Czech Republic. Mikolas isn’t happy. He starts and stops almost immediately, pointing out that the plinths and back-lit lightboxes he and his dancers are on are moving and aren’t safe. He gets them reset and does a first run through. He talks through a lot of the routine afterwards with the stage management and he’s very particular; he knows exactly what he wants. On the first go, though, he’s not getting it, but of course, this is like a technical rehearsal at this stage.
Off-stage backing vocalists pick up the parts where Mikolas alone on live vocals wouldn’t be able to get whilst still breathing. It sounds a bit odd, after being so familiar with the studio version. He’s not wearing that trade mark back pack at first, but once he gets to the second verse it makes an appearance. Keep an eye on it; later in the song it gets its own choreography, along with the dancers, one of whom also sports a trumpet. (I’ve just mis-typed that as ‘sports a crumpet’, which would be altogether jollier.)
There’s a lot going on in this, some busy choreography, some of which is a bit untidy, and the last part of which involves a long run along the bridge for the last section. There’s also something lacking at this stage, and that’s charisma. This is unexpected, as Mikolas has it in spades, but at the moment – and remember this is only a rehearsal – this is coming over quite flat.