The line stretching around the block so far it almost went full circle should have been the first indicator that this concert wouldn't be like every other concert. The second was that the show was completely sold out. Friday night around 11 p.m., over two hours after Sonar opened their doors to those eager enough to buy tickets days in advance, the entire line finally snaked its way through the doors. By that time, a couple of openers had already come and gone and the crowd was booing down a perfectly good hip-hop artist. The air was heavy in anticipation of one little Sri Lankan girl, the reason we had all sacrificed our normal Friday nights and 20 bucks, the reason we had stood in the freezing cold for two hours.
I squeezed my way through a crowd as diverse as the city itself to find myself front and center, just as the lights dimmed and strange noises began to come from the stage. On screens set up on the back of the stage, what I can only assume was some sort of Asian politician began to talk passionately. Unfortunately, the subtitles were hidden by the massive speakers, so nobody knew what exactly he was so impassioned by. Tensions grew as his speech lagged on. Finally he ended on what I can only assume was a high note, and all of a sudden the stage was stormed by M.I.A. and her posse of backup singers and DJ. The center crowd broke out into something resembling a moshpit, and, to avoid being trampled, I backed out towards the outside of the crowd, where I was still able to see, but from a safe distance.
The one thing about M.I.A. (real name: Maya Arulpragasam) is she's weird and crazy; nobody can deny that. Her music is an eclectic mix of techno beats and London slang and foreign influences spanning the globe. But whether you find her just weird or totally awesome, for this one night all that mattered was the DJ behind her supplying the steady rhythm with which the entire venue exploded. The concert turned into almost a club scene. It was just one massive dance party where the artist singing/rapping the songs happened to be jumping around onstage in a purple leopard print get-up, instead of just streaming out of your speakers. The most amazing part of this party was that everybody who was wise enough to buy a ticket in advance was invited. Dancing shoulder-to-shoulder (and sometimes even closer) were college students and Baltimore residents alike.
M.I.A.'s set was on top of its game. She definitely knew exactly what she was doing when she chose which songs to play at this particular event. While her new album, Kala, may have some more out-there songs which are not only weird lyrically, but also hard to dance to, she only played those that were highly "dance-able" and also well-known by her fanbase. Some highlights were "Boyz," "Jimmy," and her encore of "Paper Planes." She also made sure to throw in a few of her best songs from her first album, Arular, including "Galang," "Bucky Done Gun," "U.R.A.Q.T.," and "Sunshowers."
Although her stagename may mean "Missing in Action," Maya by no means slacked on her energy and made sure to feed the crowd as much as they fed her. She constantly moved across the stage, going between jumping and dancing. She even went out into the crowd a couple times, welcoming fans' hands around her small waist as they held her up over the audience. Seeing as her new album has been described as having "sources as varied as funk carioca, Baltimore bounce and the occasional ludicrously placed sound-effect," it's no wonder that this Baltimore crowd completely ate her up, 100 percent.
M.I.A. also employed the use of children as backup dancers to great effect. The audience loved these pint-sized booty-shakers almost as much as, if not more than, M.I.A. herself.
While the show itself was supremely executed, my main complaint lies not with M.I.A. and her crew, but rather the concert-goers themselves and perhaps Sonar and the security. The majority of the audience was just way too drunk. I understand the desire to drink during or pre-game a concert which is advertised as a dance party, however it was to an extent where it was at times unsafe and out of control. What was supposed to be dancing turned into moshing. Drunk groups unable to stand up pushed up against and fell into people, annoying them to the point of starting fights. And while security kept people from messing up M.I.A., they didn't do as good of a job of keeping people from messing up other people and ruining the experience for everybody else.
All-in-all, I urge everybody to listen to both of M.I.A.'s albums, and if you are the least bit interested in either of them, or if you just like to shake your booty, I highly recommend you go see her live. And as a general plea for concert-goers everywhere: Please don't drink and dance. Please.
