

I saw him in March and I really enjoyed Everybody's Talking and My Interpretation at that time. I also prefer the underproduced demo tracks where it's just him and his piano.

 

It's all down to our sugar coated friend! Long may he reign!

 

Hear, hear!

 

i quite hope he can perform "everbody's talking" live as same as in the dvd :mf_lustslow:

it's irresistible!!! plz killing me softly with this song.........

 

He can, but I don't think he will anymore unfortunately.

 

 

The killer cat is back again!!!

 

[vixenbbw]

Christine, I just noticed your avatar..............I didn't think that's what Mikey said..........although the band name I thought he said did start with a C!!!

[Christine]

Christine, I just noticed your avatar..............I didn't think that's what Mikey said..........although the band name I thought he said did start with a C!!!

 

Really?

 

That's even better.

 

Guess I shouldn't change my av to that though.