This was an acoustic evening with MIKA, a departure from his regular dance-pop tracks from his albums and recent Europe tour. I had just seen him months before in France and The Opera House venue was a nice change from his usual mega-venues that he plays in Europe, where his celebrity status is much higher than here in North America.
The evening in Toronto let his fans appreciate even more what a remarkably talented artist he is: singing live, playing live, chatting with the audience between songs. He played most songs from his new album (Origin of Love) as well as all the big hits from previous albums. And though it was a mainly acoustic show, he didn't slow all the songs down as a lot of artists do. The songs kept their tempo, letting the crowd dance and bop along.
And that's the only real criticism I have about this particular show. At times it felt like the show didn't know what it wanted to be. Some of MIKA's songs just ache to be pumped out and danced to like crazy. The audience tried. But the acoustic nature and lack of oomph from The Opera House sound system just didn't give it out.
Apart from that, the show was a hit, showcasing MIKA's musicianship and talent at a time when his pop contemporaries are auto-tuning themselves to death performing to pre-recorded tracks in mega-venues where most fans are so far from the artist they paid to see that they might as well buy the DVD and watch it on a big screen at home.
MIKA: 2 thumbs up. A+. Whatever you want to call it: his show was fantastic.