How Many Many

M.I.A. @ Terminal 5, 10/18/2007
Bamboo Banga / World Town / XR2 / Pull Up The People / Sunshowers / 20$ (with “Blue Monday” sequence) / Jimmy / 10$ (with “Sweet Dreams” sequence) / (Ry Ry performs “Shake It To The Ground” in full with DJ Blaqstarr) / Bucky Done Gun / Bird Flu / Hussel (with Afrikan Boy, who becomes a hype man for the rest of the show) / Paper Planes / Boyz / Galang (with a bit of “Lipgloss”) // Amazon / URAQT

M.I.A. “Boyz (Live on KCRW 8/2/2007)” – The venue was overcrowded and uncomfortable, everything smelled like wet paint, and M.I.A. went on way too late after the doors opened, leaving most of the audience just kinda standing around while a DJ played for several hours. But aside from that…wow! Wildly enthusiastic crowd, great performance, brilliant video art designed for each song. I really wish that I could’ve been down on that packed floor to get the full effect, but once I managed to get into a position where I could actually see what was going on, it was all good.

The most notable and exciting part of the show came when M.I.A. brought about 100 people from the audience on stage to dance along with “Bird Flu.” It was pretty crazy — people just kept coming up, to the point that it was hard to spot her on the stage. They were forced to make them all leave after the song was over, resulting in a slightly awkward gap between songs, but it was certainly worth it for the spectacle. It all seemed rather unrehearsed, and they didn’t seem to be prepared for the ramifications — I’m assuming that she doesn’t do this sort of thing very often, or at least not with so many people?

I rarely post photographs from concerts — mainly because they almost always look so incredibly dull — but a few of my friends shot pictures at this show, and I think they get across the sheer bonkersness of the “Bird Flu” sequence than anything I can say right now since my mind is still a bit fried.

(photos by Trent Wolbe)

(photo by Chris Conroy)


(photos by Mark Jones)

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