Mika is musical Marmite: you either love him or hate him. Since bursting on to the scene with the helium-assisted hit Grace Kelly, the singer-songwriter has treaded the line between inspiration and irritation.

After a year away from the spotlight, he returned to London to headline the final night of the iTunes Festival. Bounding on to stage in white dungarees, black top hat and Clockwork Orange-style eye make-up, Mika looked his usual understated self.

Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) was a funky song about chunky women; Stuck In The Middle highlighted that he could play piano as well as jump up and down on it.

So far, so Mika — but his new material suggested a more interesting direction. Blame It On The Girls was a bouncy bossa nova, while Blue Eyes echoed Graceland-era Paul Simon in its African hi-life guitars.

Throughout, Mika’s voice was outstanding. Though not quite the Freddie you feel he’d like to be, he does possess a soaring falsetto to rival any of today’s queen bees. 

If there were still times when you wished he would buzz off (Love Today secured its place in my Most Annoying Songs Of All Time list, and there was really no need to remove his shirt during the encore), then these were forgivable within the context of a hugely entertaining and very energetic show.