Review of Mika December Gig at The Reindeer

[meimei88]

Again apologies if this already exists.. (again did a search in the forum and didnt find anything!)

 

Was anyone lucky enough to go to this gig?!

 

http://music.guardian.co.uk/live/story/0,,1965870,00.html

 

Stripped-down set from a rising star

By André Paine, Evening Standard 13.12.06

 

One of life's outsiders: Beirut-born singer Mika

 

Based above a car park near Brick Lane, The Reindeer is a temporary venue and restaurant with a furtive feel. There's a thrill in going up the stairs behind the metal shutters and discovering the festive surroundings, including fake antlers as light fittings, which will all be gone after 24 December.

 

Flamboyant newcomer Mika seems certain to be a more permanent presence in pop. The 23-year-old Beirut-born singer moved to Britain as a child and found his place as one of life's outsiders. He was bullied at Westminster School and made music his escape, even training as an opera singer.

 

When he bounded on stage wearing gold shoes and a big grin, the bullying stories rang very true. But burgeoning success has clearly compensated for the name-calling, while a deal to be one of the faces of Paul Smith suggests that he is becoming a style icon.

 

As with Lily Allen, Mika's tunes have become MySpace hits ahead of the record company schedule. "I know I haven't released a single yet, so it's pretty amazing you're all here," he told the crowd. This was a stripped-down set with Mika - the surname's a mystery for now - pounding the piano alongside a friend on acoustic guitar and backing vocals.

 

But even nearly naked, the new single Grace Kelly was an irresistible slice of sassy pop, with Mika name-checking one key influence in the lyrics: Freddie Mercury. Like the Queen singer, Mika was supremely confident on stage and his emergence as a fully formed frontman feels like a rare occurrence.

 

There were shades of Robbie Williams on the mouthy My Interpretation, but he was at his best screaming falsetto on Love Today. It was a piano version, but the song's Seventies disco pulse was intact and Scissor Sisters fans will surely embrace it.

 

Sometimes he got a bit overexcited, slapping his thighs with pleasure at his own performance. However, the mournful Over My Shoulder was a surprising departure and he encored with a comical Christmas song, Holy Johnny. So while 2007 already appears to belong to Mika, his versatility as a songwriter suggests he can achieve longevity, too.

[Kumazzz]

For unknown reasons, this article has been changed over the past years...

 

The article is missing...

On 2/15/2007 at 6:42 PM, meimei88 said:

http://music.guardian.co.uk/live/story/0,,1965870,00.html

 

Stripped-down set from a rising star

By André Paine, Evening Standard 13.12.06

 

The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/dec/07/popandrock

Thu 7 Dec 2006 10.10 GMT

 

Review

Mika
 

Christ Church Spitalfields, London

 

If Leo Sayer and Scissor Sister Jake Shears were ever to reproduce, the result would be Mika, a Beirut-born Londoner whose falsetto pop-house will be either loved or loathed in 2007. Opening for soft-rock dweebs The Feeling - a less compatible double bill cannot be imagined - he wins over the crowd by remarking that his mother would be surprised to find him in this glorious East End church. So would the parishioners, no doubt, were they here to see him twanging his braces to discomania tunes like Big Girl (You Are Beautiful).

 

Mika's set recalls an era when pop stars could polarise opinion in the schoolyard by erring on the side of campness. His flamboyance, given substance by an operatically-trained voice and solid musical smarts, is the stuff of 1973.

But will it wash nowadays? Can music this catchy and hedonistic find an audience among today's "Go on, impress me" kids (and their elders)? It could go either way. Mika has the looks, and in first single Relax (Take it Easy), the killer song. As he twirls across Christ Church's altar, he looks like a man awaiting bigger things.

 

· At the Reindeer, London E1 (0845 094 2991), on Tuesday December 12.

[Kumazzz]

Londonist

https://londonist.com/2006/12/mika_the_reinde

 

Mika The Reindeer

 

By Talia Last edited 207 months ago

 

A couple of weeks ago we told you about a new singer who is going to be B I G in 2007 : Mika.

 

Tonight, he plays a gig at The Reindeer in The Truman Brewery on Brick Lane. The Reindeer is a restaurant and theatre space set up by the people behind Bethnal Green's lovely (if a little expensive) Bistrotheque, designed to last only December with the clever tagline 'Remember, the Reindeer is not for life, just for Christmas'. Of course, we don't appear to have remembered to tell you about this place in time for a restaurant booking, as it's now completely full.

 

Never mind though, you'll still able to go to the theatre bar and enjoy a £15 cocktail, and tonight, that should be exactly your plan (yes maybe without the £15 part). Mika will be playing an acoustic show, and no doubt celebrating Grace Kelly taking the hallowed Radio 2 Record of the Week slot. Playing alongside our new favourite hero, will be London funksters Mr hudson as well as singer songwriter M Craft.

Rumour has it there are a few tickets left, so if you like the above performance on Jools Holland we suggest you get calling 0870 890 0149 rather sharpish, and let us know how it was tomorrow.

 

 

Last Updated 12 December 2006

[dcdeb]

53 minutes ago, Kumazzz said:

For unknown reasons, this article has been changed over the past years...

 

 

 

The article hasn't changed, it was two different articles, Eriko. This one was the PREview of the show at the Reindeer in December 2006 -- See it's dated December 7, and the gig was December 12.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/dec/07/popandrock

 

The other article, the one in the first post here, is the REview of the show. It's just that the old link is redirecting to the one you posted, so somehow it has been taken off-line.