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Natalie Imbruglia and Mika at the Baloise Session - 26 October 2024
It’s official: Mika is one of the most charming people on the planet. At this «Power Songs»-themed Baloise Session evening, he shared the stage with the equally delightful Natalie Imbruglia. Imbruglia started out as an actress in her native Australia before moving into music, releasing worldwide hit «Torn» in 1997 and going on to record six studio albums. Singer-songwriter Mika broke out in the noughties with his first full-length studio album «Life in Cartoon Motion», releasing five more albums since then.
Natalie Imbruglia
Natalie Imbruglia and her band played a lovely concert that included songs from her whole discography, with tracks such as «Big Mistake», «Smoke» and «City» mixing pop with elements of blues rock and electronica. Other standouts were the catchy «Shiver» and, of course, Überhit «Torn», the audience singing along and waving their arms as Imbruglia led everyone to a rousing finale with «Impressed».
Mika
Mika’s fans were out in full force and couldn’t contain themselves, rushing to the front of the stage after the first song and turning the evening into a raucous dance party.
From the very first second, Mika proved to be a highly charismatic and entertaining performer, alternating between sitting on the piano, sitting at the piano, and pacing around the stage, in constant contact with the crowd. Starting with an acoustic version of «Lollipop», he tore through «Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)», «Jane Birkin» and «C’est la vie» with gusto and slowed things down with the gorgeous «Underwater».
By the time «Relax, Take It Easy» came around, the whole room was up and dancing, «Happy Ending» and «We Are Golden» prompted mass sing-alongs, and closer «Grace Kelly» lifted the roof. Outro track «Yo Yo (R3HAB Remix)» kept that roof off as Mika and his excellent backing vocalists (all seven of them) and band came back out on stage to lead the final dance-off.
Throughout the concert, Mika chatted to the audience in flawless English, French and Italian, with a bit of German thrown in for good measure. His incredible charm and sense of humour won over even the most casual of concert-goers, and his performance may have been one of the best – and certainly one of the most joyful – that the Baloise Session has ever seen.
- Anna Wirz
Photos of Natalie Imbruglia are here.