M.I.A. @ Amoeba Music (San Fran): Guest Blogger Love

Eternal thanks to our dear slutty friend, Samra, for recapping MIA's Amoeba in-store this past weekend. Here's what she had to say about the show, in full. It sounds like it was rather amazing! We're jealous.

*MIA played a sold out show at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco on Saturday, July 28th. This Slutty Guest Blogger was inconsolable in her grief because she had not been able to acquire tickets (by hook or by crook!) to said show. Nevertheless, the sun god Ra shone down and it was revealed to this blogger that MIA was performing a free show at the Amoeba Store in Berkeley that same day at 2pm.

The Bay Area loves them some MIA because the place was packed. I heard one of the Amoeba employees saying that this was the biggest event the store had ever seen and it showed because they were not at all prepared for the onslaught of people. MIA looked cute in purple overalls and a purple hat. The set was short and she performed 'Bamboo', 'Boyz', 'Bird Flu', 'Paper Planes' and 'Galang'. The new stuff is softer--dare i say more melodic--and more mature than Arular. Since it is Berkeley, the hippies brought their kids along and during 'Paper Planes', MIA mentioned that the song had gunshot sounds and she was unable to edit them with "squeaky bear noise." It was a fantastic show albeit too short and as usual she left us wanting more. She also stuck around for signing after the show but this blogger hates lines and had to bounce.*

(Rickshaw photo via Neerav Mehta; check out a complete collection of pictures from the actual Amoeba gig here at the record shop's official site)

MP3: MIA - Bird Flu