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Newcastle Evening Chronicle - Feb 5th - Mika Ringing The Changes

FREDDIESDOUBLE

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FREDDIESDOUBLE

FREDDIESDOUBLE

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an article from a local paper in newcastle....(thanks ando)

 

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.”

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lollipop_monkey

lollipop_monkey

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Thanks for posting, FD! I'm so looking forward to seeing this new tour! :aah:

 

Although I really wonder if the first leg of the tour is going to get a different interpretation of the show than the second leg. Once he gets to Lisbon and starts playing those huge venues, I think he'll whip out the big guns. :mf_lustslow:

 

PS: I think there's a typo though - I assume he means his shows go from 1,000 to 18,000, not 1,800, otherwise that's not much of a difference at all. :roftl:

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Shine

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an article from a local paper in newcastle....(thanks ando)

 

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.”

 

Thanks for posting Freddie! This article really made my day. I've always liked the way he spoke about his creative process. Very focused and devoted only to it.:wub2:

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RAK1

RAK1

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I totally agree with what he says about Newcastle, for some reason there is some kind of vibe there, that really lifts everyone and makes for an excellent night!

Looking forward to it:thumb_yello:

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MissPie

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“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.”

 

:roftl: that sounds amazing :biggrin2:

 

cantwaitcantwaitcantwait :aah:

 

 

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.”

 

That's very true.

I love the way he speaks about writing songs. The idea of that being addictive sounds quite plausible to me somehow.

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chickadee

chickadee

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Thanks for posting, FD! I'm so looking forward to seeing this new tour! :aah:

 

Although I really wonder if the first leg of the tour is going to get a different interpretation of the show than the second leg. Once he gets to Lisbon and starts playing those huge venues, I think he'll whip out the big guns. :mf_lustslow:

 

PS: I think there's a typo though - I assume he means his shows go from 1,000 to 18,000, not 1,800, otherwise that's not much of a difference at all. :roftl:

 

I was thinking the same thing about the typo.

 

The only thing that scares me is whether or not all of that sparkly goodness that it sounds like the show is intended to be (with the book and all) will make it's way down to Aus. I'd like it to, but it could be very expensive.

 

Or maybe we'll get something totally different, something unique to us, and Mika will have to build/make it when he gets here and all us MFC'ers can put our hands up to help! *brightens up at the thought*

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