Strike Match Light Fire
21 October 2007, the wee hours
The MIA show was last night at the Kool Haus. Also billed for the night were Holy Fuck, Datarock, and The Carps. It was a solid show.
Holy Fuck opened things up. I had actually heard the front man of the band, Brian Borcherdt, at the Closer to the Heart benefit concert a couple years back. His set was just him and a guitar, so up until last night I had always assumed Holy Fuck were a rock band — not so. They’re an electronica group. The band consists of two dudes playing random electronic gizmos, a kick-ass bass player, and a dude beating the shit out of some drums: that’s a solid band right there. They opened with the song Super Inuit and played a half hour or so of really hard electronic music. You could feel the bass in your chest. It was some good stuff. (I picked up their album once the show was done.)
Datarock were up next. A posse of dudes dressed in red track suits take to the stage and started singing. I thought their opening track was pretty weak, but by their second I was hooked. I feel like they are channeling the Happy Mondays, or any one of those drugged up 80s/90s British dance groups. These guys were really fun to watch, a very happy band. They did the running man, and ended their set singing I’ve had the Time of my Life: what else do you want? I downloaded their album as soon as I got home: they didn’t bring anything to sell.
The Carps were up next. Their set was really short. I went to get a drink and by the time I was back they were done. They are from Scaborough, so I am certain they are good.
The lights dim and on the video screens a Japanese man basically explained the situation in Sri Lanka without ever explicitly mentioning Sri Lanka: majority versus minority rights, how ineffective proportional representation is in protecting minority rights, etc. This went on for a few minutes, and then M.I.A. takes the stage singing Bamboo Banga. Her set was pretty much non-stop music for an hour. It was so damn good. She ended things with Galang Galang. The video screens for the end were showing a cartoon tiger running, and airplanes and helicopters dropping bombs: hmm? She didn’t do an encore, which kind of sucked, but I was pretty exhausted by the time she left the stage.
Purple Haze Galang Galang Galang.
I saw M.I.A. in concert last night, and I really want to know the source of the political clip that played (the Japanese one), but I haven’t been able to find it. Do you know who was speaking or where I can find it? Thanks
by Stephanie on April 11 2008, 12:29 am #
It’s a video from an election in Japan. I think the guy running represents some minority group within the country, hence the obvious parallels to what’s happening in Sri Lanka. I’m pretty sure I’ve linked to it before, but my sites search function is kind of lame.
by Ramanan on April 11 2008, 9:10 am #