Amsterdam is buzzing this weekend with numerous events that open the 2024 festival season. The sweetest of these: MIKA’s concert in AFAS Live. A colorful spectacle in which all resources were dedicated to that ultimate goal: going out with a smile.
Anyone who puts on a critical eye can negotiate quite a bit regarding the two hours that MIKA fills here (without support programme). Of the 19 tracks played, 10 are from the first 2 albums: the latest of which was released 15 years ago. The other 9 tracks are also, without exception, records for alternating between going to the bar and the toilet. It is difficult to call MIKA really relevant, despite the revival that the Lebanese-British pop singer received following his presentation at Eurovision last year.
It is also technically striking that during the choruses of tracks such as ‘Relax (Take It Easy)’, ‘Rain’ or ‘Happy Ending’ the microphone often hangs along the body rather than at the mouth. It’s logical that 17 years later you can’t hit all the high notes anymore, so you just jump and let the enthusiastic audience and backing vocals pick up that part. The conversations in between feel a bit cringey: if we had to get a beer from the bar (7.50 each time the word ‘Amsterdam’ or ‘Love’ was mentioned) we would be broke and broke by now. Hypothetical.
Not too difficult
Anyway, MIKA isn’t here to convince a few snobs by playing the world record tightest show ever. The goal of the evening is clear: not too difficult, but plenty of dancing and singing along. The colors burst from the stage from moment 1, straight into the bodies of the sold-out AFAS. You can’t complain regarding a lack of effort: during track 2 the born entertainer is already singing in the middle of the audience and even Madonna finds the number of outfit changes impressive: we successively note a bright red suit with devil wings, then a bright pink suit, a gold glitter suit, silver glitter suit, an emoji suit, lilac flower suit, a delft blue suit, a pino blue plumage suit and a white-pink leaf suit.
In addition to MIKA, there is a live band on stage. That does add some substance to the stage, but they are clearly subordinate to the rest of the show. Very literally too, because they stand on a stage that can move around like a robot vacuum cleaner and in this way they adapt each song to the changing set pieces.
Regenbloogclub
The rest of the show also has such a fairground level that we occasionally feel like we are at Paaspop. Nothing is avoided: fire and fireworks, MIKA flying on set pieces coming out of the roof, large karaoke lyrics on the immense screen at the back of the room (as if we don’t know the lyrics to ‘Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)’). A fairytale world will be set up here for two hours and anyone who wants to give everything of themselves in the rainbow club (there are even rainbows coming out of pianos) will have the evening of their life.
And why wouldn’t you? MIKA sums it up perfectly: ‘It’s Friday evening. It’s spring. We have a long weekend. It might all be worse.’ That’s how it is. Smile on your face, nostalgia mode on and feet off the floor.