November 9, 2007-The Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA

Within these last 3-4 years Maya Arulpragasam otherwise known as M.I.A has brought a revolutionary message to her straight forward lyrics and dancing beats.  Her new release Kala has just that and more. It’s no wonder that she was able to sell out the Wiltern. The show opened with Illinois based rap group The Cool Kids, they were just the group to get the crowd up and going for M.I.A.  After the very long wait, the crowd roared the instant that “Bamboo Banga” intro started. The lights turned off and the stage lights went on accompanied by the background graphics that unveiled the cover art to Kala perfectly synchronized to every beat of “Bamboo Banga”.  As soon as she began to perform the audience roared once again for M.I.A. She appeared in an eccentric bright silver colored baseball cap that matched her silver holographic mix-matched outfit and a sequent zipper hoodie. The concert was captivating from the music, to the background graphics, to the back-up dancers/singers, and the audience.  Her set included “10 Dollar”, “Galang” “Bucky Done Gone”, “U.R.A.Q.T”, and songs from her latest album such as “Bird Flu”, “20 Dollar”, “Jimmy”, “Paper Planes”, and “Boyz”.  Looking around at the diverse crowd there was not one person sitting still. One of the highlights of the show was M.I.A inviting theaudience to come up on stage during “Bird Flu” (unfortunately fighting off security guards was not enough to land a spot on stage with M.I.A). Although I and friend missed that opportunity the show was amazing anyway. She is a great performer so if anyone has a chance to see her in concert do not miss her, listening to any of her albums will do just fine in the meantime.

-Gloria Negrete