Mika Mika Mika!

Earlier this year my mate Scotto introduced me to Mika when he found out I was going to the Scissor Sisters gig. Scotto said that Mika makes the SS look butch in comparison! Well, on that recommendation I promptly investigated this Mika, and got his album which is really fantastic. It's pure pop - songs you can bop along to as well as some pretty good ballads. I was impressed immediately with Mika's voice - there's a touch of Freddie Mercury in his singing and performance skills. He's also a very, very pretty looking man.

So I rounded up Kyls to come with me, along with some of her friends and we saw him perform live 2 Saturday nights ago at the Forum venue in Fox Studios. I'd never been to this venue before and I think it's going to become one of my faves. From every vantage point in the 3 level, circular layout there is a decent view of the smallish stage. Gus, from my old work, was there so that was cool to bump into him as well. Hard to believe, but I reckon the crowd was even gayer than the SS one!

Well let me just write, that this gig was one of the best I'd been to. Mika is fantastic live. He sounds great, looks great and he and his band completely energise the stage. The crowd went totally off during his songs, and when he did a cover of Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams" everyone went bezerk.

The encore was side-splittingly funny, with Mika and his band returning to the stage dressed in giant bear-suits (wonder if they take them around the world? that's a lot more luggage....) to the recorded tune of "Teddy Bear's Picnic". They then proceeded to hold hands and dance in a circle!!!! The crowd was in hysterics. The band finally ripped off their bear heads, took up their instruments and did Mika's first hit "Grace Kelly". Bouncing balls were thrown into the crowd. The atmosphere was alive with laughter and music. It was like totally awesome dude.

AIH...

are Architecture In Helsinki, a Melbourne band that has been around for a few years.

I saw them with friends a few weeks ago at the Metro Theatre. Geez, I hadn't felt so old at a gig since seeing Muse in January. I swear there was a 10 year old girl in the all-ages crowd, and hordes of teens dressed 80s style.

AIH were heaps fun, bouncing around the stage, swapping instruments at every song change. That's the sort of band I would love to be in!! The girl singer is really cool. She reminds me of one of those 60s backing singers with her girly voice.

We had a really good spot in the venue, behind the dance floor on the 3rd tier with an uninterrupted view of the stage. This may have not been the case, when the 2 women in front of us got up off their bums to stand up when the band appeared. One woman was a giant, and she turned to me to say "sorry". We were all cracking up. Thank god she moved a bit so I could actually see.

For one of their last songs, they had recruited half a dozen audience members to enter from the wings of the stage and dance around the band. The lead kid was waving a mop, sweeping the floor and twirling it in the air as he led the kids dancing behind him. It was very funny! And funnier when kids up the front started to crawl up onto the stage so they could also dance! Beefy security guards started to remove these kids off the stage, and the female singer began pushing kids back into the crowd!

Some members of our group preferred the band's old stuff, which is fair enough, but I thought their new stuff was really cool and percussive.