TORONTO - Talk about squeezing a lot of life in over seven days.
In the last week M.I.A. has been touring Western Canada and then dropped word she became engaged to Benjamin Brewer, a guitarist for New York alt-rock band The Exit and the son of Warner Music Group honcho Edgar Bronfman Jr.
Throw in performing at an after-party Sunday night at the MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles and she's had a lot on her plate.
Fortunately none of those events resulted in an average or sub-par show as the 30-year-old Sri Lankan-born Brit tore through her genre-mashing hits Monday night at the sold-out Sound Academy.
And while the traditional stoic, arms-folded, "go ahead and impress me" stance of Toronto crowds is well-known, none of those human statues were found among the crazed, dancing hordes which tightly packed the floor.
After coming out roughly 20 minutes later than scheduled, M.I.A. (born Mathangi Arulpragasam) went into fourth gear from the get-go beginning with the high-energy, percussive-fuelled Bamboo Banga, the first song from her 2007 sophomore effort Kala.
Wearing a gold-sprinkled hoodie, large dark shades and fluorescent sneakers, the diminutive performer worked the stage perfectly and the audience into a frenzy while standing on a riser and atop a stack of speakers shortly thereafter.
Although curtailing her set slightly compared to an appearance last year at the Kool Haus, M.I.A. made every moment count whether it was on World Town and the marching band-esque XR2 that had her sitting on a monitor near the lip of the stage.
"Toronto, how you doing?" she exclaimed prior to Bucky Done Gun from her 2005 debut Arular. She also mentioned how she ended up getting paid $100,000 for her 30-minute set following the MTV Movie Awards. Whether it was in American or Canadian is anyone's guess.
Regardless, M.I.A. seemed to slow things down albeit marginally during a trio of songs including the groovier Pull Up The People that had her, her female backing vocalist/dancer and a male dancer all hopping on one foot, looking like they were attempting some Native American dance.
From there, the singer went straight into the lighter, more melodic and gentle Sunshowers which had the crowd nearly drowning her out at times while 20 Dollar was a darker number that might have been the low point of the night.
But taking one of the song titles to heart, M.I.A. took it upon herself to start pulling up the people to the stage. As she has at previous shows (and much to the concern and annoyance of some security staffs and concert promoters) the singer had dozens of fans on the stage during 10 Dollar while working her way through and around the dancing, singing and exuberant concertgoers.
And the crowd nearly stole the show from that point on, with the disco-meets-dance flavored Jimmy, the bouncy Boyz and Bird Flu giving the impression that the proverbial lunatics had taken over this crazed, joyous and exhilarating asylum.
Opening for M.I.A. was Holy F-ck, an electro-rock outfit that seems destined for success. Sounding at times like British rock outfit Primal Scream at their spacey instrumental best, the band's strong set probably left a few repeating the band name as if in awe.
