M.I.A. performs at the Sound Academy in Toronto on Wednesday September 22, 2010. (Ernest Doroszuk, QMI Agency)

TORONTO - Genre-fusing artist M.I.A. wasn't missing in action Wednesday evening at Toronto's Sound Academy.

The same couldn't be said for her fans though, surprisingly only filling up about half of the same venue that was sold-out for her in the summer of 2008.

Regardless, it didn't stop the dynamic, petite bundle of energy from delivering a solid 80-minute party-filled set on the back of three albums, including this year's Maya (officially titled /\/\ /\ Y /\).

The new album hasn't been as well-received as 2007's Kala or 2005's Arular yet the material M.I.A. - born Mathangi Arulpragasam - presented packed a pretty good wallop, particularly the punishing Born Free and Story To Be Told. Although on the set list, M.I.A. called an audible with Story To Be Told, leaving her dancing and singing atop her small deejay table at the rear of the stage.

With two main backing vocalists, a deejay, some male dancers and three additional vocalists dressed in white burkas, M.I.A. took a little while to warm up following the opening Illygirl. As she slowly removed different layers of clothing, the show seemed to heat up as fans danced up a storm during the beat-heavy Bamboo Banga. Here M.I.A. held her microphone towards the crowd to let them sing along before Bucky Done Gun featured images of arcade game soldiers being blown up and helicopters behind her.

And despite the fact there's been some controversy regarding some of her videos - including one for Born Free which was banned from YouTube earlier this year for its violence -- on this night M.I.A. seemed a bit more humorous than biting. Wearing a black t-shirt which said "F--- Google, Ask Me!" M.I.A. asked fans what they wanted to hear after the pop-tinged XXXO when a fan tried to request the song again. "I just did XXXO!" she said a bit incredulously.

Fortunately she didn't let that bother her too much once she brought out a few more dancers for XR2, a very punchy number which was by far the highlight of the main set. Another pleaser was the slower, groove-riddled Galang as M.I.A. tossed a towel into the crowd when not cutting a proverbial rug alongside her dancers.

Telling the fans she didn't care about money and professing her love for the crowd, M.I.A. walked off as her name basically bled across the screen in crimson. And after taking her good old time getting back for the encore, M.I.A. continued to up the energy ante with Teqkilla.

"I think I can get higher," she said prior to her breakthrough hit Paper Planes which had all singing along. And deciding she had one more nugget left up her sleeve, M.I.A. rounded out the night with the bouncy, danceable Boyz.

According to her Twitter account shortly after the Toronto show, M.I.A. - whose parents are of Tamil descent - purchased the website domain 4thepeopleontheboat.com. Although controversy seems to follow her, it's not a prerequisite for her putting on a strong live show.