This event was a delight beyond what I could have imagined. Mika is not my usual listening fare, and I must confess I listened to his new album, Hyperlove, and didn't fall in love with it. However, I do find him an interesting character, especially as a judge on The Piano, and I found his explanation of his writing process for each song fascinating.
SWG3 was hosting two events tonight, with Machine Girl playing in the TV Studio (capacity 1000). We were packed into the Warehouse (capacity 500), as you'd expect for a sell-out. The crowd's age range was wide, skewed toward young, female attendees. The small stage was set up with a piano, an armchair, a coffee table and various microphone stands. Two open laptops sat on top of the piano, displaying music track interfaces in various colours. We stood relatively close to the front, but the view was partially obstructed by the sea of heads in front of us. No chance of any videos tonight.
Mika, dressed in a red-pinstriped cream suit, immediately set the tone by arriving on stage carrying a tray with china cups and a pot of tea. This was not going to be your usual popstar performance. This was a trip into Mika's mind.
Instead of launching into the first song, he sat down and explained that when he started to write this album, he began with nothing but a blank page. Then he hit upon two notes, which he played for us. From there, he talked us through his thought process, explaining the steps it took to add the layers which resulted in the finished song. As he talked us through this, he used the computer equipment to add each layer, turning up the volume so we could feel the shape evolving. His glee was ridiculously infectious, his eyes twinkling, his smile never far away.
This was followed by a performance of Science Fiction Lover, introducing it like this: "So I followed that song with another one. Naturally, it was about making love to a robot, and falling in love with it afterwards." (I may have paraphrased.) His self-deprecating humour shone throughout the evening.
This format of explaining the song's evolution, then playing another, kept the audience rapt. He took delight in demonstrating how idly tapping a teacup with a spoon led to the creation of Spinning Out.
The beauty of Mika is that he embraces his peculiarities and uses them as a strength. He's comfortable with who he is. He's so thankful that he gets to do what he does as a living, travelling the world recording and performing his music. When else would you get to travel to Montreal to record the sound of an ancient organ in a cathedral late at night, while your sound engineer lay on his back and pretended to make snow angels on the church floor? This is Mika's life.
He told us how much he loves his Glasgow fans, which I initially took with a pinch of salt - that old cliche of insert city name here. He followed that up, though, with a story which gave credence to the statement: performing outdoors in a square in Spain, he asked a male fan to join him on stage and was surprised by how well the fan sang. It turned out that the man was from Glasgow. A single holler and a wave from the crowd identified that the fan was present. He didn't get to repeat the performance, though.
One needy fan near the back kept shouting, "I love you, Mika," until he acknowledged her. She took this as an invitation to continue, following up with, "Can I get a hug?" Mika had already explained how he lost 40% of his hearing as a youth (sticking his head between two speakers and listening to music at full volume in order to 'feel' it), so he couldn't make out what she was saying, even when she literally spelt it out "H-U-G". Mika moved on.
Then she whined that she was "Sorry for being weird". The crowd grew tired of her interruptions, so when she then begged him to accept her apology, they vociferously shut her down. We didn't hear from her again. I don't know if she stayed. If she did, I imagine she was gutted after Mika read aloud a letter he'd received, delivered to the venue (actually, he'd received FIVE copies).
The letter had been handwritten by the pupils of P112 at Monymusk Primary School in Inverurie, who asked Mika to allow their head teacher to take a selfie with him because she was such a big fan of his. Having read the letter aloud, including the spelling mistakes, he asked if she was present, which she was. He then invited her to join him on stage.
She couldn't believe that they'd done this. Five- and six-year-olds making her dream come true. The pair hugged several times, chatted, and then he asked her to help him with Immortal Love, using cue cards to assist our chorus sing-along. When she messed up and Mika corpsed, she automatically used her headmistress voice to tell him to "Behave", making him laugh even harder. It was a lovely moment. Someone recorded the song for her on her phone, and at the end, Mika thanked the pupils directly to the camera for sending him the letter. They'll be buzzing when they see the recording.
After this, Maia returned to conduct the Q&A section, asking questions which had been sent in by attendees prior to the show.
The night ended with a performance of "Big Girls," with the crowd singing and dancing along. The event had lasted far longer than I expected, not finishing till 9.20 pm (from an 8.05 pm start). Definitely great value and helped me appreciate the album on a whole level.
My wife enjoyed the night so much, she declared she'd love to see him again, having previously dismissed the proposal when he announced his show at the Kelvingrove Bandstand. That show is sold out, so I am now looking for resale or production-release tickets. Nothing on Twickets yet. If I'm unlucky in my search, at least we'll have the happy memories from this show. It was truly superb.
Setlist
Modern Times (Song evolution)Science Fiction Lover (Acoustic)
Excuses For Love (Song evolution)
Spinning Out (Acoustic played with tea cup)
Eleven (Song evolution)
Immortal Love
Big Girl (You are Beautiful)
Ticket Price: £15.50 (ticket only) + £19 (CD & ticket) from Assai Records.
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