Mika Live at the Wiltern LG

Now for the second part of our early Valentine’s celebration.  The first was our dinner at Adoro Mexican Grille (see the earlier review “Adoro Mexican Grille II).  After finishing dinner we drove west down Wilshire through the medium Monday rush hour traffic.  We passed the new school near Wilshire and Union and the new apartment and shops complex at the Wilshire and Vermont red line station.  As we neared the Wiltern theater we saw a line from the theater all the way to the corner of Wilshire and Oxford.  We turned left on Oxford and right into the entrance to the parking garage serving the Wiltern.  There was some confusion about getting in.  The attendant had us go through the exit lane and event parking cost a steep $12 but we easily found a space on the third level.

We queued up near the Denny’s at Wilshire and Oxford at 7 pm.  The crowd consisted mostly of young women, though there were also couples, mothers with teen daughters, and later we would see some young children with their parents.  As we waited some event employees were going down the line asking if concertgoers had floor seats and offered to trade them for wrist bands to stand in the pit.  We had mezzanine seats so that didn’t apply.  We saw a woman wearing a t-shirt with the homemade writing saying “Big Girl”.  Inside we would see other women with homemade message t-shirts.  The line started moving steadily toward the theater at 7:10 pm.   We passed a cart selling bacon-wrapped hot dogs that smelled delicious.

We went through “security” which wasn’t much more than a pocket and bag check and entered the large lobby of the Wiltern.  They were selling lots of Mika merchandise.  My wife was already wearing a Mika shirt she got at the Coachella Festival last year.  She went on a day different from when Mika performed so she didn’t see him them.  But she was glad to see that they didn’t have her same t-shirt for sale at the Wiltern.  We went upstairs to the mezzanine level and an usher showed us to our seats.  The mezzanine is above the also elevated loge level and our seats were in the 4th row behind the first in the mezzanine in section near left facing the stage.  It was stadium seating so not many worries about sitting behind tall people, though we still had to stand when those in front of us did.

The stage had a drum kit, some guitars on racks and a keyboard/sound mixing type machine on it.  Above the stage was screen showing ads for Live Nation, the producer of this concert, and a place at the bottom where concertgoers could have their text messages displayed.  More on this later.  The first opening act came out at around 7:40 pm with the leader say, “You probably have no idea who I am, right?  We’re Shwayze.”  The group consists of two rappers/singers and a sound mixer, and their MySpace says they’re from Malibu.  They performed several energetic numbers such as “Polariod” and “Buzzin’”.  They said they had a record coming out in June.

The second opening act was The Midway State from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  They were a four-piece with a drummer, guitarist, bassist, and lead singer who also played the electric piano.  They performed several anthemic, piano-heavy rock numbers such as “A Million Fireflys”, “Change for You”, and “Never Again”.  They thanked Mika for letting them tour with him for the entire U.S. tour.  They finished at 8:30 pm.

We spent the next half hour or so reading the text messages sent to the screen above the stage.  Anyone could sent one by sending “TXT” + “WILT” + (ur message) to 64066.  They included personal hi’s and hellos, marriage proposals, praise for Mika, political messages, and humor:

“SCREAM IF YOU LOVE MIKA” (Lots of cheers)

“SCREAM IF YOU LOVE PIECE AND QUIET”

“IF UR OVER 30 ITS TIME TO LEAVE”

“OBAMA IN 08” (Lots of cheers.  He seemed to be the favorite.  We saw one young woman with an Obama button)

“BARACK THE VOTE” (More cheers)

“HILLARY IN 08” (Mix of cheers and boos)

“RON PAUL STILL HAS A CHANCE” (No response)

“MIKA FOR PRESIDENT IN 08” (Cheers)

“IF UR UNDER 30 YOU NEED TO GROW UP”

At 9:07 pm the screen went black and moved up and out of sight.  The stage went black and then four blue lights spotlights shined out into the floor crowd.  More blue lights seemed to dance on a waving screen behind the stage.  A spotlight shined in the middle of the stage on a large white sphere.  The sphere opened to reveal a tall figure with curly brown hair, angel wings, and wearing a flesh-colored body suit.  The figure disappeared behind the drum kit and out came Mika (i.e. the figure) in a white shirt with suspenders and black pants.  Every concertgoer was standing and cheering at this point and Mika went straight into “Relax (Take it Easy)”

Mika, pronounced like “Mee-kah” was born in Lebanon and is half Lebanese and half American.  He first grew up in France and French is his first language but he later moved with his family to England and he speaks with an English accent.  His band consisted of a keyboard player/guitarist, a guitarist, a bassist who liked Asian with bleach blond hair, a short woman of African descent with big hair on drums and another woman on background vocals, selected duets, and dancing.  Other musicians and dancers came and left as needed.

Contrary to its title, "Relax (Take it Easy)" is a fast-paced dance number that put the audience in the right mood.  After they finished, Mika asked, "Are there any big girls in the house?" (Many cheers) "Are there any big boys in the house?" (Slightly fewer cheers).  They then went into the hyperkinetic "Big Girls are Beautiful".  The stage lit up and slowly behind it a 20-foot balloon of a big girl inflated.  Three "big girl" dancers came out and energetically danced with Mika, his backup singer and guitarist.  One dancer did cartwheels.

They slowed things down and the audience sat down for the next number.  The crew brought out a digital piano with a 3-candle candelabra and roses.  Mika sat down at it and sang the thoughtful "My Interpretation".

Then Mika told a little story.  "We were in Culver City two years ago trying to decide what songs to put on the album.  They told me this next song was " (at this point he switched to a humorous but convincing American accent) " not ready for the U.S. Market." (back to English) "I'm talking about my mate, Billy Brown."  He then starting singing "Billy Brown" and a trumpeter and trombonist came out to accompany for the jovial song.  Mika let the audience sing the part for which the U.S. market wasn't ready.

For the next song, introduced as "not one of my own" all the musicians stood along the front of the stage.  The keyboard player had a banjo, the drummer a washboard, and the bassist had what looked like a washtub bass without the washtub.  The song sounded like some kind of Middle America folk spiritual with lyrics sounding something like "I pray for Johnny while he prays for me."

Mika got back to the piano and the others were back in position to play the slower, soulful "Any Other World" and this time three string players joined them (two violinists (one might have been a violist) and a cellist).

The crew moved the piano out of the way and they did the much faster and danceable "Ring Ring" with rapid strobe lighting.  In my opinion the song is similar in tone and subject matter to "Wrong Number" by The Cure.

In the background of this and many prior songs there was a curtain with a painting of a large tree and various strange objects hanging from its branches such as a skull and something that looked like a toaster.  It was a dark, strangely macabre scene.  For the next song they lit up some garlands of light bulbs that dangled above and behind the stage.  Mika introduced it as "a new song" and it was happy song that Mika song mostly in falsetto with lines like, "How much do you miss me when I'm not here."

Mika got back to his piano and they did the deceptively slow starting but quickly becoming higher volume "Stuck in the Middle".  Towards the end, Mika did some back and forth with the audience, singing things such as "shoo-bee do wop bob ba" and then using gestures to give his opinion of how we did.

In the interlude after the song the crew placed what looked like a large box in the middle of the stage.  They uncovered it the reveal a large white block letter "M" about five feet high.  Behind it were steps to get on top and the background singer got up top wearing a tall feather headdress and a loose wrapping dress.  She sang melodically but (in my opinion) unintelligibly.  She then got provocative, removing the dress to reveal a tighter outfit.  Mika joined her up top wearing a pink and purple stripped jacket and they sang a cover of the Eurythmics' "Missionary Man".  Mika got on his knees when his co-singer sang, "Get down upon your knees, I got a message for you that you better believe."

Mika followed this raucous cover with the more subdued “Happy Ending” with him back at the piano.

They removed the "M" and the interlude music was slow and low like a dirge.  Mika had his white collar shirt back on and snow confetti fell slowing in the middle of the stage.  Mika took out and opened a white umbella and slowly twirled it in the "snowfall".   Out of stage left came a 10-foot walking puppet of what looked like a Dia de Los Muertos skeleton wearing a raggedy red dress and a tall hat. "She" walked to the stages edge and reached out to the audience.  Then she came over to Mika and put her hands over him.  He went into a sort of trance and dropped the umbrella.  Then he and the skeleton embraced.  She walked sideways off the stage waving to the crowd as she left.

Mika and band went straight into his Grammy nominated dance song "Love Today" and everyone stood up singing along even to the high falsetto.  The crowd danced and jumped and we could feel the whole mezzanine level shaking.  They added an extended ending where Mika introduced his band and acknowledged the strings and horns.  The crew brought this bush-shaped stand with big and small trash cans hanging on either side and a trash can lid in the middle.  Mika got some sticks and banged on the large trash can.  The keyboard player replaced the drummer and the drum came down and banged on the small can and the lid.  Mika stripped to the waist to wild cheers from the crowd and he and the drummer alternated and "competed" banging on the cans.  All the while, the rest of the band kept up the song's rhythm.

They got quiet finally.  Mika put back on a white shirt and black jacket and said, "I want to thank every single person in this room."  He described how playing live is how they really make their living and then said, "This one's called Grace Kelly."  The crowd remained standing and sang louder than any previous song.  The mezzanine shook some more.  When he sang, "Why don't you walk out that door" everyone pointed to the door.

Mika and the band left the stage.  The crowd cheered loudly even as Mika and the band returned to take a bow and leave again.  After several minutes of cheering, things got very strange.  A curtain came down with the shape of a white circus tent or something on it and this silly kids’ music started playing.  People (Mika and band) did some shadow play acting in animal costumes behind the curtain that got a bit racy.  I found this very strange and a bit out of character, more in character with The Flaming Lips.  This interlude causes me to bring the rating down to four stars.  If they had not done it or had not even come back for an encore, I would have given the concert five stars.

The curtain went up to reveal the band in animal costumes, though most of them had removed the animal heads.  They performed the silly, happy “Lollipop”.  A 20-foot balloon of a little girl with a lollipop inflated behind them and three dancers in little girl dresses came out, one of them with a very large lollipop.  All the musicians were out playing, the letter “M” returned, and soon the “big girl” dancers from the earlier number came out to join the party.  Mechanisms shot paper confetti and streamers into the crowd with the confetti reaching all the way up to the loge level.  After the number concluded Mika, the band, the extra musicians, and the dancers held hands along the front of the stage and took a bow.

The lights came back on the canned music played signaling that there would be no more encores.  We had minimal trouble leaving the Wiltern, getting back to the car and exiting the parking structure.  We didn’t get Stuck in the Middle and with this Happy Ending we could Relax (Take it Easy).