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Short blog review of Mika @ iTunes Festival


Gatagordinha

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Short, but positive (again) :biggrin2:

 

 

 

Mika Closed the iTunes Live Festival

 

3 August

 

So finally after 31 packed shows the iTunes Live festival has ended it’s third year with Mika closing the show. The iTunes Live festival has become progressively bigger over the past three years with the first year being held at the ICA and last year’s festival being held at Camden’s Koko. This years event was by far the most ambitious and it will be interesting to see what iTunes pull off next year. Bigger is not necessarily better however Mika was the perfect choice to end the festival.

 

Michael “Mika” Penniman who stormed the charts in 2007 with his camp hybrid of disco and pop came dressed looking like a character from Stanley Kubrick’s ” A Clockwork Orange”. OK he was missing the bowler hat and bass ball bat however other than that there was an uncanny resemblance. This was the first time that I had seen Mika live and I was suitably impressed with his musical skill and on stage theatrics. The roundhouse normally is quite a somber and gloomy venue to photograph however Mika had turned the stage into an over the top pantomime with tinsel cannons and decorative photo brollies. Set wise there was an even split of songs from his debut album, “Life in Cartoon Motion” as well as from his as yet to be released second album “We are Golden”.

 

Mika is garish and trashy however he pulls it off incredibly well with songs which are so catchy they will inadvertently rattle around in your head for days.

 

Written by John Rahim

 

http://www.rahimlive.com/2009/08/03/mika-closed-the-itunes-live-festival/

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Can you really say garish and trashy and mean it in a positive way?

 

Ah... the nuances in the English langauge are driving me nuts sometimes!!!!!:bash:

 

Well part of it is nuance of the English language, yes I think so!:naughty: But it's more to do with the fact that very very few British reviewers can stand to give Mika a deserved compliment without balancing it with a criticism. So you get: garish and trashy BUT talented. Or narcissistic and camp BUT a very good voice.

You see the pattern. :aah:

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Well part of it is nuance of the English language, yes I think so!:naughty: But it's more to do with the fact that very very few British reviewers can stand to give Mika a deserved compliment without balancing it with a criticism. So you get: garish and trashy BUT talented. Or narcissistic and camp BUT a very good voice.

You see the pattern. :aah:

 

I tend to dismiss the entire review when I see stuff like that because it is so inaccurate that, as you said, it is just thrown in there for the purpose of insulting him lest they actually come across as appreciating his music and performance.

 

You could argue garish but to say that Mika is trashy in an era where Lady GaGa goes out to dinner in her underwear is absurd.

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I tend to dismiss the entire review when I see stuff like that because it is so inaccurate that, as you said, it is just thrown in there for the purpose of insulting him lest they actually come across as appreciating his music and performance.

 

You could argue garish but to say that Mika is trashy in an era where Lady GaGa goes out to dinner in her underwear is absurd.

 

Precisely!

 

To describe him as 'trashy' really is ridiculous and a very lazy criticism.

However I am tending to see past the criticisms and focus on the subtext right now, and I do think that subtext is changing, subtly maybe, but then I never expected the British media to suddenly adore Mika. He really will have to earn their respect the hard way :biggrin2:

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Well part of it is nuance of the English language, yes I think so!:naughty:But it's more to do with the fact that very very few British reviewers can stand to give Mika a deserved compliment without balancing it with a criticism. So you get: garish and trashy BUT talented. Or narcissistic and camp BUT a very good voice.

You see the pattern. :aah:

 

Yes, it does seem to be increasingly the case, isn't it? Pathetic.

Just because they don't think that he's "cool" or "happening"? It just annoys me. Can't they just give him a compliment, a genuinely good review, and leave it at that?

The guy is amazing- just freaking accept it and report it as it is. Don't try and ridicule him. Aaaaaaaaaaarh:aah:

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