Mika

With a wonderland-like set awash with fake flowers, and a very dapper Mika donning a top hat and tails, the scene is visually stunning. The spectacle only proceeds to excel, with kooky costume additions, giant voodoo dolls, and vibrant performances from the whole band.

Mika is gloriously flamboyant, and an exquisitely captivating performer. But his music is also laced with darkness and searing pain. Tonight's setlist, then, is a smart choice, the euphoria of songs such as ‘Grace Kelly’, contrasing poignantly with the yearning falsettos of ‘Happy Ending’. His teenage venture ‘Over My Shoulder’ recorded in a friend’s garage aged 15, takes the crowd soaring.

It is perhaps a testament to the competence of the Picture House as a venue, but the sheer impact of the music produced on stage raises questions of Mika’s record producing team. For what on the radio seem rather vacant songs with happy clappy and often irritatingly optimistic hooks are, onstage immensely powerful.

The sexually ambiguous Mika is inevitably a delight to encounter as he prances about the stage, climbs over things, effortlessly scales octaves, bangs on a piano, swivels his hips in his obscenely tight white jeans, and simply radiates sex. Suffice it to say, Mika could quite plausibly have had his pick from a vast and varied but unanimously enamoured crowd tonight.