New York Press - Mika at (le) poisson rouge

[Soaring Simpson]

Good point. I was thinking the same last night..but then felt kind of bad for thinking about Mika when Jackson has just died . But MJ's albums will undoubtedly sell like hot cakes again now and for a while at least, he is going to dominate record sales. Hmm.

 

Ha- me too- my first thought was "oh, poor MIka, he did want to see the concerts" then I felt ashamed. Hadn't thought about record sales- but mightn't the MJ rush raise the profile/credibility of pop?

[vanessa]

Great review !It's kinda funny

 

"Bubblegum pop stars are addictive—beware!!!!"

So true

[Suzy]

"Eurotrash" and "lollipops". Omigod.

 

And one would have to be blind and deaf not to notice the pure reciprocal energy that artist and fans had in that room.

[identicaltwin3]

Posted By: Gerry Visco June 25th, 2009

 

I overslept yesterday morning and woke up to a throbbing headache. Stumbling over to the PC in a haze, I typed the following words into the Gmail chat box I had going with my editor: “I’m going to sue you!” But my nausea returned and I went back to bed to snooze another half hour. Let the editor stew about my threats. It was his fault, anyway.

 

Did I have the swine flu? What in the hell hath hell wrought?

 

The simple truth was I’d woken up with a Mika hangover. Mika is the award-winning British singer-songwriter pop star sensation wowing them all over in Europe where he’s been heralded as the new Freddie Mercury. Some say he has a five-octave vocal range, but Mika only admits to three-and-a-half.

 

My marching orders were, “Get thee down to Poisson Rouge!” So, as usual, running late, I jumped into a taxi and raced downtown. Descending the red staircase at (le) poisson rouge, I could hear the music already thumping from the basement. Yes, it was an “acoustic” show, but Mika had assembled a back-up assortment of string players seated on the stage. They looked like an army of Santa’s reindeer with aluminum foil-covered headgear with antlers. The backdrop of the stage was covered in some sort of tinsel.

 

Mika himself pounded the keyboards, during those rare moments when he wasn’t jumping up and down or wildly banging on a silver trashcan. Though he confessed in his British accent to be fighting off a cold, this dude has boundless energy.

The room was packed to the gills. The only way I could get near the front was flashing my big Nikon 300 and thanks to the poorly designed stage and the uncooperative security staff, I spent the whole time staring at the back of Mika’s curly head. Although I’m told Mika has a huge gay following, I didn’t see nary one member of the limp-wristed brigade. That’s unusual for a New York show. The audience was composed of wholesome Eurotrash types ranging in age from 18 to 58; all of them white well-scrubbed family members wearing summer pastels. Not only didn’t I see any queers, there were no tattoo or nose rings, or not even any black leather. Had I been magically transported back to the 1950s when you could have good clean fun on a summer night?

There WAS a ****load of smiling going on. “Excuse me!” I exclaimed rudely to one tall man blocking my way. Imagine how I felt when he grinned warmly, eyes twinkling and offered to take the photo for me. Ooops. It was the same with the audience and Mika. No matter what he did or said, the audience whooped in approval and warmth. When he leapt in the air, they did too. They sang along with their hero and they knew all the words. Mika’s their little boy, their overgrown teen, and they love him.

The funny thing is, Mika CAN sing and he works his butt off there on the stage with boundless enthusiasm. He sang a selection of his hits including “Grace Kelly," "Happy Ending" and "Love Today,” and a few new songs from his yet-to-be released album. “He’s not coming back,” one 60-something man uttered disappointedly after the last song and Mika left the stage. After all, the singer was sick. But no, this is an energizer bunny who never quits—he came back not once but twice to give us multi-song encores. Many of the songs are blessed with infectious melodies and are great sing-along material. Mika could make it big in the United States. And naturally, in terms of the song lyrics, his last album, Life in Cartoon Motion, is full of references to childhood and other sunny matters.

 

Like “Lollipops.” Which brings me to why I awoke with a Mika hangover.

 

This annoying, insipid tune with a chorus of children’s voices kept running through my head like it was a bad dream. “Sucking too hard on your lollipop, or love's gonna get you down, sucking too hard on your lollipop, or love's gonna get you down.” Over and over. Yes, I loved sucking on lollipops. All my friends will tell you, Gerry Visco loves to suck lollipops. And Mika’s looked especially inviting.

 

Gerry ! Naughty, naughty ...

 

But yes, it does look inviting . Pity you weren't in Beirut though

: there they gave real lollipops to the waiting crowd...

 

Cheers,

 

Id3

[suzie]

Good point. I was thinking the same last night..but then felt kind of bad for thinking about Mika when Jackson has just died . But MJ's albums will undoubtedly sell like hot cakes again now and for a while at least, he is going to dominate record sales. Hmm.

 

... well, I really was thinking that record companies will start thinking...

 

For sure Sony will release additional Greatest Hits albums and DVDsand there is likely to be a large scale tribute concert as well.

 

.... so other record companies might have to reconsider their planned releases... mainly because of the media coverage they need to help support their acts:cool:

[laura*]

 

 

They looked like an army of Santa’s reindeer with aluminum foil-covered headgear with antlers. The backdrop of the stage was covered in some sort of tinsel.

 

This is a nice variation after the Edward Cullen one.

 

Come on Mr Journalist, you'll get over it.

 

But I admit we Mikafans can be sometimes scary.

[Lucy]

I really like the review. Clean summer night and fun. that is sooo true!!!

[ewokwicket]

I LOVED THAT!! That is one of my favourite reviews that I have read about Mika recently. it sounds like he went in there a bit doubtful as to what to expect and came out loving it, as we all know too well, Mika is a brilliant performer, even if you don't like Mika that much, his gigs are always so brilliant, even with a cold/sore throat.

 

T4P

[Soaring Simpson]

OUCH!...am i wrong or it seems that the NYC audience comes out of Gerry's review quite badly?

 

I don't think you're wrong.

 

And if the review was about another artist, I wouldn't go see them, or check them out on YouTube.

[Cassiopée]

good clean fun on a summer night

 

i love that

 

(not much the comments on wholesome Eurotrash types....how were all you dressed i wonder? )

 

and...again reference to the 50s? LOL

 

I wonder to what definition of Eurotrash he was reffering? http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=eurotrash

[Dark Angel]

Great review. Like it

 

Thx a mill. for posting

[Marilyn Mastin]

That is a great review! He's getting some really good press recently! Fantastic

[Christine]

I had the worst Mika hangover on Wednesday. I know how it is.

[natmika]

I like this review. It's like if the journalist is saying that in spite of his better judgement he loved the gig:naughty:

I know how he feels: lollipops, balloons, nursery rhimes, I'm an adult, I'm supposed to be over that.Then comes this guy and it's like having permission to be a child again:wub2:

[natmika]

Ok I wanna clear that. When I say that we have permission to be children again, I'm not talking about the lyrics, I'm talking about the singing your lungs out and dancing like a maniac.

[silver]

I think this was a good review too - the reviewer had gone with a lot of preconceptions but seemed to have had a good time despite himself.

 

He was a bit snide about the audience but that's because he was conscious of his own audience - his usual readers.

[kath]

Posted By: Gerry Visco June 25th, 2009

 

Although I’m told Mika has a huge gay following, I didn’t see nary one member of the limp-wristed brigade. That’s unusual for a New York show. The audience was composed of wholesome Eurotrash types ranging in age from 18 to 58; all of them white well-scrubbed family members wearing summer pastels. Not only didn’t I see any queers, there were no tattoo or nose rings, or not even any black leather. Had I been magically transported back to the 1950s when you could have good clean fun on a summer night?

 

 

I think this guy was at a different show to me. I dislike his use of the word 'queers' but going down the line as I did, giving out numbers I would definatetly disagree with his view that there were not many gay people there....I met lots.

[ncsuemme]

dude, i've been nursing a mika hangover since! wednesday was especially bad, but good god, mika is intoxicating!

[sariflor]

I've been holding off posting here because I wanted to try and figure out how I felt about the review, and I think that I now know .

 

I believe that it's a good review in the sense that the guy obviously (and despite his preconceptions) liked Mika a lot, and that is why the review is good in essence, but I think that he sounds a bit like an idiot. What's this sh!t about "Eurotrash types" ffs??

We all looked pretty normal and decent, not sure what his problem is. Maybe he's trying too hard to be funny, but I personally don't find him funny at all, and I think that his attitude in general sucks.

So yes, good in the sense that he finally realised how great Mika is live, but bad in the sense that I really dislike the vibe that this man is giving off.

 

Oh and Kath, I agree with what you say about him not noticing all the gay guys. He was obviously quite lacking in the observational skills that night