As colourful as ever, view Mika delivered a great show with his recent two London dates at the Hammersmith Apollo. Building on the success of his first album, Life in cartoon motion, and exploring the world of adolescence after that of childhood – hence darker themes, more allusions, a hint of melancholy - he performed almost all the tracks from his second record, The boy who knew too much. Firstly, it is interesting to note that while back in 2007 he was “the new Freddy Mercury”, mixing varying percentages of Rufus Wainwright, Bee Gees, Elton John and others, now probably the press has realized that he cannot be easily pigeonholed and, instead, he has created his own unique style, not only in the songwriting process but also in the performance aspect of his world. A world populated by imaginary characters, a world in technicolour (or cartoon motion, we should say), a world in which he moulded Dr John and Billy Brown and other symbolic characters. Recognition of his style on the one hand, and, on the other, the style being embraced by the audience. An audience that was responding with enthusiasm, while the Libanese-American London-based Paris-raised (enough?!) singer-songwriter was jumping up and down the stage with the unmistakable dangling braces. What some call irresistible others consider over-the-top, what some consider contagious others can define kitsch, but one thing is certain: Mika has created, among all the cartoons, a very interesting character, his own – the proudly “pop” star whose first hugely successfull hit openly critised the music industry (“should I bend over, should I look older, just to be put on your shelf?”). Supported by his amazing vocal skills and trained during his previous tours (increasing exponentially in size, from small gigs, such as the intimate iTunes festival 2007, to the concert at the Parc de Princes stadium in Paris) Mika has officially proved himself as a true showman.