Sri Lankan firecracker M.I.A. took Queens by storm last week.
She dedicated two nights of her MATANGI tour (though the first was cancelled) to New York City along with the city’s own A$AP Ferg and blew the crowd away. The culturally diverse crowd welcomed the rapper with open arms as she performed her early hits like “Bucky Done Gun,” “Boyz” and “Birdflu”. She kept the crowd on their toes performing a slew of tracks from her four albums.
The atmosphere of the Knockdown Center was mesmerizing from the stage set up, her dancers, and of course the screaming, overflowing crowd who sang along with every single song, reminding you that M.I.A. is indeed one of the biggest international stars. When she performed her more current joints like “Y.A.L.A.” and “Bring The Noize” during the second half of the show, she called out for three fans to join her on stage which eventually turned into about 25. The fans danced, fangirled then took opportunities to take selfies with her.
Overall, the show was great and full of high energy from both the artist and audience. Our only critiques are the acoustics in the venue were a little off and there was no encore which left us missing out on a performance of “Sexodus” and a few more songs. M.I.A. left her New York fans after a performance of her platinum break out hit “Paper Planes” and 2012’s “Bad Girls”.
You can next see M.I.A. on May 24 at the Sasquatch Festival in Quincy, WA.
-Shenae Craig
