The latest unexpected item to appear on pop culture’s bingo card is a renaissance for the polyglot superstar Mika, who is enjoying a new surge of popularity off the back of his heroic turn at Eurovision 2022: the singer didn’t just co-host the contest for Italy, he raced through a flawless medley of his Noughties hits without seeming to break a sweat.
Though some people have but faint memories of Mika as the relentlessly cheerful singer-songwriter behind 2007 hits Grace Kelly and Relax, Take It Easy, he’s also cultivated a dedicated fanbase in the intervening years.
Filled to the brim with high-pop brilliance that many of today’s contemporary recording artists would envy, his London performance was a tidal wave of energetic, progressive dance songs, mixed with some unbeatable goosebump-raising nostalgia.
The wonderfully camp homecoming at London’s Hammersmith Apollo began with the first of Mika’s many costumes. In vintage Miley Cyrus fashion, our Beirut-born, London and Paris raised popstar began the show from an oversized birdcage, dressed in a crimson red suit with anatomical angel wings to boot. An order was issued right away: in order to save our souls, we must dance. So far, so theatrical.
His immediately energetic movements resembled that of some kind of supernatural creature. No thanks to the prop angel wings, which broke after the first song.
Following the first costume change of the night, Mika dropped to his knees to lament the failure, praying to a deity he labelled the “God of Hammersmith Apollo”. The crowd stood with him in solemn, pop-fuelled prayer.
Expectations were high given the star’s electric performance at Eurovision in 2022, and fans piled into the venue dressed in attire that Harry Styles would certainly approve of. The crowd was peppered with occasional Pride flags (one wielded by a person dressed as a banana) and the odd full sequin, glittery two-piece.
When the time came to perform 2007 hit Big Girl (You Are Beautiful), inspired by the old Orange County Butterfly Lounge, the singer embarked on a cross-venue odyssey that we’ve not seen since Lenny Kravitz cropped up in the upper stalls at Wembley Arena in 2018.
Within the blink of an eye and sporting a neon pink, sequin-adorned suit (at this point, it was impossible to keep track of the costume changes) Mika danced through the stalls right up into the gods. Concert etiquette may have fallen off a cliff more generally in a post-Covid world, but this crowd felt different.
Perhaps the most tender part of the evening was the singer’s explanation of how his most iconic songs were written, many alongside his siblings in an Earl’s Court basement, roughly a 10-minute drive from the sold-out venue.
Recalling a wide-eyed childhood which saw him stare out of a car window to glimpse the name in lights which a signified headline show at the Apollo, it was evident the crowd felt touched to be part of his first performance at the venue since 2010.
Two encores and multiple, several minute-long standing ovations later, the backlit curtains closed on a dance-fuelled night led by a supremely talented vocalist who never once faltered, despite running, singing, jumping and gallivanting for two hours straight.
