Mika pop fan hits right note to wow concert-goers in Sheffield
Mika: Grace Kelly star on stage at the Real Radio Intimate Performance gig at the Winter Garden, Sheffield.
Pop fan Alex Bampton won tickets to see his idol Mika in concert and ended up the star of the show - playing piano for the Grace Kelly hit maker in Sheffield.
Alex, aged 18, a trainee coastguard officer, rescued the moment after he requested a song which the band hadn’t rehearsed from Mika’s brand new album, The Origin Of Love.
The budding young singer-songwriter, who is classically trained, shouted back that he could play the track, I Love It You When You’re Drunk.
So Mika invited him to have ago, but warned the 250-invite only crowd that it could all go horribly wrong on the Real Radio Intimate Performance stage at the Winter Garden.
It didn’t and Alex, who only won tickets earlier in the day to take along proud girlfriend Molly Stewart, 18, was note perfect.
Mika afterwards gave him the thumbs up and shook his hand. He told him: “You’re fearless. That was amazing. If we need a keyboard played on tour we’ll give you a call.”
Before he heard him play, he joked with the crowd of mainly Real Radio and Star competition winners, plus VIP guests: “This is a horrible, horrible, horrible experiment. But why not?
“My band have never played this with me before but let’s all do this tonight. I want you all to sing along. We’ll do a chorus and if it’s terrible we’ll shrug it off.”
Alex, full of confidence, who replaced the band’s keboard player for the one song, replied: “I sing as well.”
And at that, showman Mika had the audience laughing out loud as he unplugged the teenager’s microphone.
It may have looked staged, but the chart-star, who also performed hits including Grace Kelly, Big Girl and new single Celebrate, had never met Alex, who also admitted it was completely unrehearsed.
A long-time Mika Fan Club member, he told The Star: “That was an amazing experience. I can’t believe it’s happened. The new album only came out on Monday but I love the song and somehow I remembered how to play it. I’ve been playing music since I was seven, like Mika.
“I’m a coastguard rescue officer by day but I’m also a singer songwriter and I’ve started producing. I’ve never played with anyone famous like Mika before, but you never know what this might lead to.”
The teenager said it was an amazing and memorable first anniversary date with his girlfriend, after they travelled to Sheffield for the concert from their homes in Beverley, in East Yorkshire
* For Mika interview, photos and more see The Star on Thursday.
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Weather for Goole
Thursday 23 May 2013
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