Loudest gig ever.
That the M.I.A. show at Turner Hall Ballroom Monday night was loud wouldn't be a big deal, in and of itself. But when the volume steals the words from the mouth of the star of the show and has even employees holding their ears and wincing in pain, something is wrong.
However, let it be noted that a very large portion of the sold out crowd -- in a great venue with a capacity hovering around 1,000 -- was so enraptured that the music could have been twice as loud and they'd still have been happy. Obviously, M.I.A.'s front-of-house soundman was in the room, too, so the levels were no mistake.
Veteran rapper and DJ Egyptian Lover chipped in a 45- or 50-minute set, spinning retro hip-hop and electro tunes before stepping out from behind the decks to pick up a microphone.
Although he had virtually nothing of value to say as a lyricist, Egyptian Lover, who -- curiously -- repeatedly pointed out that his biggest hit came out 25 years ago, slowly pulled in the crowd with his good-time show that wedded bumpin' beats to mantras like "Ain't nuthin' but a party, y'all."
Just after E.L.'s set, I ran into Old Man Malcolm, who was having a great time. "I used to breakdance to this guy's music. It's incredible," he said. And if anyone oughta know, it's Malcolm.
Egyptian Lover created a celebratory club vibe on the floor that nearly came to a full stop during a looonnng break. The youthful crowd -- clearly eager to see the headliner -- broke into a chant of "M-I-A! M-I-A! M-I-A" moments after the opener walked offstage.
But the masses would have to wait close to an hour for M.I.A's DJ to walk onstage and announce that the star wouldn't appear for another 10 minutes. He rocked some jams for 25 minutes before the stage lights dimmed and we were reminded why we were all there.
From the opening salvo of "Bamboo Banga" -- the first track from M.I.A.'s second disc, "Kala," released last year -- Maya Arulpragasam's charisma and energy was apparent, even if the roaring thunder of her wide-ranging, encyclopedic and potentially seizure-inducing sound drowned out her voice much of the time.
With her DJ and two dancers -- a female one also provided backing vocals and the male one had a certain Will Ferrell thing going on (they had a great series of moves that recalled Space Invaders characters!) -- M.I.A. offered a good overview of her two discs. In the process, we heard all the musical bits that set her apart from her hip-hop contemporaries.
There is the nod to The Pixies in "20 Dollar," the Jamaican-infused populist ragamuffin bhangra of "Pull Up the People" and "Bucky Done Gun" -- from the 2005 debut "Arular" -- the world beat of "World Town" and the interpolation of Jonathan Richman's Modern Lovers into "Bamboo Banga."
A fury of still images, animation and video illustrated the music on three square screens behind the 30-year-old Londoner of Sri Lankan descent.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
